Tuesday, October 22, 2002

NAMI Alert: Congress Links Guns to Mental Illness
NAMI press release - "Spurred by an outrageous, stigmatizing CBS' 60 Minutes broadcast on October 13 that speculatively linked the still unknown sniper in the Greater Washington area to mental illness (along with other inaccuracies) the House of Representatives this week passed, without any hearing or formal vote, a bill introduced by Senator Charles Schumer and Representative Carolyn McCarthy of New York. This bill enforces an obscure 1968 federal law through 'incentive grants' to states and local governments to report to the the FBI any person 'adjudicated as mentally defective.' Their names would then be included in the National Instant Criminal Background Check (NCIC) system for selling guns, including those for hunting or sport target shooting." NAMI considers the bill "over-broad, stigmatizing, and a threat to privacy and confidentiality," and is organizing opposition to the Senate version.  
  

Community Anti-Drug Campaigns Found Ineffective
Press release from the Center for the Advancement of Health on a study published in the October American Journal of Preventive Medicine - "Broad community initiatives that use local coalitions to reduce alcohol and drug abuse are largely ineffective and may even have a negative effect for some goals, according to a new study of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Fighting Back campaign."  
  

Schizophrenia Has Different Sub-Types Linked To Problems In Different Parts Of The Brain
APA press release at InteliHealth on a study published in the October issue of Neuropsychology, in which a seven-neuroscientist team linked schizophrenic subtypes with different memory problems and different brain anatomies - "Schizophrenia may not be one single disease but rather an array of disorders whose psychiatric and cognitive symptoms vary according to which part of the brain is affected and to what degree."  
  

Accomplished academic despite schizophrenia to be honoured (Canada)
Canadian Press story on Austin Mardon, who is being honored at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta. Mardon is "an Alberta man who has distinguished himself as a professor, author and advocate for the mentally ill despite his own schizophrenia."  
  

Mental health patients encouraged to vote (Alabama)
Messenger story on a new statewide program by the Alabama Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation that's designed to educate citizens with disabilities about the importance of making an informed choice in the upcoming November elections.  
  

Mental health group on the move (Kansas)
Capital-Journal article - "A mental health organization formed to combat the advent of managed health care in the 1980s has branched into a multi-faceted corporation serving all 105 Kansas counties. And The Consortium Inc. is now looking to expand its coverage outside of the state borders."  
  

When mentally ill inmates are freed and sent home directly from isolation, it's often a nightmare for unprepared (New York)
An Albany Times Union story which notes that "Correction officials are attempting to address this gap by opening a 30-bed unit this year at Sing Sing prison. The experimental unit is geared specifically for mentally ill inmates approaching their release date. OMH and Division of Parole staff members will cooperate to enhance discharge planning and provide 'reach in' services for inmates before their release."  
  

Mental health reform 'dynamic, strategic' (North Carolina)
Story in The Robesonian Online about a presentation and public forum on a statewide reform program by the director of the N.C. Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services.  
  

Stop jailing mentally ill, says prisons chief (UK)
Story in the Independent- "Martin Narey, the head of the Prison Service, has condemned as 'shameful' the jailing of thousands of mentally ill people for committing crimes, when what they need is medical treatment."  
  

Hospitals dread loss of aid to uninsured (Massachusetts)
Business Today story - "In April, about 50,000 of Massachusetts' neediest residents stand to lose their health care coverage, unleashing a force that some say threatens to break the state's already fraying medical safety net."