Thursday, June 09, 2005

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"  
  

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."