Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Large survey suggests schizophrenia less prevalent than textbooks say Public Library of Science press release at EurekAlert - "Schizophrenia is a devastating mental illness and a major contributor to the global burden of disease, but how many people are actually suffering from the disease worldwide? John McGrath and colleagues from the University of Queensland have conducted the most comprehensive analysis on the topic and now report their findings in the May issue of the international open-access journal PLoS Medicine. The researchers have done what is called a systematic review of the medical literature, which turned out a few surprises. And knowing about prevalence--defined as the number of people suffering from the disease at a given time or within a time interval--of such an important disease is crucial to health policy strategies. They found that schizophrenia is more common in developed than in poorer countries but overall less common than previously thought. Across countries, immigrants have higher rates of the disease than native-born individuals. " See also the full text of the article, "A Systematic Review of the Prevalence of Schizophrenia."  
  

Teenage depression can be enduring, but is more often short-lived UCLA press release at EurekAlert - "Teenage depression is widespread and can become a life-long illness, but is more often transitory, said UCLA Psychology Professor Constance Hammen, who will discuss her research at an invited address May 27 at the American Psychological Society's annual convention in Los Angeles. 'Adolescent depression can be as high as 20 percent or higher,' said Hammen, who has studied depression for more than 30 years. 'While these numbers are alarming, and depression can be impairing, most of the depressions will be short-lived and most of these kids will not go on to have further depression.' "  
  

Depression Treatment Device Sparks Debate AP story at Yahoo - "A tiny device about the size of a pocketwatch has treated hundreds of depression patients in clinical trials across the country. It's on the verge of being the first depression treatment device to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. But the progress comes amid questions about whether the device's Houston-based manufacturer, Cyberonics Inc., has sufficiently proven that it's safe and it works."  
  

The Appropriate Medicalization of the Management of Chemical Addiction A page that provides a link to a Quicktime webcast editorial in Medscape General Medicine by George D. Lundberg, MD - "Diabetes mellitus is a common, serious, chronic, and sometimes disabling disease managed by medications. Osteoarthritis is a common, chronic, and sometimes disabling disease managed by medications and surgery. Heroin addiction is a common, serious chronic disease managed by medication and counseling. Why does that last statement sound odd? It is called stigma. There are strange historical, geographic, and ideologic reasons that have produced bafflingly conflicting and often repressive societal attitudes and public laws in chemical addiction..." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Lesson from the Saga of Selective Serotonin-Reuptake Inhibitors American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy article at Medscape - "...Some have expressed concern about the consequences of taking away much-needed antidepressants from those who may be benefiting from them. Others ask whether SSRIs truly increase the frequency of suicidality and note that such behavior is a symptom of depression. Little emphasized is the fact that, except for fluoxetine, all SSRIs are no more efficacious than placebo when used in children and adolescents. Thus, it is hard to see why any potential increase in suicidality should be tolerated. This debate has once again raised questions about the practice of non-evidence-based medicine in the pediatric population..." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Consumer-Run Drop-In Centers: Program Operations and Costs Article in the spring issue of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal (in Adobe Acrobat format), based on telephone interviews with 32 consumer-run drop-in centres in Michigan. As noted in CMHA-Ontario's Mental Health Notes, the single greatest challenge facing these programs was funding - "According to the authors of the study, consumer-run approaches may be moving towards a more prominent role in mental health systems. The purpose of the current study was to gather more specific information about the operation of consumer-run centres as the basis for future research so that any differences in outcomes could be related to differences in characteristics among centres. Program characteristics, resources, and funding levels differed widely among the centres."  
  

Research Project on Deaths by Suicide in New Brunswick (Canada) A report (36 pages, Adobe Acrobat format) on suicides in New Brunswick in 2002 and 2003 - "Death by suicide is a major cause of mortality in New Brunswick, and it is more prevalent among adult males. With that in mind, it becomes important to be able to identify the factors that could contribute to suicide. The Department of Health and Wellness therefore conducted a study of suicide victims in collaboration with Chief Coroner Dianne Kelly and researchers associated with the McGill Group for Suicide Studies and the Centre de recherche Fernand- Seguin, including Monique Séguin, Ph.D., Gustavo Turecki, MD, Ph.D., and Alain Lesage, MD. The purpose was to identify the personal and social circumstances that led a number of New Brunswickers to commit suicide so as to propose strategies for improving the services offered to suicidal individuals and their families. Our research methodology involved 1) charting the development of mental health problems, determining the sequence in which the initial difficulties appeared, and tracking their evolution over time; 2) surveying the accumulation of psychosocial risk factors and developmental factors; 3) tracing the trajectory of help seeking and use of health services; and 4) assessing the response to service needs."  
  

Mental Health and Police Project: Fact Sheet Series (Canada) This series from CMHA-British Columbia (called to our attention in CMHA-Ontario's newsletter Mental Health Notes) were developed as part of the Building Capacity: Mental Health and Police Project. The goal of the project is "to improve interactions between police, emergency services, and people with mental illness" and the fact sheets include Police and Mental Illness: Increased Interactions; Criminalization of Mental Illness; Violence and Mental Illness: Unpacking the Myths;  Police and Mental Illness: Models that Work;  Hallucinations and Delusions: How to Respond; Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorders: Key Issues; and Suicidal Behaviour: How to Respond. The link above leads to a page indexing the individual fact sheets, and the full set is also available as an Adobe Acrobat document.   
  

Housing and Mental Health (Canada) The current issue of Networks (Adobe Acrobat format, 24 pages), published by CMHA-Ontario, focuses on mental health, homelessness and housing. The issue includes several first person accounts, articles on CMHA-Ontario housing programs, the "Report Card on Homelessness in Ottawa," a profile of Houselink and Homecoming ("'a very fluid coalition' of organizations and individuals who share their expertise as lawyers, planners, and other professionals with an interest in social housing issues"), housing issues in rural areas and other issues. The link above is to the Acrobat version of the entire issue, and individual articles are also available in HTML format from an index page.  
  

Nationwide Treatment Facility Locator of Drug, Alcohol Abuse Treatment Programs Updated May 20 SAMHSA press release - " The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) online Treatment Facility Locator has been updated and is now available. The locator is a searchable database of more than 11,000 addiction treatment programs around the country that treat alcohol and drug abuse problems. Persons seeking treatment can use the locator to find the treatment facilities nearest them that offer the particular services they need. A comprehensive set of instructions on how to use the enhanced locator is being released today in a short report, Using the Substance Abuse Treatment Facility Locator. The locator includes private and public substance abuse treatment facilities that are licensed, certified or otherwise approved for inclusion by their state substance abuse agency in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Republic of Palau, and the Virgin Islands." See also the Treatment Facility Locator at the SAMHSA web site.  
  

US House sets funds for veterans' mental health Reuters story - "Mental-health care for American soldiers returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan would receive guaranteed funding under legislation approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday. The initiative, which must also be approved by the Senate, would require that the Department of Veterans Affairs spend $2.2 billion on mental health care in fiscal year 2006. It would be the first time that Congress mandated a spending level for such care. The initiative also would double spending on mental health research."  
  

Director of state's mental health office has resigned (Washington) Story in The Olympian - "Washington state's top mental health official has resigned, just a month after another senior manager resigned from the Department of Social and Health Services. Karl Brimner, 57, resigned Wednesday, DSHS officials said Friday. Agency spokesman Jeff Weathersby refused to give any details of why Brimner resigned, or whether he was asked to step down. Brimner was director of the agency's Mental Health Division since 2001, overseeing the state's troubled principal mental institution, Western State Hospital, as well as Eastern State Hospital and a community mental health network."  
  

Committee considers funding for Nevada mental health Las Vegas Sun story - "A bill allotting $15 million to mental health needs throughout the state is under consideration by a Senate committee - but it hasn't been funded yet, just a week before the Nevada Legislature is set to adjourn. AB175, a top priority for Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, would provide about $8 million in ongoing funding for mental health courts in the Reno, Carson City and Las Vegas areas and community triage centers in Reno and Las Vegas. The money also would go for an additional 90 community-based housing placements and support services, adding to the 90 requested by Gov. Kenny Guinn in his proposed budget."