The Mental Health Social Worker

Jul 28 11:05 AM US/Eastern
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK – Patients with early Alzheimer’s disease who exercised regularly saw less deterioration in the areas of the brain which control memory, according to a study released Sunday at the 2008 International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease in Chicago.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies showed that exercise positively affected the hippocampus region of patients’ brains, an area which is important for both memory and balance. In Alzheimer’s, the hippocampus is one of the first parts of the brain to suffer damage. (more…)

Arlington, VA – Calling the NBC Show, The Baby Borrowers, exploitive and harmful to young children and families mental health, the American Psychiatric Association is urging NBC to provide a better review process of its programming in the future and to take into consideration the serious mental health implications shows such as the Baby Borrowers can have on individuals. The APA is calling on NBC to end this type of misuse of children used in order to secure ratings. (more…)

Ever since the 1970’s, divorce has become commonplace. In fact, the definition of family has changed dramatically. Less than fifty percent of families are intact families with the original mother and father. Families now include single heads of households—with women as the head of household, couples living together and step-families that become “blended” through divorce and re-marriage. (more…)

Jul 23 06:34 PM US/Eastern
Jennifer C. Yates And Seth Borenstein, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Fostering Non-Academic Talents Can Help Build Self-Esteem and Protect Against Mental Health Problems

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WASHINGTON—Black first-graders – especially girls – who are already performing poorly in school are at risk of being depressed by the time they reach junior high, according to an analysis of hundreds of African-American students in Baltimore. Therefore, researchers say, focusing early on what such youngsters are doing well may help build self-esteem and guard against a downward spiral. (more…)

Antipsychotic medications can reduce the risk of violence among people with schizophrenia, but the newer atypical antipsychotics are no more effective in doing so than older medications, according to a recent analysis of data from the NIMH-funded Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE). The study was published July 1, 2008, in the British Journal of Psychiatry. (more…)

Schizophrenia may occur, in part, because brain development goes awry during adolescence and young adulthood, when the brain is eliminating some connections between cells as a normal part of maturation, results of a study suggest. The new report appears online July 8, 2008 in Molecular Psychiatry.

Comparing a group of adolescents and young adults who had recently had their first bout of schizophrenia with a group of healthy peers, researchers found that this loss of tissue began around the same time and in the same brain areas in both groups. But the rate of loss was more pronounced and covered a greater area of the brain’s surface in the youth with schizophrenia. (more…)

Statement by David Shern, Ph.D., President and CEO of Mental Health America

ALEXANDRIA, VA. (July 1, 2008)-The reports today of the death of a mental health patient in the Kings County Hospital psychiatric emergency room are deeply troubling and demand further investigation to determine the root cause of this incident.  Given the problems that were first raised in a federal lawsuit filed a year ago, it should also spur greater scrutiny of the hospital’s administration and practices.

Mental Health America’s fear is that this incident reflects a broader public attitude that devalues individuals with severe mental health conditions who are served in public systems.   We call on people who share our abhorrence at these acts to continue to combat the ignorance and discrimination that still exists toward people with mental illnesses.  If appropriately treated people, even with the most severe illnesses, can and will recover.  Hope and respect are central components of this treatment.  Devaluing people further prolongs their disability and likely contributes to the 25 years of lost life for persons with severe mental illnesses that are served in public systems. 

This incident is also a tragic illustration of systemic problems in public mental health, where needed mental health care is too often provided as a last resort instead of a first response, and where medical problems too often go unrecognized and untreated.   

Those systemic problems go far deeper than breakdowns in psychiatric emergency services.  By their very nature, emergency services are not adequate alternatives for the many people whose illness could be managed before it becomes a crisis

Rather, this tragic incident underscores a real crisis in mental health service-delivery – the failure to invest adequately in early-intervention and other community-based services and supports, even as hospitals have reduced psychiatric bed capacity.  The facts are that over two-thirds of adults and over half of children with a diagnosable mental health condition do not receive the mental health treatment and services they need.  At the same time, people with serious mental illnesses served in the public system die, on average, 25 years early from preventable health problems such as heart disease and diabetes. 

As we discuss and debate “health care reform,” these shocking data highlight the importance of making mental health reform a key component of needed health reform. 

Mental Health America is the country’s leading nonprofit dedicated to helping all people live mentally healthier lives.  With our more than 320 affiliates nationwide, we represent a growing movement of Americans who promote mental wellness for the health and well-being of the nation – everyday and in times of crisis.

Contact: Steve Vetzner (703) 797-2588 or svetzner@mentalhealthamerica.net

ARLINGTON, Va.-The reported death of a woman at King’s County Hospital in Brooklyn, N.Y., illustrates the dire need for more public services for individuals with mental illness, according to the American Psychiatric Association.

According to news reports, a woman who was suffering from agitation and psychosis, was kept waiting in the emergency room for almost 24 hours because the hospital reportedly did not have a bed available for psychiatric patients. She collapsed onto the floor and then lay there for approximately one hour before emergency room personnel tried to revive her. Tragically, the woman died of causes that have yet to be determined. (more…)