Thursday, September 19, 2002

Screening for Depression Across the Lifespan: A Review of Measures for Use in Primary Care Settings
Article in American Family Physician - "Identifying patients with depression can be difficult in busy primary care settings where time is limited, but certain depression screening measures may help physicians diagnose the disorder." An Adobe Acrobat version of the article is also available.  
  

Mental Health Parity Opponents Make Their Case in US Congress
Reuters Health story at Medscape - "Even as key members of the US Congress continue negotiations with the Bush administration over how to guarantee parity between insurance benefits for mental illness and those for other ailments, opponents of the leading bill in Congress argued on Tuesday that its enactment would be a mistake." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration which is free]. See also Mental Health Parity: Opponents Raise Concerns at Forum at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation web site.  
  

Criminal Justice Primer for State Mental Health Agencies
Report prepared by William Kanapaux for the National Technical Assistance Center for State Mental Health Planning. As noted in the introduction, "The purpose of this document is to offer decision makers and their staffs a basic understanding of the growing overlap between the criminal justice and mental health systems. The number of people with serious mental illness who are involved in the criminal justice system has grown considerably in recent years and shows no signs of abating. Resolving the problem will require a level of coordination rarely seen between the two systems, which traditionally have had divergent missions and cultures. The mental health system is designed to provide treatment while the criminal justice system functions to protect the public. When a mental health system is unable, for whatever reason, to provide the treatment and supports necessary for an individual to function within the community, the involvement of law enforcement increases." (Adobe Acrobat)  
  

U.S. Official Warns of Teen Pot Use
ABC News story - "The nation's drug policy director warned parents Tuesday against trivializing the dangers of marijuana to their kids, warning them that more teens are addicted to pot than to alcohol or to all other illegal drugs combined."  
  

Psychiatrists’ departure forces Mental health division closure (Montana)
Helena Independent Record story - "The departure of two psychiatrists has led to what’s being called a temporary closure of the Support Center, the six-bed mental health division of St. Peter’s Hospital."  
  

The life and death of the city's drug court (Connecticut)
Yale Daily News feature on an experimental drug court program that was ended in August by the state's chief administrative judge, citing "a huge state budget deficit."  
  

Federal Audit: DCF Failing (Connecticut)
Hartford Courant story - "A federal audit of Connecticut's child-protection system shows the state still lags far behind national standards in finding permanent homes for children in foster care despite some recent successes."  
  

Judge puts AMHC wing closure on hold (Illinois)
Story in The Telegraph - "The union representing workers at the Alton Mental Health Center's civil wing won a round in court Wednesday by persuading a judge to order the state to obtain a permit before closing the unit."  
  

Facilities for juveniles lacking (California)
Story in the Appeal-Democrat - "Legislation on the governor's desk pressuring counties to move children out of juvenile halls into nonsecure facilities would hurt children in need of special treatment, according to Yuba and Sutter County probation agencies."  
  

Mental health reforms 'fundamentally flawed' (UK)
Story at the Guardian on a statement by the British Medical Association that "proposals in the draft mental health bill to detain people with untreatable mental disorders and to compulsorily treat patients living in the community were 'fundamentally flawed' and would hugely increase doctors' workloads."  
  

New mental health proposals for Scotland
Health News story on "a radical overhaul" of mental health legislation in Scotland "which will see the introduction of compulsory treatment orders in the community."  
  

Mental health charity gets $30,000 grant in settlement (Canada)
Canadian Press story - "Reach Nova Scotia, a charitable organization for the disabled, is getting a $30,000 grant from the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission as part of the settlement of a human rights complaint... to be allocated to projects to help people with mental disabilities access legal education and other advocacy and justice services."  
  

NIH News Release--NIH Awards Grants for Two New Autism Research Centers
NIH press release - "The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced grants totaling $19 million to support the first two research centers of a major network of facilities to focus on the biomedical and behavioral aspects of autism. The overall initiative, called STAART (Studies to Advance Autism Research and Treatment) Centers Program, was established in response to the Children’s Health Act of 2000, which calls for five new autism research centers by the end of FY 2003."