Mental Health

December 18, 2024

VUMC part of multisite team investigating genetic markers of anorexia nervosa

With funding from the newly established Sarah Kyle Anorexia Nervosa Research Foundation, the researchers hope to identify biomarkers that will point to novel targets for prevention and treatment.

By Leigh MacMillan
November 8, 2024

People with schizophrenia show distinct brain activity when faced with conflicting information

Researchers introduce a biomarker to indicate whether someone is struggling with the inflexible thinking associated with the disorder.

By Joseph Caputo
October 30, 2024

Genetic risk, sexual trauma associated with mental illness: study

Evaluating how genetic risk interacts with environmental risk factors such as sexual trauma is important for understanding how mental illness develops and identifying high-risk groups for early intervention.

By Leigh MacMillan
After connecting the dots between cognitive impairment and brain network organization in people diagnosed with psychotic disorders, researchers discovered the same link in those who hadn’t had their first psychotic episode.
September 4, 2024

Groundbreaking study links cognition and brain networks before the first psychotic break

Early detection opens the door to intervention via noninvasive neuromodulation for those with treatment-resistant symptoms of psychotic disorders like schizophrenia.

By Danny Bonvissuto
(Adobe Stock)
August 27, 2024

We’re here for you: how to comfort a coworker in grief

How can caregivers be expected to hold the grief of their patients, and their patients’ families, when they are grieving themselves? That was the question addressed at a recent panel discussion at Vanderbilt.

By Bill Snyder
June 24, 2024

From ‘what happened’ to ‘what now:’ How one VUMC News & Communications writer became part of her own story about the Vanderbilt Health Coaching Program

Danny Bonvissuto set out to write about the Vanderbilt Health Coaching Program. Then the program manager offered to show her how health coaches draw out intrinsic motivation in their clients, aka patients, to get to what Danny dubbed the Next Right Thing.

May 15, 2024

Treatment-resistant depression linked to body mass index: study

Genetic factors are a small but significant contributor to severe depression that does not respond to standard therapy, according to researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital.
By Bill Snyder
April 9, 2024

Heart disease, depression linked by inflammation: study

Coronary artery disease and major depression may be genetically linked via inflammatory pathways to an increased risk for cardiomyopathy, a degenerative heart muscle disease, researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital have found.
By Bill Snyder
February 27, 2024

Lack of Insurance among Tennessee children remains low, while mental health concerns persist

The latest analysis of the 2024 Tennessee Child Health Poll has found that the proportion of uninsured kids in Tennessee held steady from the 2023 poll, and the rates of mental health diagnoses and associated concerns from Tennessee parents remain high.
By VUMC News and Communications
February 8, 2024

New algorithms show promise for predicting bipolar disorder risk

In a new study across three major U.S. health care systems, researchers developed and tested algorithms to predict who will develop bipolar disorder.
By Paul Govern
January 9, 2024

VUMC receives $13 million grant to coordinate multisite clinical trial for Rett syndrome treatment

Vanderbilt University Medical Center received a $13 million Department of Defense grant to lead a multisite clinical trial that will evaluate repurposed FDA-approved drugs as treatment options for patients with Rett syndrome.
By Danny Bonvissuto
December 8, 2023

Suicide ideation response plan implemented to assist at-risk adults

Vanderbilt Health’s Adult Ambulatory clinics have a new Suicide Ideation Response Plan that will provide clinicians and staff with additional resources to provide appropriate care for patients who are identified as thinking about or planning suicide.
By Jill Clendening
October 19, 2023

Toddra Liddell helps dialysis patients manage mental health issues during treatment

Toddra Liddell, APRN, FNP-C, PMHNP-BC became a family nurse practitioner at Vanderbilt, decided to seek a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner certificate when she realized how many had mental health issues either brought on or exacerbated by their chronic condition. 
By Danny Bonvissuto
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