Wednesday, June 25, 2003

Psychiatrists Debate New Diagnosis and Treatment Guidelines
Reuters Health story at Medscape - "As they prepare to compile the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatric Disorders, psychiatrists from around the world are meeting in Vienna to discuss ways of reforming the current system of diagnosing and classifying psychiatric disorders, which some say is no longer relevant to the day-to-day practice of psychiatry. Professor Ahmed Okasha, the President of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), said that the current system of classification was failing to identify many patients suffering from disorders such as depression because their symptoms often do not meet the strict criteria laid down by the current classification system. ..." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Drug Addiction as a Developmental Disorder
New York Times article - "A new study from Yale suggests that drug addiction should be thought of as a developmental disorder, because the changing circuitry of teenagers' brains appears to leave them especially vulnerable to the effects of drugs and alcohol. Dr. R. Andrew Chambers of the Yale School of Medicine, lead author of the article, said addictive drugs worked by stimulating parts of the brain that are changing rapidly in adolescence. In particular, Dr. Chambers said, the drugs tap into a neural imbalance that may underlie teenagers' affinity for impulsive and risky behavior." [Viewing New York Times resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Access to Recovery
SAMHSA press release - "President Bush announced in his State of the Union Address a new substance abuse treatment initiative, Access to Recovery. This new initiative will provide people seeking drug and alcohol treatment with vouchers to pay for a range of appropriate community-based services. The President proposed $600 million in new funds over the next three years for Access to Recovery. The first $200 million installment is included in the 2004 budget for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)."  
  

District Failed to Check on Patients (Washington DC)
Washington Post article - "The D.C. Department of Mental Health received more than 500 reports of serious incidents affecting the city's mentally ill population over a 12-month period but cannot document that any were investigated, as required, according to a report released yesterday by the D.C. inspector general. The audit, requested almost two years ago by Mayor Anthony A. Williams to ensure that the city's 8,000 mentally ill patients were being cared for, examined 508 incidents from June 2001 to June 2002. Among them were 46 unexpected or unexplained deaths, 128 allegations of abuse or assaults and 28 suicide attempts. The report also shows that the District has lost track of 20 mentally ill patients who were charged with crimes and committed to St. Elizabeths Hospital and who later were allowed to leave the hospital and did not return."  
  

  
  

PET Provides Insight Into Schizophrenic Brain Function
Society of Nuclear Medicine press release at InteliHealth - "Schizophrenia is a devastating disease that affects some 2.5 million Americans. Doctors and researchers are striving to better understand this disease; most believe the neurotransmitter dopamine (DA) plays a crucial role in the disease - particularly the dopamine regulated by D2 receptors (D2R). A recent study using PET scans backs the theory that irregular transmission of dopamine is present in schizophrenics. Most previous studies of dopamine levels in the brain of schizophrenic patients have shown that they have the same average level of striatal dopamine receptors as the normal population, but that the levels in schizophrenics exhibit greater variation."  
  

Mental health reforms failing to impact on patients, says charity (UK)
Society Guardian story - "The government's strategy to improve mental health care is failing, with more than a quarter of people with severe psychiatric problems still being turned away from the NHS or social services, according to research published today. In the largest ever UK survey of mental health service users, the mental health charity Rethink criticised the lack of progress in raising standards since the launch of the national service framework (NSF) for mental health four years ago. The charity's survey of more than 3,000 people with severe mental health problems found that 28% were shunned when seeking help in the last three years." See also the full text of the Rethink report, Just One Percent (Adobe Acrobat format).  
  

Psychiatric center back in business, picks leader (Ohio)
Story in Columbus Business First - "The hiring of a medical director and lifting of a state-ordered probation are helping a Columbus psychiatric treatment center for youth get back on its feet after a floundering start. Dr. Herman Tolbert, a psychiatry professor at Ohio State University the past 25 years, will start his duties July 1 as full-time medical director at the Residential Treatment Center of Ohio and Ohio Hospital for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry."  
  

Advocates say state does too little for foster children turning 18 (Florida)
Sun-Sentinel story on a news conference by teens who - "have been fighting to receive support from the state under a new law called the Road to Independence Act. The law is meant to provide for foster children after they turn 18, but children's advocates say the provisions are so flawed that many young adults ... will be, essentially, homeless. ... The news conference was called by Florida's Children First!, an advocacy group that lobbies on behalf of foster children. Its members want the Legislature, which is meeting in a special session, to take up a bill that would extend foster care services until age 21 for certain children with developmental disabilities and mental health needs."  
  

State gives cost-control incentive for mental care (Massachusetts)
Boston Globe story - "... The state of Massachusetts signed a contract that goes into effect July 1 that provides a national for-profit company a financial incentive to keep in check the cost of mental health care for state employees -- joining most major employers and insurers who have used these incentives for years. The state, which estimates it spent roughly $14 million this fiscal year on mental health care for employees who don't belong to health maintenance organizations, will pay United Behavioral Health about $12 million to cover these same 120,000 employees, retirees, and their families next year. If United spends less than $12 million on their care, the company keeps the difference; if it spends more than $12 million, it eats the difference."  
  

Mental-health programs face $10 million cut (California)
San Diego Union-Tribune story - "While keeping a nervous eye on state budget negotiations in Sacramento, county supervisors yesterday voted unanimously to approve a tentative county budget that would spend $4 billion in each of the next two fiscal years. The county's two-year budget plan includes $50 million in spending cuts ..... Mental-health programs will sustain the deepest cuts in the budget, losing nearly $10 million. The county gets much of its funding for health and social services from the state, which is dealing with an estimated $38 billion budget shortfall."  
  

Supervisors hear report on privatizing Muscatine County's mental health services (Iowa)
Muscatine Journal story - "Still considering privatizing the county's programmed services, the Muscatine County Board of Supervisors learned Monday how such action could affect developmentally disabled residents and the county. ... One prediction seemed to strike home: Without the social work services, mental health relapses, increased hospitalizations, emergency room usage, jail days and homelessness are likely to increase among consumers."