Tuesday, July 01, 2003

American Psychiatric Association 156th Annual Meeting
This page at Medscape: Psychiatry serves as an index to a wide variety of articles, news and resources drawn from presentations at the APA's annual meeting in May. There are "topic overviews" (which are available for CME credit) on anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, ADHD and special topics, which includes material drawn from two presentations on substance abuse. A series of Medscape Medical News articles related to the meeting are also included - see, especially, Antipsychotics Prescribed More Often for Depression Plus PTSD, Bipolar Disorder at the APA Meeting: A Newsmaker Interview With Charles Bowden, MD and Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry: An Expert Interview With Donald Hilty, MD. Finally, there are two "international perspectives" by Canadians Martin A. Katzman (Anxiety Disorders at the APA) and Michael Rosenbluth (A Review of Depression From The American Psychiatric Association 156th Annual Meeting). [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Physical Complications of Substance Abuse: What the Psychiatrist Needs to Know
Literature review in Current Opinion in Psychiatry at Medscape - "There is an essential, ongoing and background updating of our knowledge of the social determinants and public health issues related to substance abuse. It is also vital that psychiatrists remain aware of the medical and surgical problems that patients with substance use disorders may develop. The present review examines the recent literature on physical complications of substance abuse." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

New Report Identifies "Active Ingredients" of Alcohol Treatment: Several Not Widely Found in Clinical Practice
Press release from Ensuring Solutions to Alcohol Problems - "Ensuring Solutions to Alcohol Problems (ESAP), a research-based project at George Washington University Medical Center, has identified 13 active ingredients of effective alcohol treatment. The findings are included in its latest educational primer, released today. The nation’s system for treating alcohol problems continues to fall short of the comprehensive model envisioned more than 10 years ago by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). While several of the active ingredients identified by ESAP have long been prescribed for treating alcohol-dependent individuals, many, including the use of prescribed medications to support clinically-proven psychosocial therapies, are not widely found in clinical practice."  
  

Suit Says State Is Segregating Mentally Ill (New York)
New York Times story - "awyers for thousands of mentally ill residents of New York adult homes, many of which have long served as little more than psychiatric flophouses, plan to file a federal lawsuit today to force the state to make the kind of wide-ranging improvements in care that were won for the mentally retarded through the courts a generation ago. The legal papers, to be filed in United States District Court in Brooklyn, assert that the state is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by segregating the mentally ill in sprawling and poorly run adult homes, where they are essentially warehoused with few if any opportunities to rejoin society. Many residents can and should be moved to apartments in neighborhood settings that are no more costly to the government and far less isolating, the lawyers argue." [Viewing New York Times resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Magellan financing situation is revised
Baltimore Sun story - "Magellan Health Services Inc., which filed for bankruptcy protection in March, announced yesterday a revised financing deal that raises the value of the Columbia-based mental-health insurer by $100 million. Toronto-based investment company Onex Corp. said in May that it would invest up to $150 million in Magellan, which it valued at $185 million at the time. After Magellan received interest from other potential investors, Onex said yesterday that it would still pump up to $150 million into the company, but would now value Magellan at $285 million before its investment. The new deal means the creditors will own a larger chunk of a reorganized Magellan."  
  

The State's Costs Of Dealing With Troubled Kids, Wounded Families (Connecticut)
London Day story focused on a young woman who became a ward of the Connecticut Department of Children and Families - " ... Connecticut faces a major budget crisis, with a deficit in the fiscal year that begins today estimated at $1 billion. Republican Gov. John G. Rowland and Democrats and Republicans in the General Assembly have thus far failed to agree on a new tax-and-spending plan, and lawmakers on Monday were working on a stopgap bill to keep the state running. As legislators work to slow state spending in the face of layoffs, deficits, slumping revenues and increased demand for services, [this] case is only the latest example cited by DCF critics who say the agency could better control costs and improve care for children. Too often, they say, programs are not properly evaluated for effectiveness, and too little money is spent on community-based programs that would keep children at home and prevent costly problems later."  
  

Mental Health: Sticking With Antidepressants
New York Times article - "Antidepressants have always been prescribed cautiously for patients with bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, for fear that they will flip the patient from one extreme to the other and set off a manic episode. But a study released today challenges guidelines based on that assumption. The study, led by Dr. Lori Altshuler of U.C.L.A., found that the practice of quickly weaning bipolar patients from antidepressants significantly raised their chances of relapsing into depression without offering greater protection from mania." [Viewing New York Times resources requires registration, which is free].