Tuesday, October 14, 2003

Parents favor counseling over meds for kids' anxiety
Brief Health Behavior News Service item at EurekAlert - "New research suggests that parents would rather send their children to counseling than give them medication for social anxiety disorder, a preference that has also been noted for childhood depression and attention-deficit disorder therapy. ... The study in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics also concludes that white parents are more accepting of both medication and counseling than Latino or black parents."  
  

Antidepressants Seem to Have Reduced Teen Suicides
Reuters Health story at Yahoo - "In the last decade, a fall in adolescent suicide rates in the U.S. has coincided with an increase in the use of drugs to treat depression. Now, new study findings strengthen this association by showing that these changes often occurred in the same geographical regions. ... The current findings, which are reported in the Archives of General Psychiatry, are based on a study of antidepressant use and suicide rates among teens in 588 U.S. postal codes during the 1990s. The researchers analyzed data from several sources, including a major pharmacy benefit program, national suicide mortality files, and the U.S. census."  
  

A Web-Based Screening Instrument for Depression and Anxiety Disorders in Primary Care
Called to our attention in CMHA-Ontario's Mental Health Notes, this article in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (authored by researchers affiliated Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health)reports "preliminary validation data for a freely-available, brief, Web-based, self-report screener for major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders." The Mental Health Notes item indicates that "Researchers view the report as a way to initiate and encourage a discussion of anxiety and depression symptoms between patients and health care professionals, as general practitioners tend to provide first-line treatment for mental health problems" - and that "a potential conflict of interest is declared by lead researcher Dr. Peter Farvolden, who is a paid consultant to Van Mierlo Communications Consulting Inc, owners of the Web-based depression and anxiety test content and software." The depression test is available at www.depressioncenter.net/depressiontest. An alternate version, with questions about anxiety disorders appearing first, is available at www.paniccenter.net/anxietytest.