Tuesday, June 17, 2003
Adverse Effects From Antidepressants for Bipolar Treatment Are Common in Children Medscape Medical News story - "Antidepressants for the treatment of bipolar symptoms cause adverse effects in more than three quarters of children within the first four months of treatment, a new study suggests. The rate is similar to that observed in adult bipolar patients with continuous cycling, which is the most common form of the disease in children." [Viewing
Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].
FDA Advisors Back Reduced Monitoring for Patients on Clozapine Reuters story at
Medscape - "A U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel backed on Monday a reduced white blood cell monitoring requirement for patients on the atypical antipsychotic clozapine that could serve to ease the compliance burden on patients and their caregivers." [Viewing
Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].
Rapid Cycling Bipolar Patients Have More Severe Disease Medscape Medical News story based on data presented at the Fifth International Conference on Bipolar Disorders indicating that "rapid cycling bipolar patients have more severe symptoms than non–rapid cycling bipolar patients ... Results showed that rapid cycling patients were more likely to be female, a fact more evident in bipolar I than bipolar II patients. Rapid cycling patients also showed a younger age of onset and a higher occurrence of depression at study entry." [Viewing
Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].
PTSD in Men and Women Article in
Current Medical Research and Opinion at
Medscape based on a study "to investigate the symptom frequencies of a relatively large sample of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) sufferers and compare male and female symptom profiles." [Viewing
Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].
Supreme Court Allows Defendant's Forced Medication Reuters story at
Yahoo News - "A divided U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) ruled on Monday that the government may force defendants to take anti-psychotic medicine to make them competent to stand trial on serious criminal charges, but only under certain limited circumstances. By a 6-3 vote, the court allowed forced medication if the treatment was medically appropriate, substantially unlikely to have side effects that may undermine the trial's fairness, necessary to further important governmental trial-related interests and less intrusive alternatives were unavailable."
Hidden Costs Of The Uninsured CBS News story - "The poor health and premature deaths of people without health insurance costs the nation between $65 billion and $130 billion annually, says a study by the Institute of Medicine. The Institute, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, estimated that 41 million Americans lack health insurance, up from the 38.7 million without coverage reported by the Census Bureau in 2000." See also an
electronic version of the report at the National Academies web site, where there's an index page of recent reports, among them
A Shared Destiny: Community Effects of Uninsurance (March 2003).
Flaws found in depression therapy MSNBC story on findings published in Wednesday’s
Journal of the American Medical Association - "Treatment rates for major depression have improved significantly over the last two decades, but more than half of patients nationwide are getting inadequate therapy, a new study suggests. The findings suggest that while the stigma of mental illness may be easing, many doctors may not be aware of treatment advancements, and many patients may be seeking unproven therapies, said Harvard Medical School researcher Ronald Kessler, the study’s lead author."
Teen helps peers with depression CNN story about Students Working Against Depression, a group created by an 18-year-old Missouri high school student to increase awareness of the symptoms of depression among teens and urge them to seek treatment.
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Launches On-Line Support For People Dealing with the Stress of SARS (Canada) June 16 CAMH press release - "An online web-assisted support group for people dealing with the stress of SARS ... was launched today by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health ... Dr. Peter Selby, Head of CAMH's Nicotine Dependence Clinic and Assistant Professor, Departments of Family and Community Medicine, Public Health Sciences and Psychiatry, University of Toronto .... envisions the web site as being used by people who are in quarantine; patients in isolation who have SARS but who are well enough to use a computer and who have little support because contact is limited due to restrictions; and members of the public who are feeling stressed by the SARS situation and who want to educate themselves on ways to cope with the stress." See also the
SARS Support Centre web site, which has resources for both healthcare professionals and the public, including online support groups.
Mental health advocates rally (New Jersey) Courier Post Online story - "Nearly 2,000 mental health advocates took to the State House steps Monday to highlight the need for a range of health care, housing and children's programs - some of which had been slated for a budget cut, but restored the day before."
