AICAFMHA: promoting mental health for young Australians
Australian Infant, Child, Adolescent and Family Mental Health Association Ltd
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Collated Mental Health News Items for 2007
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Smaller Babies Prone To Depression
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Plump babies may really be happier babies, Canadian and British researchers reported on Monday in a study that found people who had a low birth weight were more likely to have depression and anxiety later in life. Adverse conditions in the womb that interfere with a baby's growth may also cause brain differences, the researchers report in the December issue of Biological Psychiatry.
Ian Colman of the University of Alberta and colleagues in Britain studied the records of 4,600 Britons born in 1946 who took part in a 40-year study."We found that even people who had just mild or moderate symptoms of depression or anxiety over their life course were smaller babies than those who had better mental health," Colman said in a statement. "It suggests a dose-response relationship. As birth weight progressively decreases, it's more likely that an individual will suffer from mood disorders later in life." The researchers simply looked at medical records and did not examine a possible cause. Colman said it is possible that when mothers are stressed, stress hormones are passing through the placenta to the fetus.
Link related to this news item: www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN0363786120071203?feedType=nl&feedName=ushealth1100 Posted:Dec 27, 2007 International Early Childhood Experts Share Best Practice
International early childhood experts shared their knowledge and experience at the Our Children the Future Seminar held recently in Adelaide.
Professor Ron Lally, co-director of the Centre for Child and Family Studies in California, US, and Dr Margaret Whalley, director at the United Kingdom's Pen Green Research Development and Training Base and Leadership Centre presented to participants from across government.
The presentations showed that international research can help guide local practice and develop awareness about how adults can support young children's development and learning. Dr Marg Whalley's presentation pointed to interesting comparisons between the South Australian Government's early childhood agenda and some of the key learning from her UK experience.
The UK Government is aiming to achieve better outcomes for children, parents and communities through its Sure Start Program. It is the cornerstone of the Government's drive to tackle child poverty and social exclusion and promote the physical, intellectual and social development of babies and young children so that they can flourish when they get to school. The three key strategies to achieve this are - increasing the availability of affordable, flexible, high quality childcare for all children; improving health and emotional development for young children and supporting parents to gain employment.
Link related to this news item: www.childrenscentres.sa.gov.au/pages/ecconnections/experts/ Posted:Dec 27, 2007 Some Temper Tantrums Can Be Red Flags: Study
Dec 20, 2007 By Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Children who have long, frequent or aggressive temper tantrums may be at risk of depression or disruptive disorders, U.S. researchers said.
They said tantrums were often the sign of a sick, hungry or overstimulated child. For most parents, they were a normal part of development and should be viewed as a teaching opportunity. But parents of children who hurt themselves or others and those who cannot calm themselves without help should seek medical help, they found. Healthy children tended to have less aggressive, and generally shorter tantrums. "I think parents to some degree should expect their children to have tantrums," said Dr. Andy
Link related to this news item: www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN2021717820071220?feedType=nl&feedName=ushealth1100 Posted:Dec 27, 2007 Health Needs Higher For Kids Of Abused Moms
ScienceDaily (Dec. 16, 2007) -Children whose mothers have a history of abuse by intimate partners have higher health care needs than children whose mothers have no history of abuse, according to a study conducted at Group Health, a Seattle-based health plan.
These needs--expressed in terms of the cost of providing care and use of health services--were higher even if the abuse occurred before the children were born, the research team found. Scientists from Group Health Center for Health Studies, Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center (HIPRC), and Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute conducted the study, which appeared in the December 2007 issue of the journal Pediatrics.
Link related to this news item: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071214183440.htm Posted:Dec 27, 2007 ADHD Delays Growth Of Certain Brain Areas
But affected children do catch up over time, researchers add
Nov. 12 (HealthDay News) -- While some regions of the brain mature a few years late in youngsters with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), their brains do develop in a normal pattern, concludes a study by researchers at the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). They found that the delay in brain maturation in children with ADHD was most prominent in regions at the front of the brain's outer mantle (cortex), which is involved in thinking, planning and attention.