Should you take DMT for your Multiple Sclerosis? Personally, I believe the answer is yes. However, it’s ultimately your decision — only you know what you feel comfortable with.
Multiple Sclerosis – Should YOU Treat MS or not?
Meltdowns in young children could be linked to ADHD, study finds
Preschool children who find it difficult to control their emotions and behaviour exhibit more symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder – known as ADHD – by age seven, according to a study.
Children aged between three and seven who are slower at acquiring skills to manage their intense emotions were also found to be at risk of displaying more conduct issues.
Experts say children were also more likely to show internalising behaviours at age seven, such as sadness and worries.
The study, led by the University of Edinburgh, is among the first to examine the links between early patterns of emotion regulation and school-age mental health.
The findings could help tailor targeted support for children who may benefit from enhanced preventative care before mental health issues emerge, researchers say.
Researchers at the Universities of Edinburgh, Northumbria and Oxford analysed a large dataset to test whether the progression of emotional development among children aged three to seven is related to the risk of common mental health issues.
They examined data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study, which follows the lives of around 19,000 young people born in 2000-02.
The researchers analysed questionnaires and interviews which surveyed parents on their children’s conduct, social behaviours, and emotional regulation skills.
They used statistical techniques to measure the link between emotional problems, conduct problems and ADHD symptoms at age seven.
Findings showed that a tendency to have extreme emotional responses and slower development in the ability to regulate those emotions was significantly associated with ADHD symptoms, internalising symptoms, and conduct problems in both male and female children at age seven.
This was the case even when other factors such as data on any pre-existing neurodevelopmental and mental health issues were taken into account.
Dr Aja Murray, of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, who led the study, said: “Emotion regulation skills are acquired from early in life and are thought to strengthen gradually over childhood. Children, however, acquire these skills at different rates and slower acquisition may serve as a marker for neurodevelopmental and mental health issues. Our findings suggest that monitoring trajectories of emotion regulation over development could help identity which children are at risk of mental health issues.”
ADHD: What You Need to Know – A Q&A with Dr. Stephen Hinshaw
Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common mental health disorders in children. On Wednesday, December 4, 2024, at 7 p.m. EDT, the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (BBRF) will host a webinar designed to help parents and educators better understand this disorder. Dr. Jeffrey Borenstein, President and CEO of BBRF, along with Dr. Stephen Hinshaw, Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, will discuss the symptoms of ADHD, the differences in presentation between boys and girls and will provide advice for caregivers and educators on how to help young people lead successful lives after a diagnosis.
Register HERE for this free event.
About Brain & Behavior Research Foundation
The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation provides research grants to develop better treatments, cures, and prevention methods for mental illnesses. These include conditions such as addiction, ADHD, anxiety, autism, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, depression, eating disorders, OCD, PTSD, and schizophrenia, as well as initiatives focused on suicide prevention. Since its establishment in 1987, the Foundation has awarded over $461 million to fund more than 5,600 leading scientists worldwide. Significantly, 100% of every dollar donated is invested directly in research. The Foundation has separate grants that cover its operating expenses. Additionally, BBRF produces the Emmy®-nominated public television series “Healthy Minds” with Dr. Jeffrey Borenstein, which seeks to reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness and illustrates that there is hope for recovery with assistance.
Animal characters can boost autistic young children’s psychological development, study suggests
Children’s books often feature animal characters whose antics capture the hearts and inspire the imaginations of their young readers.
However, a new study has shown that iconic characters such as Peter Rabbit – or Toad and Ratty from The Wind in the Willows – can also play an essential role in children’s psychological development.
The research explored the extent to which different non-human characters influence children’s theory of mind skills, which include the ability to read and predict social changes in the environment through tone of voice, choice of words, or facial expression.
For the study, more than 100 children aged between five and ten were tested on their theory of mind skills when presented with stories featuring animal characters rather than human ones.
The study found that when faced with human characters, there was a clear age-related progression, with older children consistently outperforming their younger counterparts. Year 3 children performed better than the researchers had predicted in the tests featuring human characters.
However, in tests that involved animal characters, Year 1 participants were able to match the scores achieved by pupils from Year 3, who were two years older than them.
Dr Gray Atherton and Dr Liam Cross from the University of Plymouth’s School of Psychology led the research.
Dr Atherton, lead author of the new study, said: “Animals play a huge part in children’s stories, whether in books and comics or through TV and film. We wanted to test if that is down to more than simply liking the characters, whether there are actual benefits of children learning through watching or reading about animals, and if this changes over time. Our findings showed that human and non-human characters are important in helping children interpret the world around them and play differing roles at different developmental stages. Adapting activities and lessons in nurseries and the early school years to take that into account could be hugely effective in helping to support their development.”
The research builds on previous studies by Dr Atherton and Dr Cross, which explored factors that can influence the educational and social development of people with autism and learning difficulties.
These have included initiatives showing that playing board and online games can boost confidence among people with autism and others, highlighting that people with dyslexia and dyscalculia show reduced bias against others based on characteristics such as their disability, race or gender.
Based on the new research, the academics intend to explore in more detail whether their findings could specifically benefit children with such conditions.
Dr Cross added: “We believe this new study could be of particular importance for people with autism or other conditions that can impact their learning. Working with teenagers in the past, we have noticed how tasks that involve animal characters can result in autistic people performing just as well as non-autistic children. It would be interesting to replicate our current study with autistic children to understand if we can find more effective ways to support them at a critical point in their development.”
A constellation of symptoms presages first definitive signs of multiple sclerosis Study is largest-ever effort to identify symptoms that appear before MS diagnosis
Symptoms of MS
During the five years before people develop the first clinically recognized signs of multiple sclerosis (MS), they are up to four times more likely to be treated for nervous system disorders such as pain or sleep problems. They are 50 per cent more likely to visit a psychiatrist, according to new research from the University of British Columbia.
The study, the largest-ever effort to document symptoms of people before they know they have MS, could enable physicians to diagnose the disease – and thus start treating it – earlier, therefore possibly slowing the damage it causes to the brain and spinal cord.
MS results from the body’s immune system attacking myelin, the fatty material that insulates neurons and enables rapid transmission of electrical signals. When myelin is damaged, communication between the brain and other body parts is disrupted, leading to vision problems, muscle weakness, difficulty with balance and coordination, and cognitive impairments.
Because the symptoms are varied, often associated with other disorders, and can be transitory, diagnosing MS can be a challenge. Confirmation of the disease usually is done by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a test of nerve impulses, or an examination of spinal fluid.
Canada has one of the highest rates of MS in the world for reasons that elude scientists.
The researchers, led by Helen Tremlett, a Professor in the Division of Neurology at UBC, examined the health records of 14,000 people with multiple sclerosis from B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nova Scotia between 1984 and 2014 and compared them to the health records of 67,000 people without the disease.
Tremlett and former postdoctoral fellow José Wijnands found that fibromyalgia, a condition involving widespread musculoskeletal pain, was more than three times as common in people who were later diagnosed with MS, and irritable bowel syndrome was almost twice as common.
Two other conditions with markedly higher rates among people to be diagnosed with MS are migraine headaches and any mood or anxiety disorder, which includes depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder.
The higher rates of those illnesses also correspond with higher use of medications for musculoskeletal disorders, nervous system disorders, and disorders of the genito-urinary tract, along with antidepressants and antibiotics.
The study, published in Multiple Sclerosis Journal, provides definitive evidence that MS can be preceded by early symptoms – known as a prodrome – that aren’t considered “classic” manifestations of the disease, like blurred vision or numbness or weakness in the limbs. As recently as 2000, medical textbooks asserted that MS did not have a prodrome.
“The existence of such ‘warning signs’ are well-accepted for Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, but there has been little investigation into a similar pattern for MS,” said Tremlett, a Canada Research Chair in Neuroepidemiology and Multiple Sclerosis and member of the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health. “We now need to delve deeper into this phenomenon, perhaps using data-mining techniques. We want to see if there are discernible patterns related to sex, age, or the ‘type’ of MS they eventually develop.”