Monday, September 16, 2002

The Well Being of our Nation: An Inter-Generational Vision of Effective Mental Health Services and Supports
National Council on Disability. "This report examines some of the root causes of the crisis in mental health, and seeks to 'connect the dots' concerning the dysfunction of a number of public systems that are charged with providing mental health services and supports for children, youth, adults and seniors who have been diagnosed with mental illnesses. This report is intended to provide an overview and is not a comprehensive review of all that is known about the public mental health system and its shortcomings."  
  

Panel Seeks New Standards on Involuntary Commitment (Utah)
Salt Lake Tribune story reprinted at PsycPORT - "Members of a legislative task force studying Utah's involuntary commitment law agreed Thursday to move forward with a proposal that would change the standards for hospitalizing or treating mentally ill people against their will."  
  

Drug hope for manic depression
BBC story on quetiapine (sold under the brand name Seroquel) and a major clinical trial that suggests it is an effective treatment for those with bipolar disorder - "Professor Gary Sachs from Harvard Medical School in the United States who headed the study said the drug was more effective than some existing treatments."  
  

Special wards lend aid to mentally-ill gays (Pennsylvania)
Philadelphia Inquirer story on a unit for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender patients, designed to "provide an emotionally safe environment for those facing stigmas on two fronts. Often patients are not accepted by others with mental illness because of their sexual orientation and feel like outcasts in the gay community because of the mental illness."  
  

Mental health agency taking 6 percent cut (Oklahoma)
Story in The Oklahoman - "On the heels of plunging state budget revenues in August, Oklahoma's mental health director said Thursday he is ordering statewide programs cut by $10 million. Mental health director Terry Cline said the agency's projected $150 million budget will be reduced by more than 6 percent for the rest of this fiscal year, which means funds going to the 20 community mental health centers must be cut." See also Mental health center shifts to state asset - "A budget crunch coupled with an overload at a Norman hospital led the Board of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services to shift from contractual services to becoming the first state-run mental health site in Tulsa."  
  

Advocacy group urges state to correct system for mentally ill children (Missouri)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch story on a report by Citizens for Missouri's Children which indicates that the state "fails to treat many mentally ill children because of shortcomings in its Medicaid system, inadequate spending and a confusing maze of state agencies."  
  

Budget cuts threaten mental health programs (South Carolina)
AP story at the Herald Tribune on possible midyear budget cuts to state agencies thaT could threaten a program "aimed at getting mentally ill patients out of costly hospital emergency rooms."  
  

Suicide strategy published (UK)
BBC story on the publication of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy, which includes measures designed "to reach the 50% of people who commit suicide who have had no contact with psychiatric health services."