News & Research Round-up: 11/19/2005

A new study published this month in the November issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry and other new evidence suggests that lithium is as effective in treating rapid-cycling bipolar as depakote, something that has surprised researchers and clinicians … David Oliver, a New Jersey man, has set out on a mission to provide much needed information: information for the families of those who have bipolar. Check out the news release or his new site ... Jane Pauley continues her mental health advocacy efforts with a speech at Fort Myers' Bishop Verot High School in Florida, where she said, “If I have a goal, it’s to yank mental illness into the realm of bad things that can happen in a normal life,” adding that she choose to go public with her illness in her book Skywriting in order to “normalize the experience of mental illness.” Pauley, 54, added, “My goal is to see the attitude about mental illness normalized before the next generation” ... Bipolar for Dummies hits the shelves … Lithium has been used during pregnancy for more than four decades, but quantification of fetal lithium exposure and clinical correlations of such exposure are limited. This study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry examines perenantial complications of lithium use … A report in the November issue of Cell Metabolism reveals powerful effects of light on the adrenal glands, a finding that might explain the broad benefits of bright light therapy for a variety of conditions, including sleep and depressive disorders, including bipolar … Researchers argue that bipolar children are often more creative …