Friday, November 15, 2002
Heroin Reaches the Well-to-Do Adolescent Population Article in the
Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter at
Medscape - "The Caron Foundation, one of the nation's foremost rehabilitation centers, has witnessed a dramatic change in the demographics of its adolescent patients. Recently there has been an increased number of young heroin addicts entering Caron's adolescent treatment center. In 1995 patients admitted were almost exclusively male; now, female patients whose drug of choice is heroin outnumber males by two to one. In general, this new generation of heroin users is monied, suburban and young."
NAMI: Perfect Storms Threaten Medicaid Mental Health Care Services Article at the NAMI web site - "Several economic forces are in play that are likely to impact the financing and delivery of needed services for people with serious mental illnesses. At the core of this tension are deteriorating economic outlooks and declining revenue which have strained state budgets."
Health Woes, Past Domestic Violence Linked Brief
South Bend Tribune article reprinted at
PsycPORT - "Men and women who have been abused by their intimate partners are more likely to develop physical and mental health problems later in life, suggests a new study from the University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston."
Teen-age girls, depression, alcoholism, and brain activity University of Connecticut Health Center press release on a study in the November issue of
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research that "examines teen-age girls with a history of depression, rather than active depression, to see if they exhibit a subtle abnormality in brain function. The study also investigates if the presence of depression or alcoholism among family members exaggerates the abnormality in brain function."
MHMR wins $308,933 grant (Texas) Herald Democrat story - "Mental Health Mental Retardation Services of Texas has been awarded $308,933 from the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund Board for telemedicine equipment and training....Computer sites will also be set up at various locations to allow consumers and family members to have interenet access for research related to mental illness and developmental disabilities. It will reduce travel costs for meetings and training that occur across the 3 county area and will allow more direct care time with clients. It will also allow more rapid and current oversight of client treatment and progress because licensed staff can meet them and review their progress via video conferencing. Clients and families will have access to the Internet to research issues and resources related to mental illness and mental retardation."
Hospital faces still more complaints (Virginia) Daily Press story - "State mental health officials are looking into two more complaints against Woodside Hospital, a Newport News treatment center for troubled teens that is already under state investigation."
Michael Wilson sees progress in corporate attitudes towards mental illness (Canada) Canadian Press story - "Driven by the 1995 suicide of his depressed son, former finance minister Michael Wilson brought his campaign for mental health awareness to Bay Street on Thursday. Wilson emerged from a four-hour meeting with dozens of business executives to report momentum for his cause, namely to promote sympathy, early detection and treatment of mental disabilities in the workplace."
