Wednesday, July 21, 2004

Clinical Trials Controversy Spotlights Flawed System
Psychiatric News story - " The ongoing controversy surrounding SSRIs in children is now threatening the very foundations of clinical drug research on the efficacy and safety of all of the drugs physicians prescribe. Under the frequent—and often hyperbolic—headlines in major newspapers throughout the United States, the debate on whether SSRIs really cause children and adolescents to become suicidal has boiled down to a critical realization: Physicians now face a crisis of confidence in the American-bred system that conducts clinical research and, it would seem, publishes only the most marketable results..." See also, at the same source, AMA Backs All-Inclusive Clinical Trials Registry.  
  

Abused, Neglected Youth Do Not Receive Needed Mental Health Services
Newswise press release - "Each year, more than 600,000 children seen in the U.S. child welfare system for alleged maltreatment do not receive mental health care for significant emotional and behavioral problems, reports a study in the August Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. The findings are based on NIMH-funded analyses of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, a nationally representative study funded by the US DHHS’s Administration on Children and Families. ... Dr. Burns and colleagues analyzed nationwide data on children and adolescents investigated by child welfare agencies for reported abuse or neglect. A standard child behavior checklist suggested that 48 percent of the children had "clinically significant" emotional or behavioral problems." At the journal web site, a brief abstract is available at no charge, with full text available for a fee.