Friday, August 20, 2004

Loren Mosher obituary: Psychiatrist who espoused drug-free treatment for schizophrenia
British Medical Journal news story - " The US psychiatrist Loren Mosher spent his entire professional career seeking more humane and effective treatment for people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. This caused him to be cast as a maverick and to be marginalised by mainstream psychiatry. As an advocate for patients' rights Mosher took an approach that was derived from the 'moral treatment' of mentally ill people, a tradition characterised by Philippe Pinel when he removed the chains from the men held in the Bicêtre Hospital in Paris in 1797. Mosher started a heated debate when he publicly resigned in 1998 from the American Psychiatric Association (APA)—which he called the American Psychopharmaceutical Association—charging that 'psychiatry has been almost completely bought out by the drug companies.' "  
  

Immigrant health rules spark debate
Boston Globe story - "Under proposed regulations slated to go into effect on Sept. 1, the federal government is offering $1 billion to hospitals and other providers that give emergency medical care to undocumented immigrants, an offer that is making many local health care administrators uneasy. The money would be distributed over the next four years by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to help emergency care centers treat uninsured patients. To receive their share, health care administrators would have to ask patients very pointed questions about their immigration status..."  
  

Antidepressant Study Seen to Back Expert
New York Times story - "A top government scientist who concluded last year that most antidepressants are too dangerous for children because of a suicide risk wrote in a memo this week that a new study confirms his findings. The official, Dr. Andrew D. Mosholder, a senior epidemiologist at the Food and Drug Administration who assesses the safety of medicines, found last year that 22 studies showed that children given antidepressants were nearly twice as likely to become suicidal as those given placebos. His bosses, however, strongly disagreed with his findings, kept his recommendations secret and initiated a new analysis. In his memo, dated Monday, Dr. Mosholder said that the results of the new analysis, undertaken in part at Columbia University, matched his own. Though the two studies used different methods and different numbers, they came to similar conclusions..." [Viewing New York Times resources requires registration, which is free]. See also FDA Analysis Backs Antidepressant Concern (AP story at Yahoo) and FDA Sees Changes to Antidepressant Labels (Reuters story at Yahoo) - "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration plans to update antidepressant labels to reflect studies that suggest a link between the drugs and suicide in youths, according to documents released on Friday."   
  

New program to provide treatment for alcoholism and mental illness (Maine)
Bangor News story - "A new network of centers around Maine aims to combine treatment for people who have both substance abuse problems and mental health issues. The Co-occurring Collaborative of Southern Maine has developed the "Centers of Excellence" with $200,000 in funding from the Maine Health Access Foundation and $55,000 from the state Office of Substance Abuse. The group will use the money to train staff and expand services at the Spring Harbor Hospital in Westbrook, Day One in South Portland, Crisis and Counseling Centers in Augusta and Arostook Mental Health Services in Caribou..."