It is “the worst pariah, one of the last great taboos,” says the character Robert Smith in the British play “Blue/Orange.” “People don’t understand it. … It scares them. It depresses them. It is not treated with some glamorous and intriguing wonder drug like Prozac or Viagra. It isn’t newsworthy. Organized crime gets better press.”
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Archive for September, 2009
ScienceDaily (Sep. 29, 2009) — Bipolar disorder, or manic-depression, causes severe and unusual shifts in mood and energy, affecting a person’s ability to perform everyday tasks. With symptoms often starting in early adulthood, bipolar disorder has been thought of traditionally as a lifelong disorder. Now, University of Missouri researchers have found evidence that nearly half of those diagnosed between the ages of 18 and 25 may outgrow the disorder by the time they reach 30.
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Last weekend my wife and I saw Crosby, Stills, and Nash at the Puyallup fair, a fun memory. As a former police detective and commander of a homicide task force, I’ve seen things I’d like to forget. As a lawmaker, and chair of the House committee that deals with crime and public safety, I can’t imagine why it’d make sense for mental hospitals to take a criminally insane murderer on a field trip to the fair.
Post screenHAVERHILL — Doctors hope a new drug that’s getting a trial in Haverhill will offer relief to those who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease.
The drug — Bapineuzemab — might have the power to stop the deterioration of brain function that is associated with Alzheimer’s disease, said Dr. Michael McCartney, an internal medicine specialist who practices in Newburyport and is working on the drug’s trial Story continues here ➤
On first meeting, there is little evidence of the internal struggle Chris Goodchild faces daily as someone living with Asperger’s Syndrome, a high functioning form of autism.
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Some of San Mateo County’s severely mentally ill inmates may be treated at the county’s public hospital next year instead of at a jail in San Jose where Santa Clara County charges $1 million a year for two inpatient beds.
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THE HEALTH CARE system in our country is broken beyond repair.
As a health care practitioner who specializes in mental health and addiction treatment, I’ve come to visualize the actual control of health care in the United States as an addictive process, the drug of choice being profit. Story continues here ➤
FREDERICTON – The Health Department will release a new mental health strategy next year, building on the foundation of a comprehensive report that reviewed services throughout the province. Health Minister Mary Schryer speaks with reporters on Tuesday after releasing the government’s response to a report on mental health issues in the province. Health Minister Mary Schryer said the strategy will be released next spring as part of the department’s response to provincial court Judge Michael McKee’s report that was released last February. Story continues here ➤
Screening for Mental Health, Inc., the leading nonprofit provider of online and in-person mental health screening programs, today released results from a follow-up study of participants in the 2008 National Depression Screening Day® (NDSD) online program. The study found that over half of participants sought depression treatment in the three months following their initial screening. NDSD, the nation’s oldest voluntary, community-based screening program for depression and related disorders, provides individuals with the opportunity to complete a validated screening questionnaire, receive educational information about depression, and obtain a recommendation and referral for further evaluation if warranted.
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A patient who wandered off from his ward died after becoming trapped in an empty and locked wing of the hospital.
The 53-year-old man’s body was eventually found by a horrified cleaner arriving for work hours after he first went missing Story continues here ➤
A suicidal young woman was allowed to die because doctors feared they would have been accused of assault if they had intervened, an inquest has heard.
Kerrie Wooltorton, 26, signed a document stating she only wanted medical staff to make her comfortable and not attempt to save her life after she drunk antifreeze. Story continues here ➤
CHILDREN as young as five are among a growing number of school students diagnosed with mental problems, often exhibiting bizarre or violent behaviour in class.
Number Of Homeless Families In Rural/Suburban Connecticut Up 33 Percent From Last Year — Courant.com
HARTFORD — – The number of homeless families in Connecticut’s rural and suburban areas rose by at least 33 percent from 2008 to 2009, and many of them said the high cost of rental housing was to blame.
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TAMPA – The first complaint came at the end of the first day of school.
A boy at Randall Middle School in Lithia said he was struck on the head by another student as they rode the bus home. His mother reported the incident to Hillsborough County schools officials using the district’s new anonymous online system. Story continues here ➤
Patrick Tracey watched helplessly as his two older sisters, mother and grandmother were all felled by the brutal blow of schizophrenia.
“It hits like a comet, the impact is so devastating,” says Tracey, who spent his 20s fearing inheriting the disease himself, and later, watching romantic relationships fizzle over his reluctance to pass that burden onto any children.
11 signs of Internet addiction
Here are some signs of Internet addiction, according to Hilarie Cash, executive director of the ReSTART center for Internet addiction near Seattle. Three of the following symptoms suggest abuse, five or more addiction: Story continues here ➤
Spc. William Medlin found a sort of relief in Iraq. It was so much simpler, he said, than dealing with the complications in his other life, the one in which his marriage of three years was falling apart.
While training of the computer for voice commands to relieve some pain from carpal tunnel syndrome is ongoing, it’s progressed far enough to allow posting here to again resume. With the new system, it’s hoped posting will be a bit more comprehensive as well.
With a new generation of veterans returning from war, the Veterans Affairs health care system is adapting its outreach tactics to ensure they receive the medical care they’re due.
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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – One of Iowa’s four regional mental health institutions likely will face closure under a review plan now taking place.
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Children who are spared the rod may grow up to have higher IQs than those who are spanked, suggests a study by one of North America’s foremost child psychology experts.
ESCONDIDO, Calif. — Darrell Littleton calls them “his guys,” but he does not trust them.
One got drunk and exposed himself to a jogger in a public park. Another was a fire captain until he molested his 13-year-old stepdaughter, went to prison and lost his wife, his job and his home. Now the man sleeps behind a drive-through restaurant. Story continues here ➤
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — In a few years, Staten Island teens may be the ones who need a comprehensive health care system the most: Drug treatment counselors said the widespread use now of cigarettes, alcohol and drugs — and the rampant abuse of prescription medication — will cause serious health complications later.
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DENVER (AP) – Colorado lawmakers warned Monday that state government might have to raise fees and taxes and eliminate some tax breaks because of more grim news on state revenues.
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A new federal project will provide housing for hundreds of homeless, mentally ill Vancouverites in an attempt to help them reintegrate into society.
The study, by the Mental Health Commission of Canada, will monitor a total of 2,225 homeless people living with a mental illness in Vancouver, Moncton, N.B., Montreal, Toronto and Winnipeg over four years. Story continues here ➤
Problems carrying out daily chores or enjoying hobbies could identify people with mild cognitive impairments that are likely to progress more quickly to Alzheimer’s dementia.
The movie The Informant! starring Matt Damon is based on the real-life story of Mark Whitacre, the 1990’s whistleblower in the infamous Archer Daniels Midland price-fixing conspiracy. What you may not know is that Mark Whitacre, the FBI’s key informant in the case, has bipolar disorder. Story continues here ➤
A new partnership will help local law enforcement better deal with this area’s troubled youth.
The Barren County Sheriff’s Office will be working more closely with the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) to provide additional supervision for local juvenile offenders following the signing of an agreement between the two agencies on Tuesday. Story continues here ➤
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — A new study from the government Tuesday showed a wide disparity in health care coverage across the United States.
Dr. Kathryn Zerbe, professor of psychiatry at Oregon Health and Science University and a longtime expert on eating disorders, recently took readers’ questions on anorexia, bulimia, binge eating and related problems. Here, she responds to questions on the role of in-laws and other family members in promoting disordered eating.
BURLINGTON, Vt. — The Vermont Department of Mental Health says a new grant from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration will work to end homelessness among Vermonters with mental illnesses.
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For the impoverished segment of society among us, daily existence is a continuous uphill battle to meet the daily demands of attaining food and shelter. The issues associated with poverty go far beyond the financial implications of destitution, and effect every singular aspect of existence, but perhaps none more negatively than in the area of mental health Story continues here ➤
Two Canadian researchers who ran the works of British writer Agatha Christie through a computer program say the famed mystery novelist’s shrinking vocabulary in the early 1970s suggests she may have suffered from Alzheimer’s disease near the end of her career.
Nurses at that psychiatric hospital that held schizophrenic killer Phillip Allen Paul said they’d warned against the field trip that allowed the murderer to mingle with residents at the state fair before blending into the crowd and escaping, ABC News has learned.
A Thurston County judge says the North Sound Mental Health Administration should be paying the tab for most of the involuntary treatment hearings held in Skagit County.
That backs up the position of Skagit County’s prosecutor, who has long said that Skagit County has been unfairly bearing all of the cost of staffing legal hearings for the five counties that participate in a regional network with North Sound.
North Sound refused to negotia Story continues here ➤
The number of people with dementia globally is estimated to nearly double every 20 years, according to a report released Monday for World Alzheimer’s Day.
A seniors’ advocacy group is concerned that elderly and mentally ill patients will be moved into facilities that don’t offer adequate protection or care once the province closes up to 300 acute-care beds.
Alberta Health Services CEO Stephen Duckett announced last week that the closures in Calgary and Edmonton will be followed by the addition of 800 new community living spaces. Story continues here ➤
GRAND RAPIDS — An increase in the number of veterans from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who are seeking treatment at the Grand Rapids Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic on the city’s Northeast Side has led officials to seek a new location and larger space.
Employees are more inclined to disclose mental illness and seek assistance when they believe their mentally ill co-workers are receiving equitable treatment from their employer, found a new study.
In what senior law enforcement officials are calling one of the “most bizarre things [they] have ever seen,” a Blacksburg, Va., man participating in last weekend’s Blue Ridge Relay apparently took his own life after disappearing from the race early Friday afternoon.
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