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Archive for January 22nd, 2011

 

By John M Grohol PsyD

It’s one of those “unintended consequences” of a government program started with the best of intentions — help the poorest of the poor families in our society get adequate treatment for their severely disabled child.

Yes, I’m talking about Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and The Boston Globe ran an in-depth investigative piece yesterday about some of those consequences, including rampant diagnosing of very young children and the over-prescribing of medication for them. “Many cash-strapped parents have come to believe that if only they can muster the necessary array of medical records, their children have a good shot at this benefit, even if it means carrying the stigma of the word “disabled.’’”

A program that was supposed to help only a small minority of children — those with serious health or mental health disabilities — is now serving 53 percent of the 1.2 million children who qualify for SSI benefits, according to the article.

The number one “disabled” diagnosis? Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.

Now, don’t get me wrong. This is a good program that indeed does serve the needs of many poor families with severely disabled children. But because of losing a legal case in 1990, the program now has expanded to include things that aren’t automatically “disabilities” in any traditional definition of the term.

Read in Full:  http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2010/12/13/ssi-encourages-families-to-label-healthy-children-with-adhd-as-disabled/



 

ScienceDaily (Dec. 13, 2010) — Expression of a toxic RNA that leads to Fragile X Tremor Ataxia Syndrome is modifiable by genetic or pharmacologic means, according to new research from U-M Medical School scientists.

In the study published online December 13 in the journal Public Library Of Science Genetics, U-M’s Peter K. Todd, M.D., Ph.D., led a team of researchers who examined the expression of a toxic messenger RNA (mRNA) seen in the brains of those afflicted with the syndrome.

Fragile X Tremor Ataxia Syndrome (FXTAS) is usually found in older adults, who often have grandchildren afflicted with Fragile X. Those affected with the adult form of the syndrome have slow gait, tremors, dementia and balance problems. The symptoms are caused by overproduction of a toxic mRNA in the brain that causes neurodegeneration.

“We found that the expression of this toxic mRNA is dynamic and modifiable,” says Todd, who is an assistant professor in U-M’s Department of Neurology. “There is a potential for modifying the increased production of the toxic RNA with drugs that inhibit histone acetylation.”

FXTAS is an under-diagnosed syndrome that was only discovered about 10 years ago, when researchers discovered the grandfathers of children with Fragile X were displaying common symptoms. It is one of three known Fragile X disorders that result from changes in the Fragile X gene. The altered gene can be passed down through generations, affecting both genders at different stages in life.

About 1 in 3,000 men and about 1 in 5,200 women in the general population will develop symptoms of FXTAS, according to the National Fragile X Foundation. Current estimates suggest that about 30-40 percent of male Fragile X gene carriers over 50 years of age, within families already known to have someone with a Fragile X-associated disorder, will ultimately exhibit some features of FXTAS.

Fragile X is the most common cause of developmental delay in boys and is the most common known single gene cause of autism.

Using both fruit fly models and human cells, the U-M researchers found that drugs that inhibit histone acetyltransferases modify the brain changes associated with FXTAS and could provide the pathway to a therapeutic target.

Read in Full:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101213140952.htm



 

By Daniel Tomasulo, Ph.D.

“I don’t have bedbugs, Kenneth. I went to Princeton.”
~ Jack Donaghy, Character on NBC’s show “30 Rock”

You probably have heard on the news about the problem with bedbugs in hotels. Nasty little things. They come out at night and suck your blood while you sleep.

I like vampire stories as much as the next guy, but when it comes to my blood I am very possessive. I don’t want to share it with a bug. I assume you feel the same.

You can learn more than you’d ever want to know about these creatures at the government’s CDC website here, but suffice to say that it is worth an ounce of prevention to cope with them beforehand, particularly this holiday travel season. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Environmental Protection Agency have issued a joint statement on bedbugs, including emotional reactions to them: “Bedbugs may also affect the mental health of people living in infested homes. Reported effects include anxiety, insomnia and systemic reactions.”

Bedbugs are small, winged, reddish-brown insects that belong to the family Cimicidae and are about 5-7mm in size. Despite having wings, they can’t fly. They can live for months without feeding, but when they do chow down they typically have what’s been called a ‘breakfast-lunch-dinner’ pattern of multiple feedings. They draw blood and leave raised bumps on the skin when they’re done. You don’t have to treat them, but if there are enough bites it can lead to itching and widespread skin eruptions. In that case you’d want to have a dermatologist look at it.

Bedbugs literally are bloodsuckers: Within five minutes they can suck in as much blood as their own body weight, and that can last them as long as six months.

That’s the bad news. If there is good news it seems that they do not transmit diseases.

Read in Full:  http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2010/12/14/sleep-tight-7-travel-tips-for-bedbug-phobia/



 

Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D. Updated: Dec 14th 2010

Just recently, Zindel Segal, PhD and his colleagues found that taking a Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) 8-week course was equally as effective in protecting against relapse in depression as taking medication. This has indications for people looking to come off their medications in a safer way, but we need to stay connected to the practices to continue to grow and maintain the gains. 

I’ve been teaching MBCT for a number of years now because my own experience tells me of the benefits of practicing mindfulness to come down from a story telling mind and ground back into the reality of the present moment. With depression it’s a natural fit as part of the depressive cycle is getting caught in convincing and believable stories of the mind that “nothing’s  going to change, I can’t help myself, and no one can help me,” closing the doorway to hope. 

Add in some cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) that helps take behavioral action when we notice the triggers to relapse and you have a very good formula for stopping that cycle and taking action toward greater health and well-being.

Now, here’s the critical element we need to be aware of. 

People think they can take MBCT and after 8 weeks have the tools to guard against relapse into depression. While that may be true, the brain has a strong inclination to fall back into old patterns, leaving us ready to the adage, “out of sight out of mind.”

Read in Full:  http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=41415&cn=5



 

Allan Schwartz, LCSW, Ph.D. Updated: Dec 14th 2010

An acquaintance of mine told the horrifying story of a friend with whom she went to a New Years Eve party. Everyone drank a lot and when the friend decided to go home, no one gave it a thought because she was walking home. Whether she tripped and fell, or, passed out from the alcohol is not know except that she was found dead the next day. She froze to death on the street before anyone found her.

Incredibly, it is not only drinking and driving that are dangerous, but drinking and walking are as well according to trauma surgeon Dr. Thomas Esposito at Loyola University Health System in Maywood, Ill.

 A journal called Injury Prevention “reported that New Year’s Day is more deadly for pedestrians than any other day of the year. From 1986 to 2002, 410 pedestrians were killed on New Year’s Day. Fifty-eight percent of those killed had high blood alcohol concentrations.”

Alcohol slows reflexes, damages judgment, and impairs coordination and balance. All of these factors make walking after drinking dangerous at home just as well as outside. At home, people fall on stairs, trip over furniture, get into arguments that sometimes become violent and manage to suffer fractures, burns and other injuries. Recent studies show that residents in nursing and senior residences also suffer severe injuries as a result of drinking and walking. In addition, aging brings about an increase in alcohol consumption for many people with the result that older people who drink are at risk along with those in nursing homes.

It is time to raise awareness of this problems. Preventive measures can be taken to avoid injuries and deaths. For example, during the holidays, when many people expect to drink at parties, wear light colored clothes so that drivers can more easily see you when you cross the streets. Remember to cross at corners and not in the middle of the street. Others at a party need to walk people home if they have been drinking, just as drivers leaving a party are driven home. At home, family members need to take care of anyone who is drinking to prevent accidental fractures and head injuries.

Read in Full:  http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=41414&cn=14



 

A fund which supports more than 21,000 people with severe disabilities is to be phased out by 2015.

The £359m Independent Living Fund pays out an average of £300 a week, to help people pay for carers so they can live at home and not in a care home.

It was already shut to new applicants for this year and will now shut to new claims permanently, said the minister for disabled people, Maria Miller.

Payments to existing users are to continue until 2015.

Ms Miller said: “An independent discretionary trust delivering social care is financially unsustainable.”

But Richard Hawkes, chief executive of disability charity Scope, said the decision to phase out the fund was “bemusing”.

“The fund is comparatively very small and is designed to support disabled people to live at home rather than in care homes,” he said.

“It’s hard to see how phasing out this fund will do anything but narrow down options and push people towards greater dependence on the state.”

The phased closure was described as “foolhardy and lacking in humanity” by Labour peer Lord Morris of Manchester.

Lord Morris, who was the first minister for the disabled, said: “This will not save money. If you make it harder for disabled people to live at home, it will cost more because more of them will have to be in hospitals and other places of full-time care.

“It will mean far more of them having to be in institutional care at far greater cost to the taxpayer.”

Read in Full:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11985568



 

Palin hopes The King’s Speech will help stammer sufferers

 

Sunday, December 12 12:36 pm

 

Monty Python star Michael Palin hopes new movie The King’s Speech will help real-life stammer sufferers by highlighting the devastating effects of a speech impediment.

 

The veteran funnyman’s father, Edward, spent years battling a stammer and never overcame his speech problems.

 

And Palin, who played a man with a stammer in A Fish Called Wanda, hopes Colin Firth’s portrayal of stuttering monarch King George VI will raise awareness of the condition.

 

He says, I think (the film) could make an enormous difference because it’s very important to see people with stammers as just the same as anyone else. They laugh the same, they cry the same, one just has the slight problem of speaking fluently.

 

“It’s very important to show that a stammer isn’t just a comedy vocal touch (and that) stammerers are no different from anybody else.

 

“My father never recovered from it. It was quite severe, and we just took it for granted, that was the way he was and we couldn’t do anything about it.”

 

Source: 

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/1/20101212/ten-palin-hopes-the-king-s-speech-will-h-c60bd6d.html

 

King’s Speech reigns at British Independent Film awards 

 

Colin Firth’s latest film, The King’s Speech, has won five prizes at the British Independent Film Awards.

 

The period drama, which earned him the best actor prize for his role as the stammering King George VI, also won best British independent film.

 

Carey Mulligan won the award for best actress for her role in the big-screen adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s best-seller, Never Let Me Go.

 

Both films will be released in the UK early next year.

 

Firth called The King’s Speech “an improbable story about people who could have been consigned to the footnotes of history, and nobody’s told it before.

 

“It was taken as a risk – somebody found the money – and I think it will pay off.”

 

The film also took best supporting actor honours for Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush, with an additional prize going to screenwriter David Seidler.

 

Yet Firth, who is attracting Oscar buzz for his role, refused to speculate on its chances during awards season.

 

“It could end tonight,” he said. “It’s already punched above its weight.

 

“It already got noticed at the festivals, it’s funnier than we thought, it has the capacity to make people cry.

 

“I can’t project myself into glories that aren’t in place yet.”

 

Bonham Carter admitted she was “slightly apprehensive” about the attention surrounding the film.

 

“There’s so much hype, I just hope people don’t get immensely disappointed and resent it deeply when they see it,” she told the BBC.

 

The awards, known as the Bifas, were hosted by actor James Nesbitt and took place at Old Billingsgate Market in London.

 

Bonham Carter was also presented with the Richard Harris award for outstanding contribution by an actor to British film.

 

Elsewhere actor Liam Neeson received an award from variety magazine for his part in focusing the international spotlight on Britain.

 

Monster success

 

Carey Mulligan, Oscar nominated for last year’s An Education, said she hadn’t expected to win for Never Let Me Go.

 

She admitted she had told her mother to stay at home instead of joining her at the ceremony, as she had done last year.

 

“Now I regret that,” Mulligan said.

 

“But it’s at home in London where I grew up, and to have a platform to talk about our small independent films is amazing.”

 

Newcomer Gareth Edwards beat veteran Mike Leigh in the best director category for his low-budget film Monsters, which opened in UK cinemas this weekend.

 

Monsters also won awards for best achievement in production and best visual effects, created by Edwards on a computer in his bedroom.

 

“I always wanted to make a monster movie,” said Edwards.

 

“With my background in digital effects, I felt like an alien invasion and giant monsters weren’t out of the question.”

 

Yet he admitted feeling uncomfortable about beating the likes of Leigh, The King’s Speech director Tom Hooper and Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn.

 

“I didn’t want to make eye contact with anyone when I walked up there,” he said.

 

Read in Full: 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11922410



 

written by: Jeffrey Wolf  Kevin Torres 

9 December, 2010

DENVER – A special-needs teacher is on paid administrative leave while Denver Police investigate a possible case of child abuse. The teacher is accused of scratching a 5-year-old student across his face.

9NEWS is not naming the teacher because she has not been charged. The boy’s family is urging the district and police for a harsher punishment than paid leave.

The incident allegedly happened Tuesday at Doull Elementary School in the Denver Public School District.

Zach Gallegos says his son Isiah can get out of hand, but only because he is a special-needs child.

“She [the teacher] said that she had repeatedly asked him once, twice and then on the third or fourth time she said she grabbed Isiah by his face and when she grabbed him by the face he kind of turned and got scratched,” Gallegos said.

According to Gallegos, the teacher failed to notify the principal of what happened. Instead, he says she went directly to Isiah’s mom and eventually to him. Wednesday morning, they all sat down with the assistant principal.

“We are deeply concerned about this incident. The teacher has been placed on administrative leave, and both Doull Elementary and DPS are working closely with the Denver Police Department during the investigation,” Kristy Armstrong with Denver Public Schools said.

Read in Full:  http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=168776&catid=339



 

Stephen Neary is a 20 year old autistic man who has been denied the right to return home to his father in London by so-called ‘professionals’ for almost a year.  His father merely required 3 days’ respite due to having flu.  Stephen’s communication style of tapping a person on the shoulder to garner their attention was seized upon as an ‘assault’, branded challenging behaviour, and used to deny him his freedom.  If you feel as strongly as I and 6000 or so others do on this matter, please join us in signing the petition and/or writing to your local newspapers, blogging etc on this important matter. 

Learn More:  http://www.annaraccoon.com/politics/the-orwellian-present-%E2%80%93-never-mind-the-future/

To Sign the Petition:  http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?Steven

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