HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – A major breakthrough in mental health care: scientists have developed a new tool that may better help diagnose people with mental health issues.
Researchers studied the biological basis of mood disorders and developed a blood test using RNA markers to help distinguish between general depression and bipolar disorder.
“One of the most difficult conundrums that we face in the mental health field is differentiating bi-polar disorder from we call unipolar depression and why that’s important is the medication we use for depression, if given to someone who has bipolar disorder can actually make them worse,” said psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Bober.
He said researchers used the experiences and observations of previous studies to develop the blood test.
And a study out of the U.K. found that poor sleep among people age fifty and older is linked to more negative perceptions of aging.
Researchers surveyed nearly 4,500 people in that fifty plus age range and found that those who rated their sleep at the lowest end of the scale not only felt worse about aging they also felt older.
The study authors said the findings are an important part of the growing body of evidence about the crucial role of sleep in healthy aging.