Experts are divided about the potential harm, but agree on some steps parents can take to protect children.

Blood and gore. Intense violence. Strong sexual content. Use of drugs. These are just a few of the phrases that the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) uses to describe the content of several games in the Grand Theft Auto series, one of the most popular video game series among teenagers. The Pew Research Center reported in 2008 that 97% of youths ages 12 to 17 played some type of video game, and that two-thirds of them played action and adventure games that ...

Used early on, this hybrid therapy may improve mental and social functioning.

Difficulties in thinking and socializing, known as "negative" symptoms, often develop in patients with schizophrenia and typically persist even after hallucinations, delusions, and other "positive" symptoms of the disorder are under control. Various types of cognitive remediation therapies exist to improve mental and social functioning, but most have been studied only in patients with chronic schizophrenia.

In a study testing a cognitive intervention earlier in the schizophrenia disease process, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh published a series of papers about a randomized controlled trial evaluating a ...

It is best to combine several psychological strategies.

Surveys report that 13% to 24% of people are afraid of going to the dentist. In most cases, dental anxiety is unpleasant but does not interfere with health. People whose dental fear is severe, however, may so dread the thought of going to the dentist that they cancel appointments, delay seeking care, and sometimes wind up needing more invasive and painful procedures as a result — thereby meeting some of the criteria for specific phobia described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV).

In the DSM-IV, ...

The TORDIA study suggests options when initial drug treatment fails.

After six months of treatment with either an antidepressant or psychotherapy, about 60% of adolescents newly diagnosed with major depression attain remission. The Treatment of Resistant Depression in Adolescents (TORDIA) study was designed to determine how best to treat those youths who have not obtained adequate relief after one medication.

This government-funded randomized controlled trial enrolled 334 youths ages 12 to 18, newly diagnosed with major depression or dysthymia, who had not responded sufficiently to at least eight weeks of initial treatment with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). ...

Researchers interviewed people with bipolar disorder to learn what strategies they used to manage their symptoms and avoid relapse.

The feeling of fullness is a result of the complex interaction between the digestive tract and the brain via hormones and neurotransmitters.

Q. Is it true that some antidepressants might cause cataracts?

A. One large observational study in Canada — the first of its type — suggested that patients using selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) were more at risk of developing cataracts than people who were not taking these drugs. It may be helpful to keep in mind that this was just one study using retrospective data, and it does not prove cause and effect. For several reasons, I'm advising my patients to continue getting the eye exams their ophthalmologists recommend, but not to get too alarmed ...