Monday, May 24, 2004

Study Reveals Hidden Cost of Depression: Large Amounts of Extra Help for Depressed Seniors
Ascribe Newswire story reprinted at PsycPORT - "A new study reveals that depression among senior citizens carries a huge unrecognized cost: many extra hours of unpaid help with everyday activities, delivered by the depressed seniors' spouses, adult children and friends. Even moderately depressed seniors, the University of Michigan study finds, require far more hours of care than those without any symptoms of depression, regardless of other health problems they may have."  
  

Jailing the ill
Miami Herald story reprinted at PsycPORT on the "nationwide failure to care for the severely mentally ill, a situation created over the last 40 years by the closing of psychiatric hospitals in Florida and other states. Those institutions -- often bleak warehouses for the "insane" -- were supposed to be replaced by local treatment centers that would get patients functioning in the community. But mental health experts widely agree that the new system never received enough funding and has offered fragmented services at best. With the safety net frayed to threads, untold thousands of people suffering schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major depression have gone untreated, often homeless and wandering the streets, unable to guide their unruly minds through the straight lines of society." See also Justice System: Jailing A Mental Patient Can Be Expensive from the same source.  
  

World Health Organization asked to keep buprenorphine as a treatment option for heroin addiction
Article at aidsmap - "A group of activists and physicians has asked the World Health Organization (WHO) to prevent the proposed reclassification of buprenorphine as a narcotic. If successful, this will allow the use of the drug as a treatment for heroin addiction to continue, helping to curb the transmission of HIV through intravenous drug use. Buprenorphine can help heroin users to move from illicit substance use to recovery programmes by reducing craving and withdrawal symptoms and reducing the ‘high’ experienced after taking heroin. Unlike the similar drug methadone, which is used for the treatment of heroin addiction under restricted access, buprenorphine has a low abuse potential and can be given to patients in the primary care setting."  
  

Behavior at Age 10 May Predict Later Depression
Reuters Health story at Yahoo - "A child's behavior during the preteen years may predict whether he or she will experience depression, violent behavior or social phobia as a young adult, new research findings suggest. In a decade-long study, the researchers collected data for 765 children between the ages of 10 and 11 years old. At follow-up, they found that those who reported fighting, stealing or other conduct problems were almost four times as likely as their more well-behaved peers to have experienced depression or violent behavior by 21 years old."  
  

Maker to Pull Antidepressant Off Market
AP story at Yahoo - "The maker of Serzone will pull the controversial antidepressant off the U.S. market next month, blaming a decline in sales rather than concern about a risk of liver failure. The end to U.S. sales comes after Serzone was pulled off the market in many other countries, and as maker Bristol-Myers Squibb was under mounting pressure from lawsuits. Serzone has been linked to dozens of cases of liver failure and injury, including at least 20 deaths. A Bristol-Myers spokesman confirmed the decision in an interview Wednesday, a day after the company notified wholesalers that distribution would end June 14."  
  

ERs don't treat mental patients fairly
Story in the Seattle Post Intelligencer - " Hospital emergency rooms routinely refuse treatment for medical conditions of people regarded as 'mentally ill.' Attorney Susan Stephan, author of the recent book, Unequal Rights: Discrimination Against People with Mental Disabilities and the Americans with Disabilities Act, surveyed people with 'mental illness' who went to ERs for medical conditions. Stephan's survey concluded ERs trivialize our medical conditions, or refuse to treat our medical conditions until after a psychiatric exam, or involuntarily commit us to the psychiatric ward when we need treatment for a non-psychiatric medical condition..."