Friday, February 04, 2005

Guidelines Urge Wide Shift in Drug Treatment for the Mentally Ill Reuters Health story at Medscape - "Federal health officials on Monday called for a drastic shift in the treatment of mentally ill patients in the U.S., saying that too few are treated for dual diagnoses of mental illness and drug abuse. More than four million Americans who have a serious mental illness also have a severe drug abuse problem, according to figures released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Numbers are far higher for patients with less severe mental disorders."  
  

Study: Nearly One in Six Mentally Ill Homeless Reuters Health story at Yahoo - "A full 15 percent of Americans with serious mental illness are currently homeless, a much higher figure than suggested by previous research, a new study finds. The researchers, from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, urged more action to reduce this problem. They believe homelessness among those with serious mental illness could be reduced or prevented by providing individuals with substance abuse treatment and helping them obtain public-funded health benefits."  
  

Heated debate over heroin report (UK) BBC story - "Research which said it is possible to live normally while regularly taking heroin has prompted a fierce debate. The Glasgow Caledonian University study of 126 users of the class A drug found many were holding down normal jobs and relationships and passing exams. The report said heroin could be taken in a controlled way for a period. But drugs worker Peter Anderson and Alistair Ramsay of Scotland Against Drugs said the research was sending out the wrong messages."  
  

Women With Borderline Disorder Show Less Anger on Anticonvulsants  Psychiatric News story - "Use of the anticonvulsant topiramate significantly reduced four out of five measures of anger and resulted in a modest loss of weight among women with borderline personality disorder. Women with borderline personality disorder who took the anticonvulsant topiramate displayed less anger compared with those on placebo, said German researchers. They also lost weight, an important consideration for a class of drugs that often provokes weight gain. The research extends evidence of the use of anticonvulsant medications like valproate and carbamazepine in the treatment of pathologic aggression..."  
  

HMOs May Lose Ability To Limit Medication Choice (California) Psychiatric News story - "Proposed regulations in California would give patients and physicians legal tools to ensure access to prescription drugs. Health care advocates are cautiously optimistic about proposed new regulations that would require California HMOs to cover medically necessary prescription drugs. Last month the California Department of Managed Health Care (CDMHC) issued the proposed regulations, which stipulate that prescription drug benefits be designed by 'qualified medical and pharmacy professionals.' If the regulations are finalized, the HMOs must establish and document a process for 'ongoing review by qualified medical and pharmacy professionals of the safety, efficacy, and utilization of outpatient prescription drugs.' "  
  

Is End Near for Popular Assessment Tool?  Psychiatric News story - "The Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, a standard for decades, is seriously flawed and should be replaced with a scale built from the ground up, say Canadian researchers. Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown, and a long-reigning monarch of psychiatric measurement may well see pitchforks and torches approaching the castle walls. The Hamilton Depression Rating Scale became the de facto gold standard for calibrating depression severity in the decades after its development by British psychiatrist Max Hamilton in 1960. Psychiatrists need a reliable tool to measure the effects of treatment in both the research lab and in the clinic, but many have questioned the utility of the Hamilton in recent years."  
  

Brandt F. Steele, 97, Psychiatrist and an Author, Dies New York Times story - "Dr. Brandt F. Steele, a psychiatrist and an author whose studies of children and their abusers in the 1960's became a rallying point for national child welfare advocates, died on Jan. 19 at his home in Denver. He was 97. Dr. Steele, who taught at the University of Colorado for four decades, was being treated after a series of illnesses, said a son, Brandt N. Steele. Advertisement At a meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics in Chicago in 1961, Dr. Steele joined Dr. C. Henry Kempe, a pediatrician, and others in presenting a panel later credited with stirring public interest in the problem of child abuse. The panel's findings were published the next year in The Journal of the American Medical Association as 'The Battered Child Syndrome,' which became a catchphrase in later decades." [Viewing New York Times resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Suicide Rate Down in the Era of Prozac Los Angeles Times story - "The U.S. suicide rate has fallen steadily since Prozac and related antidepressants came into use in the late 1980s, according to an analysis by researchers worried that evidence linking the drugs to suicide in children could reduce their use. The suicide rate, which reached a peak in 1988 of nearly 13 deaths per 100,000 people, fell steadily to about 10.5 in 2002. Most suicides are the result of untreated depression, not adverse reactions to antidepressants, wrote Dr. Julio Licinio and Dr. Ma-Li Wong, psychiatrists at UCLA, in an opinion piece released Wednesday by the journal Nature Reviews: Drug Discovery."  
  

Cautious response greets antidepressant warning Chicago Tribune story - "Doctors reacted with caution Thursday to a new study suggesting that pregnant women who take common antidepressants might cause their newborn babies to have seizures or other withdrawal symptoms. The study, published in the British journal The Lancet, provides a useful reminder that any drugs taken during pregnancy could harm the unborn child, experts said. But they quickly added that not treating serious cases of depression also carries risks, for both the patient and her baby."  
  

Northeast Health, Mid-Coast Mental Health consider merger (Maine) Village Soup story - "Discussions have begun about a possible merger between Northeast Health and the Mid-Coast Mental Health Center. MCMHC is a comprehensive community mental health center providing outpatient and residential mental health treatment and services in 10 different offices and residential sites in Knox and Waldo counties. Over the next several months, the boards of directors of the two organizations will consider the potential impact and implications of this arrangement for the community."  
  

Mental Health Programs to Aid D.C. Foster Children, Families Washington Post story - "The city's mental health and child welfare agencies have hired three new contractors to provide mental health services to District foster children, juvenile delinquents and foster families. The mental health programs, funded through a $3.9 million federal grant, are designed to support foster families and bring stability to the lives of foster children and youth in need of city services. Based on national models, the programs will include in-home visits and a crisis response team capable of offering overwhelmed foster parents nonstop support for up to three days. At least 100 children and youths and 90 families are expected to receive services in the first year. " [Viewing Washington Post stories requires registration, which is free.]