Monday, June 30, 2003

News and Trends Affecting Behavioral Health Care
An overview of several different developments in research from Drug Benefit Trends at Medscape, including items on an NIMH campaign on depression in men, suicide rates, PET scans and Alzheimers, screening for depression and dementia among the elderly and the use of Lamotrigine to treat bipolar disorder. [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Adult ADHD Often Undiagnosed by Primary Care Physicians
PR Newswire story reprinted at the NAMI web site- "Inadequate clinical training, inexperience and the lack of a well-validated screening tool are major barriers prohibiting primary care physicians from diagnosing ADHD in adults, according to a national survey released today by New York University School of Medicine. The survey also revealed that primary care physicians would take a more active role in treating adult ADHD if these issues were addressed."  
  

Mental ailments in children being linked to strep
Boston Globe story on "a growing body of research, though still controversial" which suggests that "one child in every 1,000 suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder linked to strep. ... among children who do have OCD, up to one-half of those cases could be strep-related, said one specialist, Dr. Tanya Murphy of the University of Florida."  
  

Russia's mental health revolution
BBC story - "Doctors in Russia are spearheading a revolution in the way patients with mental illnesses are treated. In the days of communism, people who were diagnosed as mentally ill were locked up in psychiatric hospitals and denied contact with the outside world. Today, the situation is much different . ... A law passed in January 1993 protected the rights of mentally ill patients for the first time. A series of reforms have seen the focus of psychiatric care change. Sprawling, stark asylums are being replaced with modern hospitals, with patients allowed to live in the community as much as possible."  
  

Nurse quits over mental care in jails (Arizona)
Arizona Republic story - "A nurse with Maricopa County's Correctional Health Services said he was so concerned about the lack of staffing and poor psychiatric care in the jails, he resigned earlier this month. 'I felt my license was in jeopardy,' said Leonard Sines, who worked as a nurse in the system for about three years."  
  

Net-friendly courthouses spark public-access debate
AP story in the Boston Globe - "Courthouses have long been considered stodgy institutions, foreign to the public they serve. The Internet has made them a little less detached, offering the ability to pay tickets, attend traffic school, even monitor dockets online. But most of the documents that are freely available at the courthouse are not online, either for lack of funding and technology or due to concerns that not all public records should be so easily available. ... California was one of the first states to adopt an online courthouse policy, and now offers a variety of features on its website, including opinions by the state Supreme Court and its six appellate courts. An online self-help center even offers advice for litigants without lawyers, including how to obtain restraining orders. The state still prohibits its trial courts from posting criminal case files, divorce cases, guardianship cases, and mental health files -- many of which are publicly available at the courthouse -- online."  
  

Hispanics have more depression than other ethnic groups
Health News (UK) story - "Hispanics are more likely to be diagnosed as having major depression than European Americans and African Americans, according to a US study. Prior research had shown African Americans had higher rates of schizophrenia and lower rates of depression that European Americans. It had been suggested that this findings might also be true for Hispanics. ... To address this issue, Dr Shula Minsky, from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Piscataway, and colleagues investigated whether Hispanics presenting for mental health treatment showed major differences in presenting symptoms, clinical severity and psychiatric diagnosis compared to European and African Americans."  
  

Government is failing the mentally ill (UK)
Story at the Conservatives.com web site - "A survey published today by the Conservative Party on mental health services has found that most NHS Trusts who responded have concerns about the Government's attitude to mental health. During the Spring Shadow Health Minister with responsibilities for mental health, Tim Loughton MP, surveyed 27 NHS Mental Health Trusts on the services they provide. 85% of these Trusts stated that had serious worries about the Governments attitude towards mental health."  
  

County gets grant for mental health court (Oregon)
News-Register story - "With funding from the federal Bureau of Justice Assistance and a climate of eagerness among criminal justice professionals involved in the project, Yamhill County may have the state's first mental health court up and running within months. The recently awarded grant is one of just 23 in the nation, including one in Lane County."  
  

Kids losing mental health insurance (Texas)
The first story in a two-part series on children's insurance cuts in the Times Record - "Children won't be able to use a popular insurance to pay for mental health therapy anymore, a situation that could threaten the youths' welfare and increase the Helen Farabee Regional MHMR Center's workload. ... The 78th Legislature opted against letting residents use CHIP to pay for mental health therapy for children. On Sept. 1, the program will no longer pay for mental health services. That means more youths might head for Helen Farabee even at a time that the center is adjusting to cuts of its own."  
  

Facility to merge mental health services (South Carolina)
Story in The State - "Kershaw County Mental Health will get much-needed relief early next year when a new facility will bring several services under one roof. Construction began earlier this year on a nearly 12,000-square-foot building in Dusty Bend, slated to open in January. The new center will bring together services housed in three different Camden locations: the Lafayette Avenue clinic that provides adult services; and two in Dusty Bend that administer children's services and a living skills program."