(HealthDay News) -- Pregnancy alone isn't associated with an increased risk of mental health disorders, a new study says.

It's been suggested that pregnant women and those who've recently given birth are at high risk for psychiatric disorders, which can harm the health of their children, according to background information in the study.

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(HealthDay News) -- Being born extremely underweight may be a risk factor for a shy, cautious personality as an adult.

A study published in the July issue of Pediatrics finds that young adults who were born at extremely low birth weights were more likely to be shy, cautious and risk-averse than their counterparts who had been born at normal weights.

And that shy personality style may increase the odds of loneliness and decrease the odds of emotional well-being, heightening the risk for emotional problems, said the Canadian study authors.

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(HealthDay News) -- In 2006, when he was 17, Harrison Neal of Tulsa, Okla., died in his sleep after knowingly ingesting prescription drugs meant for someone else. "We're a very typical middle-class family from Tulsa," his father, Gary Neal, said. "And Harrison was a good kid. . . . He had a 3.5 grade average, a beautiful girlfriend, tons of very good friends, and he enjoyed all the normal kid stuff. " But Harrison Neal was also addicted to prescription drugs, a fact that was well-known to his family, who supported him in his struggle to overcome that addiction.

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FRIDAY, June 27 (HealthDay News) -- Buprenorphine helps heroin addicts stay clean, and widespread use of the drug could prove to be an effective public health measure, U.S. researchers say.

Their study of 126 detoxified heroin-dependent patients compared 24 weeks of treatment with naltrexone (a standard treatment), buprenorphine and placebo. The researchers compared maintenance of heroin abstinence, prevention of relapse, and reduction of HIV risk behavior in the three groups of patients.

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