PsychBriefs: May 26 - June 1, 2007

Our weekly wrap-up of news, interesting research, and noteworthy happenings in the worlds of psychiatry, psychology, and social work.

Concussions Tied To Depression
A study of 2,552 retired NFL football players shows that receiving multiple concussions is directly related to levels of depression. Of the 595 players with three or more concussions, 20 percent reported depression, three times the rate of other players. These findings support previous research tying brain trauma to depression.
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Doctors Rarely Ask New Mothers About Depression
Although approximately 13 percent of new mothers experience postpartum depression, a survey of 228 North Carolina physicians who see women for postpartum visits reveals that 79 percent were unlikely to formally screen the patients for depression.
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Fetal Exposure To Smoking Increases Risk Of ADHD
A study of male and female twin pairs aged 7 to 19 shows that in utero exposure to smoking significantly raises the chances of genetically susceptible children developing attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Researchers further note that ADHD increases the chances of substance abuse, meaning that this exposure may perpetuate a cycle of addiction over several generations.
[ARTICLE][ABSTRACT]

Children Have Innate Talent For Approximation Prior to Math Instruction
Harvard University researchers have shown that children can successfully perform approximate addition and subtraction by the age of 5, despite having never learned of symbolic arithmatic, suggesting that many children's math difficulties are caused by the need to produce a precise number.
[ARTICLE]

Anger Can Actually Help You Think More Clearly
The popular conception that anger negates rational thinking isn't always true, shows research from the University of California, Santa Barbara. In a series of three studies, they found that angry subjects could better discriminate between good and bad arguments and that anger actually increased analytical thinking.
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