Friday, December 03, 2004

Nine Partners Join in Effort to End Long-Term Homelessness
Announcement at the web site of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation - " The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and eight other national philanthropic, nonprofit and financial organizations are forming a partnership to stimulate an effort to end long-term homelessness. The Partnership to End Long-Term Homelessness will dedicate more than $37 million in grants and loans to the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH), the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) and other groups." See also the related report from the Lewin Group, Costs of Serving Homeless Individuals in Nine Cities (Adobe Acrobat format).  
  

The Provision of Mental Health Services in Managed Care Organizations
Department of Health and Human Services report, in Adobe Acrobat format, called to our attention by Open Minds - "This study reports on a nationally representative survey of managed care organizations (MCOs) regarding how mental health services were provided in 1999, and how the provision varies by product type and contracting arrangement."  
  

Juvenile Detention Center Investigation: An Examination of Conditions of Care for Youth with Mental Health Needs (New Jersey)
A report, in Adobe Acrobat format, from the New Jersy Office of the Child Advocate, called to our attention by Open Minds - "In New Jersey, county juvenile detention facilities are often used to confine youth with serious mental health needs. These youth are frequently held in detention centers due to the paucity of less restrictive placement options that would allow them to remain with their families or in their communities, where appropriate, and have access to care to address their identified needs. Detention centers are generally not equipped to identify youth with mental illness, to assess their condition or to provide them with necessary services to assure their stability and support their mental health while detained..."  
  

Government Study Highlights Need for Integrated Counseling for Women with Substance Abuse and Mental Disorders and Trauma
SAMHSA press release - "The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) today released study findings showing that women with mental and substance abuse disorders and histories of violence (trauma) can improve when treated with counseling that addresses all three of their service needs. Women who have a voice in their own treatment report better outcomes than women who do not. The findings come from the Women, Co-occurring Disorders and Violence Study (WCDVS), a five-year study conducted by SAMHSA of over 2,000 women with co-occurring mental and substance abuse disorders and trauma histories. The study was not randomized, but rather, women who fit the study eligibility criteria were recruited into a group receiving integrated services, or a group receiving usual care, which treated mental health, substance abuse, and trauma issues in isolation from each other."  
  

How to Improve Drug Safety
Opinion column by a former FDA deputy commissioner in the Washington Post - "It has been a tough three years for the Food and Drug Administration, which until recently was credited with providing the United States with the safest drug supply in the world. In September, Merck withdrew Vioxx from the market after a study showed that the drug significantly increases the incidence of strokes and heart attacks in patients who use it for more than 18 months. Three years ago Bayer withdrew Baycol, a cholesterol-lowering drug that causes a rare muscle disease that was responsible for about 30 deaths and thousands of serious injuries. Fortunately, several lessons can be learned from recent drug tragedies..." [Viewing Washington Post stories requires registration, which is free.]  
  

Vermont Medicaid faces growing fund deficit
Burlington Free Press story - "Vermont's Medicaid headaches just keep growing. Lawmakers were told Monday to expect a $15 million to $20 million hole this year in the $600 million fund that pays health care bills for 146,000 low- and moderate-income Vermonters. Next year, spending might outpace Medicaid revenue by as much as $70 million -- nearly $20 million more than projected this summer..."  
  

Survey finds global rise in antidepressants prescribed to children
NewsRx.com story reprinted at PsycPORT - "Children throughout the world are increasingly being prescribed antidepressants and other drugs designed to calm or stimulate the brain, finds new research. Prescription rates increased the most in the U.K., the research suggests. In one study, researchers from the University of London analyzed prescribing trends in nine countries, based on information provided by an international database (IMS MIDAS) between 2000 and 2002. The database contains a representative sample of medical practitioners in each country. The information was collected on children and adolescents up to the age of 17 in the U.K., France, Germany, Spain, Canada, U.S., Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. Types of drugs included antidepressants, stimulants, tranquilizers and medication for psychotic episodes. Findings were published in Archives of Disease in Childhood. "  
  

Internet Medical Information In Need of Good Filter
Psychiatric News story - "People with mental illness often turn to the Internet to seek medical information and support from others. However, the Internet is rife with misinformation, experts warn. For individuals who lack social supports and feel embarrassed about their mental health problems, the Internet seems like a harmless and even friendly place to turn for help. However, there are risks involved with seeking services online, according to a panel of residents who spoke at APA's Institute of Psychiatric Services in Atlanta in October."  
  

Parents With Mental Illness Face Daunting Challenges
Psychiatric News story - " Child-rearing can be a challenge for anyone. Yet the difficulties facing parents with serious mental illness can be overwhelming, and psychiatrists can help these patients by starting a dialogue about parenting. People with serious and persistent mental illness often face unique issues surrounding their role as parents, issues that should be addressed during psychiatric treatment, according to a panel of Baltimore-area psychiatrists who spoke at APA's Institute on Psychiatric Services in Atlanta in October. Curtis Adams, M.D., sometimes prescribes dates for overburdened couples who care for relatives with serious mental illness. Some of these issues include losing custody due to repeated hospitalizations, being unable to care for a child due to debilitating psychiatric symptoms, or needing the support of family members to raise a child. "  
  

Discrimination could lead to an increase in mental health problems among gay men, lesbians and bi-sexual men and women
Story at News-Medical.net (UK) - "A team of researchers have discovered that high levels of discrimination could lead to an increase in mental health problems among gay men, lesbians and bi-sexual men and women. In a report published today in the British Journal of Psychiatry, the team from Imperial College London, University College London and the University of Brighton found that high levels of discrimination including physical attacks and bullying could be linked to high levels of mental disorder."  
  

Lack of mental health facilities decried (Louisiana)
Times-Picayune story - "St. Tammany and surrounding parishes lack enough facilities to treat mental patients, according to elected officials who are forming a task force with local and state health officials to find a solution to what they say is a growing problem. The lack of facilities is straining emergency rooms at the parishes' major public and private hospitals, which are not staffed to handle mental patients, and turning local jails into de facto mental wards, state Sen. Tom Schedler said."  
  

Cannabis linked to mental illness risk
Story in The Guardian (UK) - "Some young people who smoke cannabis are at real risk of developing psychotic mental illness, according to a major study announced yesterday. The new survey of 2,500 young people aged 14 to 24 will be discussed at the start of an international conference today on cannabis and mental health convened by the Institute of Psychiatry in London. It shows that regular cannabis smoking increased the risk of developing psychosis by 6% over four years. But there was a substantially greater impact on young people who had already been identified by psychiatrists as having the potential to become psychotic. Regular cannabis smoking raised their risk of developing psychotic mental illness by 25%..."  
  

Mental health partnership initiates integrated care (Colorado)
Story in the North Forty News - " A new approach to mental health and substance abuse is on the horizon in Larimer County. Set to begin early in 2005, the program is called 'integrated care.' It's designed to make treatment for conditions such as depression and addiction more effective and efficient by having specialists available at two local primary care clinics. Integrated care means that mental health professionals work in the family clinic, instead of across town in their own offices, making them and their expertise readily available to both patients and family physicians. The project is one of many being undertaken by a local consortium called the Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse Partnership, which is concerned with mental health and substance abuse issues..."