Once viewed only as symptoms, sleep problems may actually contribute to psychiatric disorders.

Americans are notoriously sleep deprived, but those with psychiatric conditions are even more likely to be yawning or groggy during the day. Chronic sleep problems affect 50% to 80% of patients in a typical psychiatric practice, compared with 10% to 18% of adults in the general U.S. population. Sleep problems are particularly common in patients with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Traditionally, clinicians treating patients with psychiatric disorders have viewed insomnia and other sleep disorders as symptoms. But studies in both ...

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Researchers are exploring new ways to treat or even prevent anxiety disorders.

The dramatic landing of U.S. Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River in January 2009, and the subsequent rescue of all 155 people aboard, was a testament not only to good aviation training, but also to the calm and focused demeanor of the plane's pilot and crew during the crisis. But in several interviews afterward, Capt. Chesley Sullenberger and his crew spoke of experiencing flashbacks, feeling distracted, and having trouble sleeping — all typical reactions following a trauma.

Although plane crashes fortunately are rare, people live through ...

Patients with this chronic pain syndrome often also suffer from anxiety or depression.

About 2% of Americans — more women than men — suffer from fibromyalgia. Primarily a chronic pain syndrome, fibromyalgia may also cause sleep disturbances, thinking difficulties, and fatigue. Although it is classified as an inflammatory disorder of the musculoskeletal system, evidence is growing that fibromyalgia may be a disorder of the central nervous system.

Bolstering this view is the fact that patients with fibromyalgia often suffer from anxiety or depression. And some patients who suffer only from a psychiatric disorder may develop somatic symptoms that mimic ...

Data from a longitudinal study in New Zealand suggest that people with an alcohol dependency may be more likely to develop major depression.

People with bipolar disorder who maintain long-term lithium therapy may gain some protection against developing dementia.

Commentary The pleasure we take from other people's pain My friend, a diehard baseball fan, is very happy whenever the Boston Red Sox win. He told me recently, however, that he is just as happy when the team's archrivals, the New York Yankees, lose. Now, thanks to a group of Japanese researchers, we have some scientific evidence that my friend's feelings are normal for Red Sox fans. And when the Red Sox lose, the same feelings are normal for Yankees fans.

The Germans call it schadenfreude, or taking pleasure (freude) when someone else — especially someone who is envied — ...