Friday, December 10, 2004

Psychiatrists Learn to Argue For Treatment of Offenders
A December 3 story at Psychiatric News - "Long-term data will be valuable in convincing policymakers about the effectiveness of treatment rather than incarceration for people with mental illness. Treatment of mental illness in the community, rather than in the criminal justice system, can save communities and local taxpayers money over time. But reversing the widespread criminalization of mentally ill people requires an educated cadre of clinicians to make the case before legislators that diversion of individuals with mental illness from jails and prisons and into treatment in the community is the right thing to do. And it will also require long-term follow-up studies to prove the point..."  
  

Study Pursues a Genetic Link to Depression
New York Times story - "Scientists in North Carolina have discovered a genetic variation that could predispose people to depression and may help explain why some people who develop the condition get no relief from drug treatments. The findings, posted yesterday in the online edition of the journal Neuron, may allow researchers to develop a test for genetic vulnerability to depression and to create more effective treatments." "nyt" See also, at the Neuron web site, the article Loss-of-Function Mutation in Tryptophan Hydroxylase-2 Identified in Unipolar Major Depression (Adobe Acrobat format).