"Comparative mental health policy: Are there lessons to be learned?"
By Steve Lurie of the Canadian Mental Health Association, Toronto Branch, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This article was published in the International Review of Psychiatry, published by Routledge, part of the Taylor and Francis Group, in their volume 17, number 2 / April 2005 and through whose courtesy IIMHL members will be able to review the article free of charge for the month of July.
The article can be accessed by clicking either here or here. IIMHL wishes to thank the Taylor and Francis Group and gratefully acknowledge their making this review available. IIMHL members wishing to further review the Taylor and Francis website and / or review other articles should click here.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Eli Lilly to Settle Zyprexa Suits for $690 Mln Reuters Health story at Medscape - "U.S. drug maker Eli Lilly and Co. on Thursday said it reached an agreement to settle for as much as $690 million about 75% of lawsuits involving its Zyprexa drug for schizophrenia. The Indianapolis, Indiana-based company said it will record a pretax charge of at least $700 million in its second quarter to settle claims that it did not warn consumers that the drug could cause diabetes-like symptoms." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].
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Half of Americans May Meet DSM-IV Criteria for a Mental Disorder During Their Lifetime A new CME unit from Medscape - "About half of all Americans will have a mental illness during their lifetime, with symptoms beginning in the teen years for many, according to the results of a survey published in the June issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry. A second study suggests that treatment is not usually initiated when patients first present..." "med"
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Highlights of the International Congress on Schizophrenia Research Medscape Psychiatry & Mental Health summary - "The International Congress on Schizophrenia Research (ICSR) took place in Savannah, Georgia, from April 2 to 6, 2005. Researchers from around the world presented the latest findings on etiology, epidemiology, and treatment of chronic psychotic illness." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].
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Who's Mentally Ill? Deciding Is Often All in the Mind June 12 New York Times story - "The release last week of a government-sponsored survey, the most comprehensive to date, suggests that more than half of Americans will develop a mental disorder in their lives. The study was the third, beginning in 1984, to suggest a significant increase in mental illness since the middle of the 20th century, when estimates of lifetime prevalence ranged closer 20 or 30 percent. But what does it mean when more than half of a society may suffer 'mental illness'? Is it an indictment of modern life or a sign of greater willingness to deal openly with a once-taboo subject? Or is it another example of the American mania to give every problem a name, a set of symptoms and a treatment - a trend, medical historians say, accentuated by drug marketing to doctors and patients?" [Viewing New York Times resources requires registration, which is free].
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Treatment contact delay common among US psychiatric patients Psychiatry Matters story - " Many people with mental health disorders in the USA wait for years before first seeking medical treatment, study findings show. 'Failure to make prompt initial treatment contact is a pervasive aspect of unmet need for mental health care in the USA,' say Philip Wang, from Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, and colleagues. 'Interventions to speed initial treatment contact are likely to reduce the burden and hazards of untreated mental disorder,' they add. For their study, the team assessed data from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication, in which household surveys were carried out with more than 9000 adults between 2001 and 2003..."
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Depression common in ex-service personnel but many fail to seek help Story at Psychiatry Matters, based on research published in the British Journal of Psychiatry - "Depression appears to be more common than post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in UK ex-military personnel, say researchers who also note that less than half of those with depression seek help. The findings highlight the need for the military to encourage a culture in which it is acceptable for personnel to consult professionals about psychiatric symptoms..."
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Less Than Half of Enrollees Satisfied With Consumer-Directed Health Plans, Study Shows Item in the Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report - "New research shows 'mixed results' for consumer-directed health plans -- high-deductible, low-premium insurance plans paired with savings accounts that consumers can draw on to pay for health services, the Wall Street Journal reports. Overall, participants are not foregoing health services but are 'frustrated by having to be health care consumers because medical price and quality information still is so hard to come by,' according to the Journal."
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Insured But Not Protected: How Many Adults Are Underinsured? This link is to the abstract of a study published in Health Affairs - "...This study estimates that nearly sixteen million people ages 19-64 were underinsured in 2003. Underinsured adults were more likely to forgo needed care than those with more adequate coverage and had rates of financial stress similar to those of the uninsured. Including adults uninsured during the year, 35 percent (sixty-one million) were under- or uninsured..." The study is available in both HTML and PDF formats.
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Mental health 'must be priority' (UK) BBC story - "Maintaining good mental health should be considered to be as important as keeping physically fit, a report says. The Institute for Public Policy Research said progress was being made with how it was treated and perceived. But researchers said the issue needed to be brought more into the mainstream if it was to escape the stereotype of mentally ill people being dangerous. The Department of Health said mental health was one of its top priorities along with heart disease and cancer..." The full report is available for a fee through the IPPR web site.
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Copyright 2003 © Bill Davis.
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