Friday, January 21, 2005

Short-Term Psychodynamic Therapy Found Effective in Several Disorders  Psychiatric News story - " Effect sizes were significant for a wide range of psychiatric conditions including depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, and personality disorders, among others. A meta-analysis of more than 30 years of randomized controlled trials of short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy (STPP) found it effective for treatment of psychiatric disorders. Short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy produced statistically significant pretreatment-posttreatment effect sizes for target problems, general psychiatric symptoms, and social functioning. The effect sizes were stable and tended to increase at follow-up, according to a report of the study in the December 2004 Archives of General Psychiatry."  
  

Bipolar Patients Say Depression More Disabling Than Mania  Psychiatric News story - " When treating bipolar patients, clinicians may focus more on manic than depressive symptoms, but a new study suggests that it is time for that focus to shift. In bipolar patients both manic and depressive episodes take their toll, of course, but a large new population-based study finds that the depressive phases are far more disabling on several key dimensions than are the manic phases. Among bipolar illness patients, depressive symptoms caused more serious disruptions in occupational, family, and social functioning—findings, researchers emphasized, that point to a need for strategies that will lead to enhanced recognition and treatment of bipolar disorder."  
  

Mental Health Screening Will Save LivesPage at the NAMI web site - "Our nation simply cannot afford to continue to fail our youth with mental disorders who need treatment. The tragic consequences of our failure to identify youth through early assessment and to intervene with appropriate mental health treatment and services are well documented..." See also NAMI's recently adopted position paper on mental health screening.  
  

Medicaid Managed Care: Access and Quality Requirements Specific to Low-Income and Other Special Needs EnrolleesGeneral Accounting Office report (in Adobe Acrobat format) - "The use of managed care within Medicaid, a joint federal-state program that finances health insurance for certain low-income families with children and individuals who are aged or disabled, increased significantly during the 1990s. By 2003, 59 percent of Medicaid beneficiaries were enrolled in managed care, compared with less than 10 percent in 1991.1 Medicaid managed care, under which states make prospective payments to managed care plans to provide or arrange for all services for enrollees,2 attempts to ensure the provision of appropriate health care services in a cost-efficient manner. However, because plans are paid a fixed amount regardless of the number of services they provide, managed care programs require safeguards against the incentive for some plans to underserve enrollees, such as by limiting enrollees’ access to care. Access is also affected by other factors, such as physician location and willingness to participate in managed care plans..."  
  

FDA Safety Labeling Changes: Altace, Wellbutrin XL, Levaquin, Pepcid Medscape Medical News story - "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved last October revisions to safety labeling to advise healthcare professionals of the following changes: ramipril may be linked to risk of intestinal angioedema; the extended-release formulation of bupropion HCl may be linked to a dose-related risk of seizures; levofloxacin has been associated with a risk of arthropathy in animal studies; and over-the-counter products containing famotidine should not be used if signs of a more serious condition exist." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

An Empowerment Model of Recovery From Severe Mental Illness An "Expert Interview" in Medscape Psychiatry & Mental Health with Daniel B. Fisher, Executive Director of the National Empowerment Center - "Our description of mental illness is a combination of severe emotional distress and an interruption of a person's place in the community and social role -- being a worker, parent, student, a participant in overall community life -- which is not dissimilar from what is considered a mental disorder in DSM-IV. The most important finding in our research is that people who have shown significant or complete recovery from severe mental illness -- by that I mean schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or schizoaffective disorder -- have cited hope as an extraordinarily important component in their recovery. Part of the recovery was being around people who saw their condition as not permanent, a condition from which they could take increasing control of their life and reestablish a place in society." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Reducing the Burden of Bipolar Disorder for Patient and Caregiver Bipolar Disorder Expert Column in Medscape Psychiatry & Mental Health - " According to the DSM-IV, bipolar disorder is a severe, recurrent, life-long illness that affects up to about 7% of Americans. Lifetime prevalence rates for bipolar I and II disorder range from .9% to 2.1%; for cyclothymia, a milder form of bipolar disorder, prevalence ranges from 3% to 5%. More recent prevalence estimates are even higher. The World Health Organization reports that bipolar disorder was the sixth leading cause of years lived with disability, worldwide, in 1990 and remains among the top 10 causes today." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Intellect linked to suicide risk  BBC story - "Intelligent young men are less likely to take their own lives than others, researchers suggest. Young men who scored low on intelligence tests were two to three times more likely to commit suicide, the Swedish-UK team found. They followed nearly a million 18-year-old men, consigned to serve in the military, for up to 26 years. The researchers told the British Medical Journal that problems in childhood might be an underlying cause. "  
  

Study: Kids' mental health care mixed (California)  Sacramento Bee story - "A first-ever look at the quality of publicly funded mental health care for tens of thousands of California's neediest children has exposed serious gaps. The study, commissioned by the state and conducted by researchers at four University of California campuses, found, for example, that less than a third of children who were prescribed a psychiatric drug were being monitored for changes in weight, pulse, blood pressure and liver function. The research paper, appearing in the February issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, also documented some good news. The vast majority of mental health providers, for example, followed guidelines to evaluate patients and assess suicide risk."  
  

Experts: Florida Not Meeting Mental Health NeedsStory in The Ledger - "Of about 2,400 inmates in the Polk County Jail, 23.5 percent typically are on medicines for mental-health problems or are getting treatment, Judd said. That's more than 560 inmates and far more than the jail's special-needs units can handle, even with 16 women's beds and 32 men's beds set aside. Inmates with the most severe mental problems go there. Jails and prisons are the largest group of psychotropic treatment centers in Florida, said Peace River Center's Bennie Allred, whose job involves supervising community programs for the mentally ill."  
  

Vermont Teddy Bear to meet with advocates Times-Argus story - "The makers of a controversial teddy bear wearing a straitjacket announced Thursday that it would meet with mental health advocates early next month. The Vermont Teddy Bear Co., based in Shelburne, has been the subject of protest by mental health advocates who say the company's 'Crazy for You Bear' is offensive and in poor taste."  
  

County will give Latinos services for mental health (California) Californian.com story - "Monterey County health officials are gearing up for the second phase of a program to increase mental-health awareness for Latino children. La Familia Sana is a project to expand mental health services to children younger than 6 and teens and young adults between ages 16 and 22. Through the project, families will have access to workshops, counseling, recreational programs, employment referrals and other services, which some families already have asked for. "