Friday, November 21, 2003

Asthma Is Associated With a Number of Mental Disorders
Reuters Health story at Medscape - "Results of a study published in the November issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry suggest an association between asthma and a range of mental disorders. Dr. Renee D. Goodwin, of Columbia University, New York, and colleagues studied a sample of adults in Germany. They based diagnoses of current (past 4 weeks) and lifetime asthma on physician diagnosis, and used the Composite International Diagnostic Interview to assess current and lifetime mental disorders." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Housing plagues mentally ill (Nebraska)
Fremont Tribune story - "As plans were unveiled Wednesday to close two of Nebraska's three regional mental health centers, a report cited the lack of adequate housing as the most common problem facing those with mental illness. The report, done for the state by Hanna/Keelan Associates of Lincoln, said that nearly 72,000 Nebraskans age 19 and older will have been diagnosed with a serious mental illness by 2008. Of those, 88 percent will live outside of an institutional setting. "  
  

Prison system 'failing women' (UK)
Story in The Guardian - "Campaigners have hit out at an increase in the number of women being imprisoned, saying that tougher sentences are failing to cut reoffending and that vulnerable women are being "shoe-horned" into a system designed for men. A report out today from the Fawcett Society shows that the number of women given prison sentences has increased threefold over the past decade - but reoffending rates have also soared. ... Half of women inmates have been victims of domestic abuse, compared with a quarter of women in the general population. And while Home Office figures show that two thirds of women in prison are addicted to drugs or have a history of alcoholism, the report says that there is little treatment available for those on short sentences."