Friday, August 30, 2002

Report Highlights Need for Police Sensitivity to Mental Health
Article by Stephen Bartas in the August Psychiatric Times on the report by the Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project, in which Council of State Governments argues that police should be better trained to deal with mentally ill offenders.  
  

Grant targets mental health services for Hispanics (California)
Enterprise.com story on a $535,000 grant from The California Endowment to the Yolo Family Service Agency, which is "reaching out to meet the mental health needs of the county's Hispanic community through its Para La Familia program."  
  

Court affirms law restricting use of insanity defense (Tennessee)
Tenessean story on a decision by Tennessee's highest court yesterday upholding a state law that makes it harder for crime suspects to claim insanity. The decision also made it more difficult for an appeals court to second-guess a jury that has rejected an insanity plea.  
  

County to streamline social services  (New York)
Perinton - Fairport Post story on the reorganization of Monroe County social services, combining the departments of Social Services, Mental Health, Aging, the Youth Bureau and the Maternal and Child Health division of the Health Department into a new, single department, called Human and Health Services. The reorganization is expected to save $30M annually.  
  

Olanzapine Appears More Effective Than Divalproex In Treatment Of Bipolar Mania
"Patients with bipolar mania experienced a quicker time to remission and overall mania improvement when treated with olanzapine compared to those who received divalproex, researchers report." (Doctor's Guide to Psychiatry).  
  

Like Drugs, Talk Therapy Can Change Brain Chemistry
"New evidence suggests that psychotherapy, or the talking cure, and psychotropic medication have much more in common than had been thought. In fact, both produce surprisingly similar changes in the brain. By Richard A. Friedman, M.D." (New York Times)