schizophrenia news stories on Newser

Bad News for Lefties: You Have More Health Risks

Evann Gastaldo — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 10:34:05 CST

About 10% of the population is left-handed, but a disproportionate amount of people with schizophrenia—20%—are lefties. Schizophrenia is just one of a number of psychiatric and developmental disorders that are more common in left-handed people, including dyslexia, ADHD, language difficulties, and mood disorders. Researchers think this could have...

Judge Rules Jared Loughner Can Be Forcibly Medicated

Mark Russell — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 07:00:00 CDT

A judge ruled yesterday that accused Tucson gunman Jared Loughner can be forced to take antipsychotic drugs in an attempt to make him mentally fit to stand trial, reports the LA Times . Defense attorneys for the schizophrenic Loughner had tried to block him from being medicated without his consent , but...

Pot Hastens Schizophrenia

Mark Russell — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 08:29:23 CDT

Those at risk of mental illness are likely to hurry the onset of schizophrenia by 2.7 years simply by smoking pot, reports Miller-McCune . “The earlier the disease starts, the greater the social disruption it causes," says Michael Compton, one of the report's authors. "You’re less likely to finish high...

Hitler Shot Up Testosterone, Strychnine

Mary Papenfuss — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 02:36:00 CST

Adolph Hitler had regular injections of dextrose and vitamins, testosterone and a flatulence preventative that included minute doses of the nerve agent strychnine, according to a new book. For an added boost on date nights with Eva Braun the fuhrer indulged in a shot of bull semen extract. War Hitler...

Genius, Madness Linked to Gene

Rob Quinn — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 03:45:00 CDT

The reason why many creative people like Vincent Van Gogh show self-destructive tendencies is in the genes, researchers have discovered. Scientists in a new study found that volunteers identified as the most creative also had the highest levels of a gene variant associated with psychosis and depression, the Daily Telegraph...

Megan Fox Should Stop Talking

Kevin Spak — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:59:59 CDT

Though she's the star of two Transformers movies, “which I guess is an 'accomplishment' of sorts," Megan Fox's real talent has nothing to do with acting, but “lies in her seemingly endless arsenal of opinions, ” writes James Brady Ryan of Nerve. “She’s accumulated a list of sound bites much longer...

Cops Catch Insane Killer Who Fled Field Trip in Wash.

Neal Colgrass — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 19:59:11 CDT

A schizophrenic killer who ducked out of a mental hospital field trip has been caught in south-central Washington, the Spokesman-Review reports. Phillip A. Paul, 47, slipped away at the Spokane County Interstate Fair on Thursday and triggered a police manhunt. A sherriff's deputy caught him today trying to hitch a...

Insane Asylums Weren't So Bad: Oliver Sacks

Neal Colgrass — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 17:35:45 CDT

Mental health experts have lost touch with the benefits of old-fashioned insane asylums, where patients once enjoyed a sense of community and jobs like cleaning and farming, Oliver Sacks writes in the New York Review of Books . Touching on a new book of Christopher Payne photographs called Asylum —which offers...

I Have a Mental Problem: Megan Fox

Sarah Quinn — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:12:51 CDT

Transformers star Megan Fox says she's mentally ill and fears she'll end up like her idol, Marilyn Monroe, the Sun reports. "I could end up like that because I constantly struggle with the idea that I think I'm a borderline personality—or that I have bouts of mild schizophrenia," Fox...