Friday, March 28, 2003

Studies Show Parents, Pediatricians, And Schools Critical In Identifying And Treating Social Anxiety Disorder In Kids
Canadian Newswire item reprinted at PsycPORT - "Social anxiety disorder is very common in children and associated with significant personal impairment, yet infrequently discussed with pediatricians. Study results showed that only 30 percent of parents who had a child with social anxiety disorder had discussed their child's symptoms with a pediatrician. In contrast, parents of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (67 percent) and major depression (50 percent) were more likely to disclose these issues with their pediatricians. These data were presented today at the Anxiety Disorders Association of America's 23rd annual meeting..."  
  

House Budget Plan Calls For Cuts In Key Domestic Entitlement Programs: Cuts Average Four Percent Over Ten Years, Grow Deeper Each Year
Detailed analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. See also the related fact sheet and the full report (both in Adobe Acrobat format) and these related items - State-by-state impact of the $94 billion in Medicaid and SCHIP cuts, State-by-state impact of cuts in low-income programs and the subsequent analysis, The Human Costs Of Cuts In Major Low-Income Programs Contained in the House Budget Resolution.  
  

Health care cuts in state escalate (Massachusetts)
Boston Globe story - "Facing the largest reduction in the Medicaid rolls in a quarter-century, health care providers are scrambling to help 43,000 poor, unemployed adults find other coverage and to prevent a crisis in the state's already overburdened health care system." The story notes that, according to Elizabeth Funk, executive director of the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Corps of Massachusetts, "As many as 10 of the state's 22 detox programs may close because of the loss of state business."  
  

Project focuses on improving delivery of mental-health services (New York)
University at Buffalo Reporter story - "The School of Social Work has been selected by the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) to work with mental-health professionals to provide better care to residents—particularly children—of the 19 counties that make up the OMH Western Region....The project will focus on teaching mental-health providers evidence-based practices—strategies of successful treatments that have accumulated over the years that research has shown to be effective..."  
  

Potential budget cuts strain county's mental health programs (Texas)
Story in the Plano Star Courier - "Already ranking near the bottom among Texas counties in per capita funding for mental health and mental retardation services, Collin County could face more severe cutbacks if proposed state budget reductions become a reality, according to local public health officials."  
  

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Responds to Budget (Canada)
CAMH press release at the Canadian Newswire - "The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is very pleased that the government has announced today a $250 million investment over five years in the mental health system."  
  

Mental health programs to be cut (Kentucky)
Courier-Journal story - "Mental health treatment programs will be cut back July 1 in counties surrounding Louisville under a preliminary budget adopted yesterday by the board of Seven Counties Services."  
  

Report: Tens of millions wasted on mental health programs that make kids worse (Connecticut)
Journal Inquirer story - "The state is spending tens of millions of dollars each year to bounce more than one thousand children from one mental health facility to another, and they are getting worse after being institutionalized and separated from their families for prolonged periods, the Child Advocate and Attorney General said Wednesday after releasing a case study."