Monday, January 06, 2003

Employers Not Adequately Covering Alcohol Treatment
Story in Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly at Medscape - "An estimated 9.7 million Americans are dependent on alcohol, yet only 700,000 receive treatment each year, according to a study by Ensuring Solutions to Alcohol Problems, a new research unit of the George Washington University Medical Center funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Psychiatry 2002 Retrospective
Article by Robert Kennedy for the Medscape Psychiatry & Mental Health section of the Medscape web site, intended to "offer some perspectives, insights about the field, and perhaps inform you about features on the Medscape Psychiatry & Mental Health Web site that will be of interest." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Potential new treatment for people with manic depression
Press release from Shire health International - "AstraZeneca has announced that it has submitted an application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for quetiapine (Seroquel) to be granted a licence for the treatment of acute mania associated with bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness). The application to the FDA follows the completion of a comprehensive clinical trial programme in bipolar disorder undertaken by AstraZeneca."  
  

FDA OKs Prozac For Depressed
AP story at InteliHealth - "... the Food and Drug Administration declared Friday that there's finally proof that Prozac alleviates depression in children 8 years and older, the first drug among the newer antidepressants, which boost the mood regulator serotonin, to win such approval."  
  

North Carolina slow to reform services, critics say
Story in the Winston Salem Journal - "As other states enact reforms in care for the developmentally disabled, North Carolina continues to spend more money on its institutions than it does on keeping people in the community."  
  

State Services Helping The Poor And Children Face Big Cuts (Kentucky)
Story at WKYT on the need for cuts in state services unless more funding is located. The story notes that "... advocates worry that as human-service agencies are forced to keep cutting, they get into the 'infrastructure' -the trained personnel that the services are built on - since agencies strive to keep providing services even as they cut staff and other costs."  
  

Thousands Expected to Rally Over Cuts to Mental Health Services (Oregon)
Story at KVAL (Eugene) - "On Wednesday the Capitol will fill with people who are angry and worried about the state of mental health and drug services in Oregon. Thousands are expected to protest the state's budget cuts that will force local agencies to scale back and even shut down."  
  

Leaders to tackle state's critical issues (West Virginia)
Bluefield Daily Telegraph story on challenges facing the West Virginia state legislature. The story notes that "Without the matching federal dollars for Medicaid, many of the states health care provider facilities, such as nursing homes, hospitals, mental health programs, and others, would lose a major portion of their incomes and could face bankruptcy."  
  

Forum to address mental health (Tennessee)
Story in the Jackson Sun News on a presentation later this week in Jackson by Madison Haywood Developmental Services Inc. that will be critical of the way the state handles funding for people with mental retardation and developmental disabilities.