Monday, March 07, 2011

Madness or breasts

Talk about your unwanted side effects:
Researchers have found the female hormone estrogen can be an effective treatment for men suffering schizophrenia.

The Alfred Hospital's Psychiatry Research Centre in Melbourne tested the hormone treatment, usually reserved for women, and found positive results for men with the mental disorder.

The centre found low doses of estrogen given during a two-week trial reduced depression and anxiety symptoms.

But Professor Jayashri Kulkarni says using estrogen is controversial because it creates female traits such as breasts.

I see from Googling around that a report last year said that estrogen had already been found to be effective for some women with schizophrenia (in fact, Professor Kulkarni did that study at Monash as well.)

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