Wednesday, February 19, 2003

A Unified Field Theory of Mental Disorders
Washinton Post story reprinted at PsycPORT - "A study in this month's issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry argues that a common genetic root may link depression with 14 distinct psychiatric and physical disorders. The list includes such to-be-expected relations as dysthymia (low-grade chronic depression), generalized anxiety disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, but also more surprising relatives including bulimia, cataplexy (a brief loss of posture or motor control preceded by a burst of strong emotion), fibromyalgia, migraine headaches and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The list also includes attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and premenstrual dysphoric disorder, though for technical reasons they cannot be linked as conclusively as the others."  
  

Posttraumatic Stress More Common in Women Than Men
Reuters Health story at Yahoo - "Women are more likely than men to suffer long-term posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after a traumatic injury, according to researchers from the University of California at San Diego. But the reasons for the difference remain unclear."  
  

Defining mentally retarded - Questions tie up states after ban on executions
Houston Chronicle story on the U.S. Supreme Court that banned executions for mentally retarded killers - "But the high court didn't provide a definition, leaving states to sort out who is mentally retarded. Now Virginia, along with Texas and 18 other states that had allowed execution of mentally retarded murderers, is struggling to do just that."  
  

NAMI sessions to train officers (Texas)
Waxahachie Daily Light story - "The Ellis County chapter for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill is hosting a training seminar for local law enforcement officers this week. The three-day program will certify each of the 27 officers in attendance as mental health peace officers by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education."  
  

Mental patients see way forward (UK)
Story at icCoventry - "A new focus on recovery-based treatment and care is helping to improve patients' perceptions of mental health services in Coventry."  
  

State mental health director says only half those in need get treatment (Nevada)
Nevada Appeal story - "The head of Nevada's Mental Health and Developmental Services division says only about half of the people in the state who need mental health treatment are getting it."  
  

Mental health services may have to cut 12.5% of aid (Texas)
El Paso Times story - "El Paso County Attorney José Rodríguez told a state legislative committee Tuesday that it's morally unacceptable to further reduce mental health services to tens of thousands of people." See also the related stories El Paso lacks state-run center for mentally ill children (El Paso Times) and Closure of mental health hospitals possible (Corpus Christi Caller-Times).  
  

Support for mental health directors needed, peer says (Kansas)
Hays Daily News story on comments by the president of the Association of Community Mental Health Centers of Kansas in the wake of Monday's apparent suicide of Kermit George, executive director of High Plains Mental Health Center.