Monday, October 21, 2002
Clinical Management of Bipolar Disorder A new CME unit from
Medscape which includes information on clinical features and diagnosis, treatment and emerging research. References are included. [Viewing
Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].
Federal Initiatives Allow Office-Based Treatment of Opioid Dependence Reuters Health story at
Medscape - "New federal initiatives allow specially trained physicians to offer office-based treatment of opioid dependence, according to a report in the October 15th
Annals of Internal Medicine. Methadone maintenance treatment programs have long been used in the management of opioid dependence, the authors explain, but federal regulations designed to prevent illicit distribution of opioids severely limited their availability." The story notes that these new initiatives "will foster broader treatment of opioid-dependent individuals." [Viewing
Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].
New York Stops Putting Mentally Ill in Lockups New York Times article - "Officials at state psychiatric hospitals in New York ordered social workers this week to stop sending discharged patients to locked units in private nursing homes. The move ends a six-year-old practice that was supposed to help scale back the state's costly psychiatric system but has raised civil rights concerns." [Viewing
New York Times resources requires registration, which is free].
'Prisoners in body and mind' (New York) Albany Times Union story - "As mental hospitals empty out, more mentally ill people wind up in a prison system poorly equipped to handle them." Although the focus of the story is on upstate New York, it includes a good overview of deinstitutionalization's impact on prison populations and mental illness
Heroin makes comeback (Illinois) Northwest Herald Online story on how rehab clinics statewide have seen a 500 percent increase in heroin addiction between 1997 and 2001, according to records from the Illinois Department of Mental Health.
Longer waits, limited services could be coming (Virginia) Article in the
Progress-Index - "Case workers could have bigger loads and crisis response could be a step slower as emergency budget cuts have trimmed the programs of community service providers, which already have terminated entire programs to stay fiscally sound. Meanwhile, the possibility of future cuts in Medicaid threatens many more services, local officials said."
Study Holds Promise For Stroke, Schizophrenia Treatments ScienceDaily Magazine article on research published in the October 18 issue of
Cell - "Researchers at the University of Toronto and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) have discovered a communication link between proteins in the brain that could lead to improved treatments for psychiatric disorders and stroke."
Oregon to vote on single-payer health care system American Medical News story on the Oregon ballot item that would "cobble together funding streams -- including personal and employer taxes, federal health programs and the state workers' compensation system -- to create a single-payer system that would provide health care to every person in the state."
Magellan Health Services sails into rough financial waters American Medical News story on the Columbia, Md.-based behavioral health insurer, which manages mental health benefits for such plans as Aetna and TennCare, and "is struggling under declining membership and a $1 billion debt load that had investors pushing its stock price so low, the company got kicked off the New York Stock Exchange."
Patients wishing to stop taking SSRIs should seek professional advice first Article in the
Pharmaceutical Journal Online (UK) - "Patients concerned that they may experience withdrawal effects when they stop taking their prescribed antidepressant should not do anything sudden and should discuss the matter with their doctor or with a psychiatric pharmacist, Stephen Bazire, pharmacy services director, Norfolk Mental Health Care NHS Trust, said this week. His comments follow a Panorama programme broadcast on 13 October that looked at the problems some patients have had while being treated with paroxetine (Seroxat)."
