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July 25, 2008
Foundation Opens 2009 Outstanding Merit Award Nominations
The Maryland Foundation for Psychiatry is now taking nominations for its annual Outstanding Merit Awards. Nominees will be vying for the 2008 awards; deadline for nomination is Thursday, March 2, 2009. The nomination form (in Word and PDF document formats) is available in the "Related Link" section below.
This award honors a meritorious endeavor by a person, project or organization within Maryland which accomplishes one or more of the following: increases public awareness and understanding of mental illness, enhances the quality of care for psychiatric illness, and reduces the stigma of mental illness.
Related Link:
- Download 2009 Outstanding Merit Award nomination form (Microsoft Word document)
- Download 2009 Outstanding Merit Award nomination form (PDF document)
- 2008 Winner: Healthy Mothers and Healthy Babies program
- 2007 Winner: Bowie Therapeutic Nursery Center, Inc.
- 2006 Winner: Mr. Edgar K. Wiggins
Posted by admin at 05:50 PM
Congressional committee to investigate health insurer rescission practices
Bloomberg (7/18, Goldstein) reports, "A U.S. congressional committee will investigate the health insurance industry's practice of revoking benefits when policyholders develop costly illnesses."
The insurer practice of post-claims underwriting in individual policies "can leave families without coverage and facing substantial medical bills, witnesses told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee" Thursday. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the committee's chairman, said that "he plans to request documents from health insurers."
Rep. Waxman claimed that "[i]nsurers are using technicalities...to rescind policies after individuals get sick, and accumulate hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills." The insurance industry contends, however, that the policy "revocations [are] necessary when they discover that members committed fraud, or misrepresented their health in applying for coverage."
And, according to Stephanie Kanwit, a representative for America's Health Insurance Plans, "[o]nly 0.2 percent of the policies bought by individuals and families directly from health plans are canceled by insurers each year."
Related Links:
- "U.S. to Probe Health Plans That Cancel Sick Members (Update3) ," Avram Goldstein, Bloomberg News, July 17, 2008.
Posted by admin at 04:27 PM
Research suggests teen smokers may only realize they are addicted once it is too late to quit
The Canadian Press (7/17) reports, "Teen smokers often try to quit and seriously believe they can, only realizing they're hooked when it's too late," according to a study published online Wednesday in the American Journal of Public Health.
Researchers at the Université de Montreal tracked "319 students age[d] 12 or 13 who" began smoking "during the five years of the research." At three-month intervals, "the group answered a questionnaire about their habits." Investigators found that "[m]ore than 70 percent expressed a desire to quit, but only 19 percent managed to go smoke free for 12 months or more."
The data also showed that "a month and a half into smoking, teenagers will naively try and stop smoking completely," Canada's Globe and Mail (7/17) adds. But, "by 21 months, they are no longer confident in their abilities to stop smoking, and are aware of the difficulty in quitting 32 months into the habit." Canada's CTV (7/16) also covered the story.
Related Links:
- "Teen smokers realize too late they're hooked: study," Canadian Press at CBC News website, July 17, 2008.
- "Teen smokers find it tough to stop," Caroline Alphonso, Canada's Globe and Mail, July 17, 2008.
Posted by admin at 04:24 PM
Analysis indicates apparent connection between bullying and thoughts of suicide in children
In continuing coverage from previous editions of Headlines, the UPI (7/17) reports that "studies from 13 countries found signs of an apparent connection between bullying and thoughts of suicide in children," according to a review published in the International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health. In order to reach that conclusion, researchers from the Yale University School of Medicine "analyzed 37 studies that examined bullying and suicide among children and adolescents" in the U.S., and around the world.
Related Links:
- "Bullying And Being Bullied Linked To Suicide In Children, Review Of Studies Suggests," ScienceDaily, July 19, 2008.
- International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health
Posted by admin at 04:14 PM
July 09, 2008
Analysis suggests 157 college-age people suffered alcohol-poisoning deaths from 1999 to 2005
The AP (7/8, Forliti) reports that "157 college-age people, 18 to 23, drank themselves to death from 1999 through 2005, the most recent year for which figures are available," according to "[a]n Associated Press analysis of federal records."
During "the seven-year span, 83 of the college-age victims were...under the drinking age of 21." The records "showed deaths spiking on weekends -- when young people are more likely to go out with the goal of getting drunk -- and in December, when college students wrap up finals.
Most of the dead were young men." Furthermore, "[a] separate AP analysis of hundreds of news articles about alcohol-poisoning deaths in the past decade found that victims drank themselves well past the point of oblivion -- with an average blood-alcohol level of 0.40 percent, or five times the legal limit for driving."
Related Links:
- "Drinking games prove deadly to college students," Amy Forliti, Associated Press, July 8, 2008.
Posted by admin at 12:07 AM
July 08, 2008
Chicago Tribune interviews Stotland about Green tragedy
In continuing coverage from previous editions of Headlines, Judith Graham wrote in the Chicago Tribune's (7/3) Triage column about the incident last week in which Esmin Green died in a Brooklyn, N.Y. hospital while "awaiting admission for psychiatric care."
Graham interviewed psychiatrist Nada Stotland, M.D., president of the American Psychiatric Association, "about the incident, and what it says about mental healthcare in this country." Dr. Stotland pointed out that "since there are so few [hospital psychiatric] beds," patients "often end up staying in the emergency room for an unconscionable period of time."
To address the problem, "we need more psychiatric beds, properly staffed with properly trained people." But, "across the country, these beds have been closing, and there's nowhere for people who are acutely ill to go," Dr. Stotland explained. In addition, "few ER personnel are trained to understand or treat psychiatric illness."
Dr. Stotland concluded that it is "absolutely needless for anyone to die for want of care." The U.S. is "the richest country in the world. And our first obligation as a society, as far as I'm concerned, is to take care of the people who are least able to take care of themselves."
Related Links:
- "A psychiatrist examines Esmin Green tragedy," Judith Graham, Chicago Tribune, July 3, 2008.
Posted by admin at 12:57 AM
Some experts say emergency departments have become "all-purpose dumping grounds" for mentally ill patients
The AP (7/4, Caruso) reported that "[e]mergency [departments]...have become all-purpose dumping grounds for the mentally ill, with patients routinely marooned a day or more while healthcare workers try to find someone to care for them," experts say.
According to "[a] survey of hundreds of U.S. hospitals released last month by the American College of Emergency Physicians,...79 percent reported that they routinely 'boarded' psychiatric patients in their waiting rooms for at least some period of time because of the unavailability of immediate services."
Approximately 33 percent "reported that those stays averaged at least eight hours, and six percent said they had average waits of more than 24 hours for the next step in a patient's care." Some communities face "shortages of clinicians, and few open beds at psychiatric hospitals." Occasionally, "insurance companies refuse to approve treatment, and patients must wait while doctors appeal." And, "[o]ther times, patients aren't sick enough to need inpatient care, but would be lost if discharged to the street.
Finding a program to look after them can take days, doctors said." HealthDay (7/6) reprised the AP's coverage of the story.
Related Links:
- "Some psych patients wait days in hospital ERs," David Caruso, Associated Press, July 4, 2008.
Posted by admin at 12:53 AM
July 02, 2008
Small study indicates psychotherapy may benefit depressed mothers of children with mental illnesses
MedWire (7/1, Davenport) reports, "Among depressed mothers with children receiving psychiatric treatment, interpersonal psychotherapy reduces symptoms and improves functioning, which precedes improvements in their children," according to a study published in the June 16 online edition of the American Journal of Psychiatry.
Holly Swartz, M.D., of Pennsylvania's Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, and colleagues, "randomly assigned 47 mothers with depression, whose school-age children were receiving psychiatric treatment, to receive interpersonal psychotherapy for depressed mothers (IPT-MOMS), or usual treatment." The "participants were assessed at baseline, and again after three and nine months of follow-up using a series of measures."
The researchers found during follow-up that "women treated with IPT-MOMS had significantly lower levels of depression...than women given usual treatment." In addition, "children of mothers assigned to receive IPT-MOMS had significantly lower levels of depression than those of mothers given usual care at nine-month follow-up." And, "[f]urther analysis revealed a significant interaction between percent change in maternal depression scores, and treatment assignment for Children's Depression Inventory scores."
Related Links:
- "Psychotherapy benefits depressed mothers of children with a mental illness," Liam Davenport, MedWire News, July 1, 2008.
Posted by admin at 01:02 PM
Psychiatrist takes issue with NYTimes editorial supporting conversion to electronic medical records
In a letter to the editor of the New York Times (6/30, A18), psychiatrist Deborah C. Peel, M.D., founder and chair of Patient Privacy Rights, writes in response to the Times editorial, "Our Pen-and-Paper Doctors", that physicians "are loath to add sensitive records to a system that uses personal health information against patients."
That is because "Americans' personal health information is used to deny jobs, promotions, insurance, and credit. Millions avoid treatment for cancer and mental illness, putting their lives at risk, because they have no privacy."
Pointing out that "[e]lectronic health information is a very valuable commodity, and millions of records could be stolen or transferred in a millisecond," Dr. Peel notes that the "data-mining industry makes millions selling our health information, claims data, prescriptions, and genetic information to insurers, employers, researchers, drug companies, and data aggregators." She concludes, "Doctors won't buy systems that harm patients."
Related Links:
- "The Digital Doctor Will See You Now," Deborah C. Peel, M.D., New York Times, June 30, 2008.
- "Our Pen and Paper Doctors," New York Times, June 24, 2008.
Posted by admin at 12:56 PM
Living With Schizophrenia
In her memoir, "The Center Cannot Hold," Elyn Saks tells of her struggle to create a life in the face of devastating delusional suicidal schizophrenia requiring hospitalization. A graduate of Oxford and Yale Law School, and currently a Professor of Law and Psychiatry at the University of Southern California, she is clearly an extraordinary person and her story is inspiring. She says medication kept her alive, but psychoanalysis gave her a life worth living. She recognizes her continued vulnerability.
Related Links:
- Preview and links to purchase at Google Books.
- "Elyn Saks - The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness," John M. Glionna, USC Gould School of Law Website.
- "Elyn Saks: A Scholar's Memoir of Schizophrenia", Radio Interview Fresh Air from WHYY, National Public Radio, August 7, 2007.
Posted by admin at 12:47 PM