University of Houston Associate Professor of Social Work Patrick Bordnick is has alcohol-dependent individuals donning virtual reality helmets to answer this question. So far, the answer appears to be yes.

Forty participants not receiving treatment for their dependency were placed in alcohol-laden virtual environments such as bars and parties. The environments included featured alcoholic drinks within easy reach, aromas associated with the settings and computer generated characters.

His report published in the journal Addictive Behaviors shows that subjects found the virtual settings "realistic and compelling." They reported experiencing increasing cravings for alcohol in the environments.

These findings suggest virtual cues are realistic enough to assess and treat real-life addictions. Virtual environments may also help individuals recovering from phobias and post-traumatic stress syndrome and are currently available for veterans and people trying to overcome a fear of public speaking.

ABSTRACT: Assessing reactivity to virtual reality alcohol based cues

For six years, researchers studied 8,556 college-educated individuals with an average age of 42. During this time, 190 smokers who did not previously suffer depression were diagnosed with the disease. An additional 65 reported taking antidepressant medication.

Overall, smokers were found to be 41 percent more likely to develop depression than non-smokers. Interestingly, the group least likely to develop depression was former smokers who had quit at least a decade earlier.

The research also noted that an increase in tobacco use was correlated with a lessening of physical activity in the smoker's free time. Previous research has shown physical activity to have a substantial impact on mood.

Read more: Smokers have a 41% higher risk of suffering depression, according to research from the University of Navarra

The study examined more than 7000 adolescents and their parents. Results showed that 20.5 percent of boys and 20.3 percent of girls smoked. By age 17, the rate of smoking rises to 40 percent of teens, with the average teen smoker taking up the habit at 14.

Whether friends smoked was found to be a strong predictor of individual smoking status, while parental smoking did not have a marked impact.

FULL TEXT: Smoking and Passive Smoking Exposure in Young People (PDF)

More than 1300 children were monitored for the study. All were known to have suffered previous maltreatment or to be at risk. Primary caregivers were interviewed when the child was age 4, 6 and 8.

Results showed that children who were neglected in the first two years of life showed increased levels of aggression, defined as arguing, disobedience, cruel behavior, destruction of property, threatening, fighting, or engaging in physical attacks, at ages 4 and 8 and proved to be a stronger predictor of later aggression than early abuse or later neglect or abuse.

ABSTRACT: Importance of Early Neglect for Childhood Aggression

The study examined 486 people between the ages of 60 and 90. Of these, 134 had experienced at least one episode of depression during their lives for which they sought medical attention.

Subjects were monitored for approximately six years. During this time, 33 developed Alzheimer's disease. Those with a history of depression were 2.5 times more likely to develop the disease. If the depression had occurred before age 60, this rate increased to nearly four times.

Researchers speculate this relationship between depression and Alzheimer's disease may occur because depression causes a loss of brain cells in the amygdala and hippocampus which later contributes to the development of Alzheimer's.

ABSTRACT: History of depression, depressive symptoms, and medial temporal lobe atrophy and the risk of Alzheimer disease

For their study, "Misery is not Miserly: Sad and Self-Focused Individuals Spend More," 33 test subjects were randomly assigned to watch a sad or neutral video clip. Next, those subjects who watched the sad clip wrote about how a similar situation would affect them personally. Subjects who watched to neutral clip wrote about their daily activities.

Each participant was compensated $10 for their participation. After the first part of the study, they were shown a plastic sports drinking bottle and asked, in increasing 50 cent increments, whether they would be willing to exchange a given amount of their earnings for the bottle.

After this step, subjects were asked how intensely they felt a variety of emotions including "depressed," "indifferent" and "sad."

Subjects who watched the sad video rated themselves significantly sadder than those who had watched the neutral clip. Interestingly, these sad subjects also offered an average of about 300 percent more for the water bottle at an average price of $2.11 versus $0.56.

To determined how self-focused each participant was, independent coders rated each participant's writing response for use of words such as "I," "me" and myself." The more a subject used these words, the more self-focused he or she was rated.

Ultimately, researchers found that sadness had a great impact on spending in self-focused individuals, but little impact on less self-focused subjects.

FULL TEXT: Misery is not Miserly: Sad and Self-Focused Individuals Spend More

Studying a diverse group of 781 teens, researchers for the University of Minnesota School of Public Health Project Eating Among Teens (EAT) found that almost two-thirds of teens have a television in their bedroom. Those that did watched between four and five more hours of television each week. They also ate fewer vegetables and fruit and had fewer meals with their family.

Grades also suffered. Students with their own televisions spent less time studying and had lower grade point averages (2.6 versus 2.9).

The study's authors recommend refraining from passing along old television sets to teens and even removing existing sets.

ABSTRACT: Characteristics Associated With Older Adolescents Who Have a Television in Their Bedrooms

Almost 40 percent of these infants were mistreated in their first month of life, 7.6 percent in the first week. Most (68.5 percent) of these cases involved neglect, while 13.2 percent were categorized as physical abuse.

The results are especially alarming in light of recent research showing that in addition to an increased risk of substance abuse, eating disorders and other problems, the effects of child abuse also include a heightened sensitivity to pain.

A study on Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) appearing in the February 2008 edition of Gastroentology showed that sufferers of the disorder with a history of physical or sexual abuse were more sensitive to painful stimuli than those without a history of abuse. Brain imaging showed that abused patients showed greater activity in regions of the brain connected to sensation and emotion and reduced activity in areas associated with pain inhibition.

REPORT: Nonfatal Maltreatment of Infants --- United States, October 2005--September 2006

The first study followed 591 young adults for 20 years. Results showed that the prevalence and severity of insomnia increased with age. Episodes of insomnia lasting two weeks or longer had a high chance of predicting an episode of major depression, revealing the sleep disorder as not just a symptom, but a cause of depression.

The second study focused on depression and dysthymia patients age 60 or older who experienced persistent, intermediate or no insomnia. Subjects were assessed for depression and insomnia at six and 12 month intervals. In this case, insomnia was found to perpetuate depression: Patients with insomnia were 1.8 to 3.5 times more likely to remain depressed than subjects without.

About 30 percent of adults suffer from symptoms of insomnia, potentially putting themselves at risk for depression as well as obesity, diabetes and attention and memory problems.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) recommends avoiding insomnia by maintaining a consistent sleep schedule, avoiding exercise, big meals and stimulants such as caffeine before sleeping and establishing a relaxing setting at bedtime.

ABSTRACT: Prevalence, Course, and Comorbidity of Insomnia and Depression in Young Adults

ABSTRACT: Is Insomnia a Perpetuating Factor for Late-Life Depression in the IMPACT Cohort?

A new study of 6,583 people age 40 to 45 has found that those with the largest waist circumferences were almost three times as likely to develop dementia 36 years later compared to those with the least amount of abdominal fat. This risk increased even if subjects were of normal weight with larger waists.

Larger waist measurements also increase risk of heart disease and diabetes and prior studies have linked diabetes and Alzheimer's, even going so far as to suggest that Alzheimer's is a third type of diabetes.

However, this study found that the relationship between larger waists and Alzheimer's existed even independently of diabetes and cardiovascular problems.

ABSTRACT: Central obesity and increased risk of dementia more than three decades later

Psychologist Gian Gonzaga studied 60 coupled undergraduates who were asked to select a photo of a member of the opposite sex they found particularly attractive then write a short explanation of why they found that person particularly alluring.

Subjects were then divided into three groups. The first was asked to write about the moment they felt the most love for their current partner, the second to recall the most intense sexual experience of their lives and the third to free write about whatever they chose. They were also instructed not to think about the attractive individual from the earlier photo, but to tick a box each time their minds strayed.

Individuals who wrote about love strayed three times less than those who focused on sex and six times less than those who had no focus.

According to the report, these results illustrate love's role as a "commitment device" which makes other opportunities look less attractive compared to one's partner.

ABSTRACT: Love, desire, and the suppression of thoughts of romantic alternatives

Research from the current edition of the journal Science shows that even for people with little to spend, the greater percentage of income used for charity or gifts, the greater levels of personal happiness.

For the first part of the study, Professor Elizabeth Dunn of the University of British Columbia examined a sample of 630 Americans for the study. Participants reported their income and monthly spending and rated their own happiness. Results showed a direct correlation between spending on others or charity and levels of happiness.

The research also tracked a group of workers who received profit-sharing bonuses ranging from $3000 to $8000. What determined the workers' happiness was not the size of their bonus, but who they spent it on.

In a final experiment, 46 student participants were given either $5 or $20 to spend either on themselves or on others. Those who spent the money on others reported feeling happier at the end of the day than those who spent it on themselves.

ABSTRACT: Spending Money on Others Promotes Happiness

Studying 900 adult survivors of childhood abuse, researchers found that survivors with a specific variation in a stress-related gene scored more than twice as high for signs of PTSD. Not surprisingly, the risk for PTSD also further increased with the severity of the abuse.

ABSTRACT: Association of FKBP5 Polymorphisms and Childhood Abuse With Risk of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms in Adults

The research examined 140 girls with hyperactive and/or inattentive ADHD and 88 without the disorder. The girls were first assessed between the ages of six and 12 and five years later.

Results showed that girls with combined inattentive and hyperactive ADHD had the greatest chance of experiencing symptoms of bulimia. Levels of impulsiveness at the first assessment were the best predictor of whether girls would develop the disorder.

Compared to their non-ADHD peers, girls with ADHD were also more likely to be overweight, experience peer rejection and report poor parental relationships. These three criteria were tied to an increased incidence of bulimia regardless of ADHD status.

ABSTRACT: Eating pathology among adolescent girls with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder