News items 2006

Great Britain: Disproportionate and sensationalized focus on psychotic illnesses (09/27/06)
Are you at risk for a mental disorder? (09/25/06)
New factors identified for predicting violence among schizophrenic patients (09/19/06)

Are pets better than Prozac? (08/07/06)
Denmark: Long wait for adolescent psychiatric care (08/07/06)

Mental illness - a biological issue (07/17/06)
US: NAMI warns Congress on NIMH budget cuts (07/17/06)
Signs of mental illness (07/17/06)
Mental health court provides a second chance (07/17/06)

Canada: Five cent per drink will help finance the help for the mentally ill (05/12/06)

US: Study shows all psychiatric experts that define the criteria for psychiatric disorders have ties to drug firms (04/23/06)

Dance therapy helps patients express themselves (03/20/06)
Studies may lead to progress in mental health care (03/07/06)

Great Britain: Disproportionate and sensationalized focus on psychotic illnesses (09/27/06)
Studies in Great Britain show that the British press may be guilty of misguiding the public and promoting a distorted view of mental illness. Both the tabloid and the broadsheet press have consistently given disproportionate and sensationalized coverage to psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia, often linking them to serious crime.
Source: Mental Health Foundation, Thursday, August 31, 2006
Read more in article at www.meantalhealth.org.uk

Are you at risk for a mental disorder? (09/25/06)
Within two years, an American medical genetics company plans to market a home test designed to help consumers determine whether they are genetically susceptible to schizophrenia. The test, performed at home and analyzed in a lab, is the result of ten years of research, and for better or worse, an example of what possibilities the new genomic world has brought.
Source: The Ithaca Journal, Thursday, August 10, 2006
Read more in article at www.theothacajournal.com

New factors identified for predicting violence among schizophrenic patients (09/19/06)
A study of adults with schizophrenia showed that symptoms of losing contact with reality, such as delusions and hallucinations, increased the odds of serious violence nearly threefold. The odds were only about one-fourth as high in patients with symptoms of reduced emotions and behaviors, such as flat facial expression, social withdrawal, and infrequent speaking.
Source: HealthNewsDigest.com, Friday, July 18, 2006
Read more in article at healthnewsdigest.com

Are pets better than Prozac? (08/07/06)
''Pet therapy'' used to mean sending your sad pet to see a doggy shrink. These days, however, your pet is less likely to see a therapist than to be one. Guide dogs, or hearing dogs, which are trained to help people with physical disabilities, are already part of our national consciousness. But now dogs, cats, horses - and even rabbits or fish - are being used to provide psychiatric assistance to humans suffering from agoraphobia, addiction, depression and schizophrenia.
Source: Telegraph.co.uk, Tuesday, July 24, 2006
Read more in article at www.telegraph.co.uk

Denmark: Long wait for adolescent psychiatric care (08/07/06)
Waiting lists for children and young people with psychiatric problems have grown longer and longer over recent years. Children waiting for treatment for disorders like anorexia, depression, and schizophrenia often have to wait several months for treatment, according to a investigatione performed by the Danish National Board of Health.
Source: Copenhagen Post, Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Read more in article at www.cphpost.dk

Mental illness - a biological issue (07/17/06)
It affects millions and millions of people every year that makes it more common than any other health problem. And like any other health problem, mental issues are real and treatable. "A lot of mental diseases are biology-based - it has to do with brain chemistry," says Patrick Schmitz, the executive director of Plains Area Mental Health Center (PAMHC) in an articel in Le Mars Daily Sentinel. "They are not a character flaw," he adds. "They are as common and normal as diabetes, a cold, or any other medical issue."
Source: Le Mars Daily Sentinel, Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Read more in article at www.lemarssentinel.com

US: NAMI warns Congress on NIMH budget cuts (07/17/06)
The president of NAMI - The National Alliance on Mental Illness - are warning the American Congress that President Bush's
proposed $9 million cut in the NIMH budget will inhibit the progress in finding new treatments and third generation drugs for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression.
Source: PR Newswire, Friday, May 19, 2006
Read more in article at www.prnewswire.com

Signs of mental illness (07/17/06)
Millions of Americans are living with bipolar disorder, depression, schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. Experts in the country are visiting classrooms and companies to educate people about these disorders and help them recognize the signs. There are several things to watch for. If you feel sad, anxious or suicidal most of the time you may need help. Another sign is being easily irritated and angered and having strong feelings that life seems meaningless.
Source: Wood TV8, Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Read more in article at www.woodtv.com

Mental health court provides a second chance (07/17/06)
Gerald had his first hospitalization for paranoid schizophrenia at age 27, four years after his initial symptoms. He had not left the home he shares with his parents for several years and was cursing and hollering at his father. Today, at 59, he has been helped by a Therapeutic Intervention Court, otherwise known as mental health court.
Source: Rockford Register Star, Sunday, May 14, 2006
Read more in article at www.rrstar.com
Read more in article at www.rrstar.com

Canada: Five cent per drink will help finance the help for the mentally ill (05/12/06)
The Canadian federal government suggets five cents should be added to the taxes on alcoholic beverages in order to finance a 10-year, $500-million national campaign to provide housing and other services to people suffering from mental illness.
Source: Edmonton Journal, Tuesday, May 10, 2006
Read more in article at www.canada.com

US: Study shows many psychiatric experts that define the criteria for psychiatric disorders have ties to drug firms (04/23/06)
An American study shows that a large number of those psychiatric experts that are involved in writing the standard diagnostic criteria for disorders such as depression and schizophrenia has had financial ties to drug companies that sell medications for those illnesses. Of the 170 experts who contributed to the manual that defines disorders ranging from personality problems to drug addiction, more than half had such ties, including 100 percent of the experts who served on work groups on mood disorders such as depression and psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia.
Source: St. Pioneer Press, Thursday, April 20, 2006
Read more in article at www.twincities.com

Dance therapy helps patients express themselves (03/20/06)
A group of patients in New Jersey diagnosed with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or major depression, who can't always organize their thoughts into words that convey their feelings recently entered a program in which dance and movement therapy is used to help them express themselves.
Source: InteliHealth, Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Read more in article at www.bergen.com

Studies may lead to progress in mental health care (03/07/06)
Recently, results from three American studies of the most common mental illnesses - depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia were presented. All studies underscored how far modern psychiatry is from "curing" mental illness.
Source: InteliHealth, Tuesday, March 7, 2006
Read more in article at www.intelihealth.com