At the May 23rd, 2005 annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association held in Atlanta, Dr. Alan Hirsch, the director of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation and assistant professor of both neurology and psychiatry at Rush Medical College in Chicago, presented his findings on a double-blinded study of 20 first-grade students and found that on days when students drank up to 12 ounces of caffeinated colas, they demonstrated more behavior problems compared to days when they did not consume the soft drinks or when they consumed caffeine-free colas. Dr. Hirsch partly concludes, "On the days that the children were drinking caffeinated drinks, their Connors scores increased an average of 5.5 points compared with the days when they were only drinking caffeine-free drinks. Children ages 6 to 11 years old conservatively drink an average of seven to eight oz of carbonated soda per day. This can have a substantial impact on children's behavior in school."
Massage increases natural killer cells in women with breast cancer
Dr. Reif-Hernandez and colleagues report that among women diagnosed with breast cancer who underwent either massage or progressive muscle relaxation therapy, those who did the massage ended up reporting less depression, less anger and increased vigor and also demonstrated increases in dopamine, Natural Killer cells and lymphocyte levels in their bodies. These immune factors have significant potential to impact the course or outcome of their breast cancer treatment. Dr. Dr. Reif-Hernandez partly concludes that these findings "highlight the benefit of these complementary therapies, most particularly massage therapy, for women with breast cancer."
International Journal of Neuroscience 2005 Apr; 115(4), 495-510
A home-based multi-systemic psychotherapy helps regimen adherence in Type 1 diabetic adolescents
Dr. D. A. Ellis and colleagues at Children's Hospital of Michigan showed that intensive, home-based psychotherapy called Multi-systemic therapy (MST) with 127 adolescents with Type 1 diabetes, improves the frequency of blood glucose testing, metabolic control and concomitantly, decreases inpatient admissions for those adolescents who had previously demonstrated chronically poor glucose control.
Dr. T. Stenlund and colleagues from the Heart Centre at University Hospital in Umea, Sweden conducted a randomized study with 94 elderly (73 years of age or older) coronary artery disease patients to see if a combination of Qigong and group discussions would increase physical ability. They found that those patients in the intervention group did in fact increase their self-estimated level of activity, their performance in a one-leg stance test for the right leg, as well as for over-all coordination and a box-climbing test for the right leg. Dr. Stenlund partly concludes, "A combination of Qi Gong and group discussions appear to be a promising rehabilitation for elderly cardiac patients in terms of improving self-reported physical activity, balance and co-ordination. This could be an option for elderly patients who do not participate in the ordinary cardiac rehabilitation." European Journal of Cardiovascular Preventive Rehabilitation 2005 Feb; 12 (1), 5-11
Fibromyalgia patients benefit from written emotional expression
Dr. Joan Broderick and colleagues conducted a randomized study of 92 people with fibromyalgia. Some were put in a trauma writing group, some in a control writing group and some in a usual care control group. The two writing groups wrote for 20 minutes on three days at 1-week intervals. Psychological well-being, pain, and fatigue were the primary outcome variables. Assessments were made at pretreatment, posttreatment, 4-month follow-up, and 10-month follow-up. The results showed that those attending the trauma writing group experienced significant reductions in pain and fatigue and gained over-all better psychological well-being at the 4-month follow-up relative to the control groups. However, the benefits gained were not maintained at the 10-month follow-up. Dr. Broderick partly concludes, "Fibromyalgia patients experienced short-term benefits in psychological and health variables through emotional expression of personal traumatic experiences."
OCD in kids may be triggered by streptococcal infection
Dr. Robert Davis from the Group Health Cooperative in Seattle, Washington reports that in a study comparing 144 children between the ages of four and 13 who received a first diagnosis of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Tourette's Disorder or tic disorder to healthy control children, he found an associative link between childhood group A beta-hemolytic streptococcal infection and these disorders. Children having this infection doubled their risk for being diagnosed with one of these disorders within three months of the infection. Those children who had multiple A beta-hemolytic streptococcal infections, tripled their risk of developing OCD, Tourette's or a tic disorder within 12 months following the multiple infections. Dr. Davis partly concludes by saying, "ÉThere is increasing evidence that genetics plays a pretty strong role in the pathogenesis of each of these disorders and I think one very valuable area of investigation is whether or not certain types of children who carry a genetic predisposition might be more prone to develop these disorders following strep infectionÉ(the findings)Élend epidemiologic evidence that pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders may arise as a result of a postinfection autoimmune phenomenon induced by childhood streptococcal infection."
Dr. Larry Lachman is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist with Inner Dimensions Group in Monterey, California, who specializes in Psycho-Oncology, Cardiac Psychology, Pain Management and Grief and Loss. Dr. Lachman is the co-author with Carmel Poet/Philosopher Ric Masten of a book on coping with cancer entitled, "Parallel Journeys." Dr. Lachman is also the Program Manager for the Graduate Psychology Program at Chapman University College in Monterey, as well as an adjunct instructor at the California School of Professional Psychology-At Alliant International University in San Francisco and the Graduate School of Professional Psychology at John F. Kennedy University in Campbell, California. Dr. Lachman can be reached through his web site at: http://www.ParallelJourneys-Cancer.com/
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Childhood hyperactivity and caffeinated colas 
