Thursday, July 22, 2004
Compulsion and psychiatry: the role of advance statements (UK)Editorial in the
British Medical Journal - "Most psychiatrists accept reluctantly that from time to time they need to force patients to have treatment against their wishes. The British government's proposed changes to the Mental Health Act will increase compulsion in three ways. They will remove the requirement that a patient's condition must be severe enough to warrant admission to hospital, thus enabling compulsory treatment in the community; they will re-incorporate people with personality disorder; and they will introduce wider definitions of mental disorder and of treatment. Users of mental health services have long been concerned about compulsion and have tried to combat it. ..
Risk of Suicidal Behavior Similar With Amitriptyline, Fluoxetine, and ParoxetineMedscape Medical News story - "The risk of suicidal behavior is similar for amitriptyline, fluoxetine, and paroxetine, according to the results of a matched case-control study published in the July 21 issue of JAMA. The editorialist relates these findings to recent regulations." [Viewing
Medscape resources requires registration, which is free]. See also the JAMA
abstract of "Antidepressants and the Risk of Suicidal Behaviors" (full text available for a fee).
The Association Between Cannabis and Alcohol Use and the Development of Mental DisorderArticle in
Current Opinion in Psychiatry at
Medscape - "The authors concluded that although a wide body of research has demonstrated the existence of such associations, the natures of the relationships involved are highly complex in character, and in all probability involve the mediation of a variety of additional factors. It is surmised that many of these additional factors relate to the experience of social exclusion." [Viewing
Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].
Medscape Journal Scan - Psychiatry, June 2004"Journal Scan is the clinician's guide to the latest clinical research findings in
The American Journal of Psychiatry, The Lancet, Archives of General Psychiatry, The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, and
Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology. Short summaries of feature articles include links to the article abstracts." "med"
Government to cut NHS bureaucracy (UK)BBC story - "The government is to cut the number of NHS bodies that work 'at arms length' from the Department of Health. The move will save at least £500m which will be diverted into frontline patient care, said Health Secretary John Reid. ..." Among the changes noted, "The Healthcare Commission will take on responsibility for the regulation of care for people detained under the Mental Health Act from the Mental Health Act Commission, which will be abolished."
Falling through the cracks (New York)Herald Online story - "Claiming that the case of the man who killed his mother had fallen through the cracks of the county's mental health system, John Tosner filed a civil lawsuit against Nassau County and the Nassau University Medical Center in March. Last week, despite arguments from both defendants to drop the case, State Supreme Court Justice William LaMarca ruled that the civil lawsuit can proceed. The wrongful death suit alleges that Peter Troy, then 34, was not given adequate psychiatric treatment for his diagnosed schizophrenia by the Nassau County Department of Mental Health and the medical center in the months before his murder of Tosner's mother."
Help available to troops suffering from combat stressAmerican Forces Press Service press release - " The military member who goes to combat and the one who comes back are never the same person, the Defense Department's director of mental health policy said today. 'No one comes back unchanged,' said Army Col. (Dr.) Tom Burke in an interview with the Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service. Burke and other DoD health officials try to reach out to those returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan who may be suffering from combat-related mental health problems or post-traumatic stress disorder, he said."
