Thursday, June 09, 2005

Data on Drug Deaths in 32 Cities and Six States Released by SAMHSA SAMHSA press release - " The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration today unveiled findings on drug-related mortality from the 2003 Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) that provide a picture of deaths involving recent drug use in six states and 32 metropolitan areas. Among the metropolitan areas, Baltimore and Albuquerque had the highest rates of drug misuse deaths, exceeding 200 deaths per one million population. Another 14 areas had drug misuse death rates that exceeded 100 deaths per one million population. Six states provided mortality data to DAWN - Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Utah and Vermont. Fatality rates for drug misuse in these states ranged from 88 to 162 deaths per one million population. This is the first time there has been any state information from DAWN. These data show substantial variations in drug-related deaths across jurisdictions within the states, with the highest rates not always found in urban centers."  
  

Bazelon Leadership 21"The Leadership 21 Initiative represents a new effort by the Bazelon Center to identify and engage the next generation of citizen-leaders to continue this important work to promote civil rights and human dignity for people with mental disabilities. The Center is seeking to develop a core committee of 12-15 of the most innovative and dynamic new leaders in the fields of mental disabilities, public policy, and legal advocacy to support and inform our work." See also the page of more information on this initiative.  
  

Court Says OxyContin Patent Is Invalid New York Times story - "A federal appeals court found yesterday that Purdue Pharma had deliberately misled the government to win patent protection for its powerful painkiller OxyContin. The ruling, which makes patents on the drug not enforceable, opens the door to increased generic competition, as well as potentially huge legal awards against Purdue. The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington is a victory for Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings, which is seeking to market a generic form of OxyContin." [Viewing New York Times resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Psychiatric Aspects of Parkinson's Disease Article in Current Opinion in Psychiatry at Medscape - "Many new studies of cognitive impairment and dementia in Parkinson's disease have been published during 2004. Cognitive impairment has been demonstrated even during the first 1–2 years after onset of disease. Whereas executive and attentional impairment is typical, learning deficits occur early in some patients. Both functional and structural imaging suggest that in addition to fronto-subcortical deficits, temporal and parietal changes occur early as well. In the first large placebo-controlled trial, the cholinesterase inhibitor rivastigmine improved cognition, daily functioning and psychiatric symptoms without worsening of parkinsonism. The frequency and characteristics of depression, anxiety and hallucinations have been explored in several studies. Unfortunately, there is still little scientific evidence available to guide the treatment of these important aspects of Parkinson's disease, and adequately designed clinical trials are needed." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Latest U.S. Mental Health Tracking Survey Shows Mixed Results Of Progress Another story, this one from Science Daily, on a set of four papers published in the June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry that have received a lot of publicity in the last week - "The conclusions of the latest U.S. mental health tracking survey show a continued high prevalence of mental disorders, but also show that most cases are mild and only a small proportion are severe, according to leaders of the survey from Harvard Medical School, University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, and the National Institute of Mental Health. The survey, known as the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R), is taken every 10 years to assess the mental health of the country. In a set of four papers published in the June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, the survey authors reported that a majority of Americans will have a mental health disorder at some time in their life, but that most are mild; that those disorders often go untreated; and that even when treatment does occur, the care provided will likely not meet recommended mental health treatment guidelines for the disease"  
  

Peterson: Mandate mental health coverage (Ohio) This Week News story - "State Rep. Jon Peterson (R-Delaware) testified May 31 before the Insurance Committee in the Ohio House of Representatives in favor of mandated mental health insurance coverage. Business representatives, who are expected to oppose the initiative in committee testimony in upcoming weeks, responded that the state was placing demands on small businesses that it was not putting on large businesses. Peterson said the issue is a matter of moral right..."  
  

Simmons: A looming mental health crisis in Indian country Indian Country Today story - "If mental health care for American Indians is free, why is it underutilized - particularly if there is no financial barrier and transportation is provided to mental health facilities? Given the unique historical relationship between the United States government and Americans Indians, many have a deep-rooted distrust of institutional resources and are more unlikely to seek their services as a result. Stated University of Colorado Health Science Center professor Spiro Manson: American Indians are the fastest growing ethnic group, and the most underserved and neglected by the mental health field. Mental health delivery through the Indian Health Service is widely underutilized for various reasons. However, there is now a movement to shift away from conventional counseling and move in the direction of culturally sensitive mental health approaches that integrate American Indian cultural values into treatment to better interface with the Indian patient population."  
  

Youth Mental and Behavioral Health and Placement Assessment Tools Examined in Ground-breaking New Study eMediaWire press release - "It is important to assess behavioral, mental health and placement issues when determining a treatment or case management plan for a client. Many tools have been created and are in varying stages of research and standardization. Additionally, there are risk, mental health, behavior rating scales, level of placement, and case management tools. Consequently, it is sometimes an overwhelming task to determine the right tool for a particular task."