Marijuana use has increased nationwide over recent decades and health experts are concerned about its long-term impact on cognitive functioning, especially memory. Some recent studies on marijuana use and cognitive functioning have shown recovery of functioning upon abstinence from the drug, while others have demonstrated long-term, persistent effects, particularly among individuals who begin using marijuana at a...

Schizophrenia is a polygenic disorder with common, rare, and structural variants. These variants each contribute only a small fraction of overall risk for developing the disease. To improve understanding of synaptic and functional deterioration shared by large proportions of individuals with schizophrenia, scientists including Melanie Grubisha, MD, PhD; Matthew MacDonald, PhD; David Lewis, MD; and Robert Sweet, MD...

In a recent American Journal of Psychiatry study, Pitt Psychiatry investigators examined the association between function in the brain’s reward circuitry and response to psychotherapy in youths with anxiety disorders. Recent research has indicated the importance of reward in the pathophysiology and treatment of anxiety, suggesting the potential involvement of reward circuitry in treatment response. The team of...

Antipsychotic drugs can cause metabolic dysfunction that increases the risk for developing type 2 diabetes. These medications block dopamine D2-like receptors, including D2 and D3 receptors, which are expressed in pancreatic β-cells (in addition to the central nervous system). Dopamine and norepinephrine are catecholamines that act in the pancreas as peripheral regulators of metabolism. Pancreatic catecholamine...

Investigators at Pitt Psychiatry have recently published studies in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) and Translational Psychiatry on the molecular biology of the human brain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS): Diurnal rhythms across the human dorsal and ventral striatum In a paper recently published in...

Congratulations to Carla Mazefsky, PhD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology), & Sarah Stahl, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical and Translational Science), who have received Medical Student Research Mentoring Merit Awards from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Research Mentoring Merit Awards recognize outstanding Longitudinal Research Project mentorship of graduating...

Two recent studies from the Department of Psychiatry have enhanced our understanding of the role of cortical GABA neurons in health and disease. In Biological Psychiatry, Pitt Psychiatry investigators analyzed indices of parvalbumin-expressing basket cells axon terminals across regions of the visuospatial working memory network in schizophrenia. A paper published in Cerebral Cortex examines GABA neuron transcript...

We are delighted to announce that Boris Birmaher, MD (Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Endowed Chair in Early Onset Bipolar Disease) has received the Award for Leadership in Child, Adolescent and Young Adult Psychiatry from the American College of Psychiatrists. The Award recognizes an individual who has made sustained and substantial contributions to child, adolescent and young adult mental health as...

New research from Pitt Psychiatry investigators provides insight into the development of anxiety, depression, and/or bipolar in adolescence. A Biological Psychiatry study examines the association between trauma exposure, reward neural circuitry function, and affective and anxiety disorders. In the Journal of Affective Disorders, investigators study whether child maltreatment and cognitive function influence the...

Children and adolescents with autism are nine times more likely than peers without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to require emergency room visits for psychiatric reasons, and twelve times more likely to require psychiatric hospitalization by age 21. Additionally, research suggests that poor emotion regulation is associated with a higher likelihood of co-occurring psychiatric disorders. The Emotion Dysregulation...