Tuesday, March 22, 2005

SAMHSA Issues Group Therapy Guide for Substance Use Disorders Treatment SAMHSA press release - "The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) today unveiled a comprehensive guide on the use of group therapy in the treatment of substance use disorders. The consensus panel that created 'Substance Abuse Treatment: Group Therapy' emphasized that group therapy is effective treatment and is a cost effective way to deliver treatment. The guide, Treatment Improvement Protocol #41 in SAMHSA’s Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) series, is designed to aid substance abuse counselors who employ group therapy in the treatment of substance use disorders..." Despite what the press release says, the publication is not yet available at NCADI's TIP publications order form, but readers may want to save the link and check back. Please note, however, that TIP #42, Substance Abuse Treatment for Persons With Co-Occurring Disorders (Adobe Acrobat format), announced last month, is now available online.  
  

Early Detection of Schizophrenia Story in Current Opinion in Psychiatry at Medscape - "This article will evaluate the rationale and feasibility of detecting psychosis and schizophrenia earlier than is currently the case. ... Schizophrenia incidence may vary more than has been believed previously. Early detection studies fall into two groups. Firstly, operational criteria now exist for prodromal or at risk mental states which predict transition to psychosis of 20-40% over 1 year. The first randomized trials of antipsychotic drug and psychological interventions aimed at reducing this transition rate have shown promising results. Secondly, duration of untreated psychosis in the first episode seems genuinely to be associated with clinical outcome but how much of the association is truly causal remains disputed." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Strategies to Enhance Patient Adherence: Making It Simple Medscape General Medicine article - "The problem of poor patient adherence has been extensively researched, but the rates of nonadherence have not changed much in the past 3 decades. Healthcare providers play a unique and important role in assisting patients' healthy behavior changes. We conducted a narrative review of the current literature to help providers become more familiar with proven interventions that can enhance patient adherence. We then grouped the interventions into categories that can be remembered by the mnemonic "SIMPLE": 1. Simplifying regimen characteristics; 2. Imparting knowledge; 3. Modifying patient beliefs; 4. Patient communication; 5. Leaving the bias; and 6. Evaluating adherence..." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

New DVD offers rare look at consumer/survivor initiatives (Canada) Laurier press release, brought to our attention by CMHA/Ontario's Mental Health Notes on From Madhouse to Our House, a new DVD "produced as a new way of introducing an emerging model for mental health care to a wide audience. Consumer/survivor initiatives (CSIs) transform in a fundamental way how people with mental health concerns are supported. They go from being consumers of services and survivors of the system to active participants who support one another and work for community change." For further information on Consumer/Survivor Initiatives in Ontario, see the related web page at the Community Mental Health Evaluation Initiative site.  
  

Quarter of US Adults Have Received Mental Health Treatment Over Two-Year Period Medical News Today story - "A national survey of the general adult population and of adults who have needed or received some form of mental health treatment(1) find that more than a quarter (27%) of all adults have received some form of mental health treatment over a two-year period. Among those patients who have received treatment in the past two years: Approximately one-third (34%) received both therapy and drugs; approximately half (47%) of patients used prescription drugs but did not receive therapy; approximately one-fifth (19%) of patients received therapy but did not use prescription drugs..."