Autism made its mark on Westminster last week with several MPs championing both autism and the work of The National Autistic Society in Parliament.

On Tuesday, Liberal Democrat Annette Brooke raised her concerns about the provision of special needs education by independent special schools. Her speech recognised the “excellent” work of our schools.

Graeme Morrice, Labour MP for Livingston, put two questions to Andrew Lansley, Secretary of State for Health, asking what progress was being made in developing a quality standard for children with autism, and pressing for health professionals to receive training so that they can identify the early signs of autism.

Conservative Richard Fuller used a work and pensions debate to discuss Work Capability Assessments. Mr Fuller asked what steps were being taken to help people with mental and behavioural disorders into work.

And finally, Wednesday saw Liberal Democrat Stephen Lloyd securing a Westminster Hall debate on support for disabled young people as they move from childhood into adulthood. Using statistics from the NAS, Mr Lloyd highlighted how only 34% of students in mainstream schools had received transition plans during the course of their education, despite it being a legal obligation; 45% of those who participated in transition planning were dissatisfied with the whole process.

Source:

http://www.autism.org.uk/news-and-events/news-from-the-nas/the-week-from-westminster.aspx

Sign Petition on Welfare Reform

Don’t let disabled children pay the price for welfare reform. We are supporting a campaign to make sure that the Government doesn’t cut benefits to children with disabilities and their families.

There are concerns that planned changes to welfare support may result in families living with disabilities (including autism) receiving less money. We are using the Government’s new e-petition website to let them know how important this issue is to us.

Sign the petition here

The petition argues that cutting support for children with disabilities and their families may be removing a vital lifeline for them, and that as a result more people may struggle financially to care for their children.

Families living with disabilities already face additional costs caring for their children and it is unfair for them to be targeted in this way. The new system could cost children with disabilities £27 a week in lost benefits, which is a substantial amount of money for them and their families.

Along with 24 other charities, we are calling on the Government to change these plans for the sake of children with disabilities and their families.

You can get involved by:

• *signing the petition
• *promoting this campaign on your Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts.

 
Let’s work together to make an important difference to the lives of disabled children and young people.

Source:

http://www.autism.org.uk/news-and-events/news-from-the-nas/what-price-welfare-reform.aspx

Published: Friday, August 19, 2011, 5:00 AM

By The Post-Standard Editorial Board

In 1999, urban planner Andres Duany visited Syracuse for an intensive process of analysis and consultation that resulted in the Onondaga County Settlement Plan — a revolutionary blueprint that paradoxically focused on traditional neighborhoods to create a model for pleasing, sustainable environments in Central New York.

In 2005, the citizens group F.O.C.U.S. Greater Syracuse produced an Action Plan for a Sustainable Community. Its advice to local government: Create a sustainability plan.

In 2010, the county’s Development Guide echoed the Settlement Plan’s emphasis on limiting suburban sprawl. Now the county has taken up F.O.C.U.S.’s suggestion and is working on a Sustainable Development Plan to guide operations and engage municipalities and citizens.

At a public workshop in June, participants addressed three interlocking elements of sustainability — “environment,” “economy” and “social equity.” They reaffirmed the need to curb sprawl and endorsed government consolidation and cooperation, renewable energy and conservation, improved transit and bike trails, and protection of open space.

County residents have three more chances to share their “core community values” — 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday at the Salt Museum in Liverpool; 3 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Marcellus Town Park; and 3 to 7 p.m. Aug. 24 at the Manlius Village Centre. Make your voice heard.

Protecting the vulnerable

The state this week took a big step forward in protecting its most vulnerable citizens. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced an agreement between the Office for People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) and the state police on guidelines for reporting possible crimes against the disabled.

The move is the latest policy change in response to a New York Times investigation that pointed to a pattern of secrecy and cover-ups of sexual and physical assaults of group home residents. The Times reported that some group home employees had bullied, neglected and assaulted people with conditions such as Down syndrome, autism and cerebral palsy.

For years, OPWDD has handled potential criminal investigations internally, despite state law that requires that incidents in which a crime might have been committed be reported to law enforcement.

Under the agreement that went into effect Monday, staff must report to law enforcement cases that involve “intentional hitting, slapping, pinching, kicking, hurling, strangling or shoving of an individual receiving services by a staff member.” It also requires reporting of sexual contact between an employee and a resident, or between two residents if force is involved, and of deaths when the cause is unknown.

Read in Full:

http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2011/08/sustainability_and_you_protect.html

 

Diane Schmidt, Albuquerque Judaism Examiner

Branding victim’s healing only beginning as tormentors head to prison

ALBUQUERQUE – On Aug. 18, 2011 the public finally got to hear hate-crime victim Vincent Kee, who was branded with a swastika in an April 29, 2010 incident in Farmington, New Mexico, and his words pierced the heart. “Why, why would they, why would they hurt me?” he said to television reporters outside the federal courthouse in Albuquerque.

What brought Kee to Albuquerque this last week was the announcement that two of the three defendants crime were to be sentenced after pleading guilty to violating the federal law against crimes based on prejudice.

Kee, who is mentally disabled as a result of fetal alcohol syndrome, waited outside the courtroom as his adoptive mother, relatives and victim advocate attended the hearing on the ninth floor of the federal courthouse at Lomas and 3rd. As the press flooded out of the courtroom, he held the door open with a laughing gesture as if he were host of ceremonies, clearly enjoying the attention. But later outside the building, as he stood with his family and answered a few questions put to him in front of television cameras, tears began to stream down his face. When asked what he felt about the defendants at the hearing, he said he wished they had said more about what they did to him.

Read in Full:

http://www.examiner.com/judaism-in-albuquerque/swastika-branding-hate-crime-guilty-plea

Police investigate the homicide of a 49-year-old man by his son in June 2009. On Thursday, the teen’s defence told court his father was murdered because the teen feared for his safety. (QMI Agency file photo)

DEAN PRITCHARD, QMI Agency

First posted: Thursday, August 25, 2011 11:39 PM MDT |

Updated: Friday, August 26, 2011 04:51 AM MDT

WINNIPEG – A Winnipeg teen feared for his life and that of his mother when he murdered and dismembered his abusive father, a court was told Thursday.

The now 19-year-old man “lived in a kind of fear we can only imagine,” said defence lawyer Saul Simmonds, who described the 49-year-old victim as “bordering on evil.”

The accused previously pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for the June 2009 killing. The Crown is seeking the maximum youth sentence of 10 years custody and supervision.

Court heard the accused has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and has no friends. He lived alone with his father since he was 12, when his mother fled their home.

“It would be very difficult not to have sympathy for (the accused) in the situation he found himself in… but he had other options available to him,” Crown attorney Brian Sharpe said.

The then 17-year-old accused bludgeoned his father with a hammer and then stabbed him to death following an argument at their home. The next day, the teen dismembered his father’s body and drove the remains to a wooded area near a microwave tower north of Lake St. Martin.

A forensic psychiatrist who examined the teen said he dismembered his father’s body because he didn’t know how else to get it out of the house.

“This was not a further attack on the body but a very inappropriate problem-solving strategy,” Dr. Keith Hildahl told court.

Hildahl said the man is a low risk to kill again.

“I saw a traumatized boy living in fear in a situation that escalated to murder,” Hildahl said. “He’s not a walking time bomb waiting to explode.”

The accused’s mother was present in court and choked back tears through much of the hearing.

Court was told the man repeatedly threatened to kill his wife and tried grooming his son to beat the woman. Both mother and son suffered routine physical abuse at his hands.

“The nature of his evil was such he had (them) under his thumb,” said Simmonds, who argued the accused should serve no more than another two years in custody.

Read in Full:

http://www.calgarysun.com/2011/08/26/terrified-teen-dismembered-abusive-dad

By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on August 12, 2011

A new research report finds that depressed women may be at a higher risk for a cerebrovascular accident (CVA) or stroke.

Researchers following women participating in the Nurses’ Health Study discovered a history of depression was associated with a 29 percent increased risk of total stroke — even after considering other stroke risk factors.

Their findings are reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Researchers also discovered women who use selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) class of anti-depressant medication, such as Prozac, Zoloft, and Celexa, had a 39 percent increased risk of stroke.

Anti-depressant medication use may be an indicator of depression severity, said Kathryn Rexrode, M.D., the study’s senior author. “I don’t think the medications themselves are the primary cause of the risk. This study does not suggest that people should stop their medications to reduce the risk of stroke.”

Read in Full:

http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/08/12/depression-increases-risk-of-stroke-in-women/28581.html

Antidepressants Bad for Babies

By Jennifer Gibson, PharmD | Editor Shaheen E Lakhan

Recently, two studies reported that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), a common class of antidepressant medication, increase the risk for congenital malformations and developmental disorders among children when taken by mothers during pregnancy.

The first study, published in Obstetrics and Gynecology, evaluated more than half of a million offspring over 11 years. Of these, just over 1% of the children were exposed to an SSRI during the first trimester of pregnancy. The study provided evidence for a two- to four-fold increased risk of cardiac and neural tube defects with specific SSRIs. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders were also 10 times more likely in children exposed to an SSRI during pregnancy.

Read in Full:

http://brainblogger.com/2011/08/18/antidepressants-bad-for-babies/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GNIFBrainBlogger+%28Brain+Blogger%29

Childhood Maltreatment Linked to Long-Term Depression Risk and Poor Response to Treatment

ScienceDaily (Aug. 13, 2011) — People who have experienced maltreatment as children are twice as likely to develop both multiple and long-lasting depressive episodes as those without a history of childhood maltreatment, according to a new study. The research, led by a team at King’s College London Institute of Psychiatry also found that maltreated individuals are more likely to respond poorly to pharmacological and psychological treatment for depression.

The results, to be published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, have emerged from a combined analysis of 16 epidemiological studies involving more than 20,000 participants and of 10 clinical trials involving more than 3,000 participants.

Depression ranks among the most common psychiatric disorders worldwide, with one in ten children exposed to maltreatment including psychological, physical or sexual abuse or neglect. By 2020, depression is predicted to be the second leading contributor to the global burden of disease across all ages, according to the World Health Organisation. The societal impact of depression is largely accounted for by individuals who develop multiple and long-lasting depressive episodes.

Read in Full:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110814131624.htm

Children of Depressed Mothers Have a Different Brain: MRI Scans Show Their Children Have an Enlarged Amygdala

ScienceDaily (Aug. 15, 2011) — Researchers think that brains are sensitive to the quality of child care, according to a study that was directed by Dr. Sonia Lupien and her colleagues from the University of Montreal published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The scientists worked with ten year old children whose mothers exhibited symptoms of depression throughout their lives, and discovered that the children’s amygdala, a part of the brain linked to emotional responses, was enlarged.

Similar changes, but of greater magnitude, have been found in the brains of adoptees initially raised in orphanages. Personalized attention to children’s needs may be the key factor. “Other studies have shown that mothers feeling depressed were less sensitive to their children’s needs and were more withdrawn and disengaged,” explained Drs. Sophie Parent and Jean Séguin of the University of Montreal’s, who followed the children over the years.

Read in Full:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110815152041.htm

Program Helps High School Students Overcome Depression and Thoughts of Suicide

ScienceDaily (Aug. 12, 2011) — A suicide prevention program developed at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center has significantly helped teens overcome depression and thoughts of suicide, according to a new study.

The study, published in the September 2011 edition of the Journal of School Health, shows that students who have gone through the program, Surviving the Teens®, are significantly less likely to report that they are considering suicide, planning suicide or have attempted suicide than before participating in the program.

The study, conducted by Keith King, PhD, a professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Education, Criminal Justice and Human Services, will be published online Aug. 11 and in the print edition Aug. 16.

“The overwhelming majority of students felt Surviving the Teens helped them to learn suicide warning signs, suicide and depression risk factors, how to effectively cope with stress, steps to take if they or a friend felt suicidal, and how to talk to their parents and friends about their problems,” says Cathy Strunk, RN, suicide prevention expert in the division of Psychiatry at Cincinnati Children’s who developed Surviving the Teens.

The program is one of the few suicide prevention programs to have data supporting its effectiveness.

Strunk taught the Surviving the Teens curriculum to more than 6,000 high school students in Warren, Butler and Hamilton counties during the 2008-2009 school year. For this study, more than 900 were surveyed before going through the program and after completing the program. More than 400 were surveyed three months later.

Among the findings in self-reported behaviors, feelings, intentions and attitudes three months following the program compared to pre-test:

• *Students who reported considering suicide decreased 65 percent, from 4.2 percent of students to 1.5 percent.
• *Students who reported planning to attempt suicide decreased 48 percent, from 9.9 percent of students to 5.2 percent.
• *Students who reported having attempted suicide decreased 67 percent, from 5.2 percent of students to 1.7 percent.
• *Students who reported feeling sad and hopeless decreased 26 percent, from 22.6 percent of students to 16.8 percent.

“The program taught students how to have more self-confidence and how to engage in positive behavior, which lessens the risk of them contemplating suicide,” says Strunk.

Read More …

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110812102742.htm

John Folk-Williams Updated: Aug 11th 2011

Getting a depression diagnosis is a big step in dealing with the illness. Up to that point you may have tried to ignore the symptoms or hoped they’d go away. By trying to find out more, you’ve taken action and broken the paralysis that often keeps people from getting effective treatment.

The diagnosis itself is simply a name given to a set of symptoms, but you’ll likely receive several messages along with the bare definition of what’s been happening to you. Some of those messages are hopeful, but some may be discouraging. What you hear depends on the attitudes and beliefs of the diagnosing physician. It’s easy to confuse the diagnosis with the message.

Some physicians, whether in primary care or psychiatry, are compassionate by nature and convey messages of hope and encouragement. Others express support by emphasizing their medical expertise and the importance of following their guidance for treatment. Still others reflect indifference to your emotional state and see you only as an example of a mental disorder, not as an individual.

The messages I found most hopeful were the most basic of all.

• *You have a well-defined illness. The moods and negative beliefs about yourself, and the rest of the problems you’re living with, are all symptoms of depression.

• *You’re not alone. Millions of people around the world also have the illness.

• *Depression is treatable.

These are crucial messages of hope and support.

Read in Full:

http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=44102&cn=5

Allan Schwartz, LCSW, Ph.D. Updated: Aug 10th 2011

People have a natural tendency to empathize with those who are in the midst of painful depression. They have the same tendency to empathize with, and feel sorrow for, those who attempt or commit suicide because of the terrible suffering that caused them to commit such a tragic act. However, with full respect and feelings for those who are deeply depressed and who entertain thoughts of suicide, we need to look at some features that may make me appear to the reader as somewhat callous to their plight.

Most of us can agree with the fact that depression and suicide have to do with the individual feeling empty, hopeless and deeply despairing. Most of us subscribe to the well known theory that depression is anger turned inward, against the self, and that suicide is an attack on or murder of the self.

Read in Full:

http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=44107&cn=5

The Great U.S. Depression: Antidepressant Pill Popping Numbers Up

Article Date: 05 Aug 2011 – 2:00 PDT

Antidepressants such as Prozac, Paxil and Lexapro are now the third most widely prescribed group of drugs in the United States, and Americans are popping more antidepressants than ever before. The increase doesn’t necessarily mean that the drugs are being used inappropriately, but it’s necessary to understand why antidepressant use is growing. More than 10% of Americans now take antidepressants in any given year.

Using data from annual surveys by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the researchers reviewed the records of 233,144 adult patients who made doctor visits between 1996 and 2007.

The study found that the percentage of prescriptions for antidepressants written by non-psychiatrists more than doubled from about 4% to almost 9% over the 12 year period. This included 9,454 antidepressant prescriptions for patients without a diagnosis of depression or other mental illness typically treated with the medication. For that group, the rate jumped from 2.5% at the start of the study period to 6.4%.

Read in Full:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/232287.php

Antidepressants Overprescribed in Primary Care

By John M. Grohol, PsyD
Founder & Editor-in-Chief

Antidepressants have long enjoyed a reputation as being a quick and “easy” treatment for all types of depression — from a mild feeling of being a little down, all the way up to severe, life-debilitating depression.

But like all medications, they have side effects and instances where they should not be prescribed. Hence their continued need for a prescription after seeing a doctor.

So what does it mean when primary care physicians are handing them out like candy?

It suggests that your family doctor doesn’t really understand how antidepressants work, or what they are approved to treat. In short, it suggests that antidepressant medications are being over-prescribed by well-meaning doctors who are simply not using very good judgment.

Read in Full:

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/08/08/antidepressants-overprescribed-in-primary-care/

Bipolar Disorder Missed When Presenting with Depression?

By John M. Grohol, PsyD
Founder & Editor-in-Chief

Coming as a surprise to more than a few mental health professionals, a new study out today suggests that bipolar disorder is often missed in patients who present only with major depression. The study examined 5,635 adults seen at community and hospital psychiatry departments in a number of different countries.

The discrepancy was reported because of the use of “bipolarity specifier criteria” that are broader than the DSM-IV criteria, the standard for diagnosis of mental disorders by mental health professionals.

Using the broader bipolar criteria developed by the researchers found an additional 31 percent of patients who could have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

So what’s really going on here? Are professionals really “missing” bipolar disorder? Or have the researchers stacked the deck in this study simply to suggest it is so?

Read More …

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/08/08/bipolar-disorder-missed-when-presenting-with-depression/

Depression’s Other Symptoms

By Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S.
Associate Editor

The hallmark symptoms of clinical depression are no doubt sadness and loss of interest in activities previously enjoyed. Many people also are familiar with appetite and sleep changes.

But there’s a whole set of other physical symptoms that are less known but just as debilitating. In fact, depression can literally hurt. According to a study conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, up to about 76 percent of people who report the typical emotional symptoms also report physical signs, such as stomach problems, headaches, backaches and chest pain.

Depression also is a chameleon. It can look like various other illnesses and conditions, even, for instance, the flu. Which, not surprisingly, makes diagnosing depression tricky, and thereby finding the right treatment a big problem.

As Jodi Helmer writes in the fall 2010 issue of Esperanza, a magazine on coping with anxiety and depression:

Read More …

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/08/05/depressions-other-symptoms/

Smile! Parental happiness and teen depression… and other summer updates.

By Nestor Lopez-Duran PhD On August 4, 2011

Hello everyone! It has been a while since my last posts and I have a few updates before I share with you some thoughts on a recent study on parental emotions and teen depression.

I wanted to start by thanking Dr. Anita Schimizzi, who has done an incredible job keeping child-psych running throughout the summer. We are very lucky that she is part of this project and I appreciate her very thoughtful and useful parenting posts. As I’m sure you are too, I’m looking forward to reading her posts every week.

Personally, my summer has been quite busy. Early this summer my job at the University of Michigan kept me away from child-psych. However, I’m now back but my role at child-psych will change slightly. Dr. Schimizzi will continue to post about parenting issues in general, while I will focus most of my posts on issues related to childhood and teen mood disorders (my primary area of research), and to a lesser degree, early childhood disruptive behavior problems (my primary area of clinical work).

On a more personal note, my summer was also quite busy due to some exciting life transitions. On May 29 I got married to an amazing woman and we spent some time traveling in Thailand and Japan. We are now settling back at home and getting ready to start the new academic year in September.

Ok, now for some quick thoughts on parental happiness and teen depression.

The Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology recently published a research report of a study by a team at the University of Melbourne in Australia that examined the impact of parental expression of emotions on their teen’s risk for mood disorders.

Read in Full:

http://www.child-psych.org/2011/08/smile-parental-happiness-and-teen-depression-and-other-summer-updates.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ChildPyschologyAndParentingResearch+%28Child+Pyschology+and+Parenting+Research%29

Treating Depression By Harnessing The Power Of Positive Thoughts And Emotions

Article Date: 05 Aug 2011 – 1:00 PDT

Positive activity interventions (PAIs) offer a safe, low-cost, and self-administered approach to managing depression and may offer hope to individuals with depressive disorders who do not respond or have access to adequate medical therapy, according to a comprehensive review article in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

More than 100 million people worldwide suffer from depression, and an estimated 70-90% either do not receive sufficient medical treatment, do not respond to therapy, or do not have access to quality care. As a result, there is an immense unmet need for alternative, economical, and effective strategies for treating major and minor depression.

Read in Full:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/232275.php

Newer Antidepressants May Be Riskier for Seniors

By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on August 4, 2011

A new UK study finds that among individuals 65 or older, taking new generation antidepressants (SSRIs) is riskier than older tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), increasing the likelihood of stroke, falls, even death.

Increased risk associated with SSRIs include dying or suffering from a range of serious health conditions including stroke, falls, fractures and epilepsy, say researchers at The University of Nottingham.

The research is published by the British Medical Journal website bmj.com.

The authors said the risks and benefits of different antidepressants should be carefully considered when prescribing these drugs to elderly patients. Additional research has been called for to further investigate the findings.

Read in Full:

http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/08/04/newer-antidepressants-may-be-riskier-for-seniors/28354.html

25 Percent of Ontarians Hospitalized for Depression Required ER Visit or Readmission Within 30 Days

ScienceDaily (Aug. 3, 2011) — Twenty-five percent of people who were hospitalized for depression were readmitted or visited an emergency room again for depression within 30 days of discharge, according to a new study by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). The results are published in this month’s edition of the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.

A team led by Dr. Elizabeth Lin, Scientist in CAMH’s Social and Epidemiological Research Department, tracked hospitalizations for depression across Ontario and found that one-third of patients did not receive follow-up care. “The data tell us that while 63% of people who were hospitalized did see a physician within a month of leaving hospital, many did not, resulting in increased visits to the ER or repeat hospital stays,” said Dr. Lin. “We also found that men, older people and those who live in rural communities were more likely to fall into this group.”

The period immediately following discharge from an acute incident of depression is the most critical time for monitoring risk of relapse and suicidal behaviours. The data shows that more than 13,000 people were discharged from a hospital stay for depression and of these nearly 5,000 people did not receive appropriate follow-up care.

Read in Full:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110803092036.htm

Blue in the Brain – The Upside of Depression

By Veronica Pamoukaghlian, MA | Editor Shaheen E Lakhan

“You watch the world bang door after door in your face, numbly, bitterly. You have forgotten the secret you knew, once, ah, once, of being joyous, of laughing, of opening doors.”

 

— Sylvia Plath

Depression is generally associated with a poor intellectual and physical performance. The assumption that negativity and lack of interest in the outcome of one’s efforts are inherent to depressive states is partly accountable for this reputation. However, a recent study argues that there are certain cognitive abilities for which individuals diagnosed with depression measure better than non-depressed ones.

In a study published in 2009 — and immediately transformed into a popular story by prominent media such as The New York Times — evolutionary theory advocates forwarded the notion that depression could be seen as an evolutionary trait, developed to solve complex problems.

Read in Full:

http://brainblogger.com/2011/07/29/blue-in-the-brain-the-upside-of-depression/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GNIFBrainBlogger+%28Brain+Blogger%29

Article Date: 12 Aug 2011 – 1:00 PDT

 
Short-stay inpatient hospitalizations for children and adolescents with a psychiatric diagnosis increased significantly over a 12-year period (1996 to 2007) and decreased for the elderly, according to a report in the early online edition in Archives of General Psychiatry by Joseph C. Blader, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Science at Stony Brook University School of Medicine. The article describing the research, “Acute Inpatient Care for Psychiatric Disorders in the United States, 1996 Through 1997,” will also appear in the journal’s December 2011 print edition.

“The study is based on the annual National Hospital Discharge Survey (NHDS), a program of the Center for Disease Control’s National Center for Health Statistics,” said Dr. Blader. “The survey included all non-Federal general and children’s hospitals, as well as other care facilities with a mean length of stay of less than 30 days. We used demographic, clinical and payment data from NHDS on a probability sample of discharges from short-stay facilities. Patients included in the study had a primary psychiatric diagnosis and were grouped as children (ages 5 to 13 years), adolescents (ages 14 to 19 years), adults (ages 20 to 64 years) or elderly individuals (ages 65 years and older). Payers were classified as private, government or other (self-pay, no charge and other payment),” added Dr. Blader, summarizing the study methodology.

Read in Full:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/232642.php

By Lara Gould

Last updated at 8:55 AM on 15th August 2011

Just after 8am on a spring morning in April, television presenter Gail Porter crouched under a tree on London’s Hampstead Heath and sent a text message to her boyfriend that read: ‘I can’t carry on. I feel suicidal.’

Hours later, the former pin-up girl – whose image was once famously projected on to the side of the House of  Commons – was being bundled into the back of a police van and taken to a psychiatric unit where she would  be sectioned and forcibly held for nearly a month.

The 40-year-old star’s personal  troubles – which have included a battle with the eating disorder anorexia, post-natal depression, being diagnosed bipolar, an acrimonious divorce from her musician husband in 2004 and being left bald by the hair loss condition alopecia – have been well-documented.

But in a searingly honest interview, Gail, a single mother who rose to fame on Saturday-morning children’s television in the Nineties and who was at one time among the highest-paid women on television, today tells how she hit rock bottom four months ago.

It’s a fall from grace almost unimaginable when compared with the fame she once enjoyed.

After being taken to the Royal Free Hospital in North London, Gail’s mental welfare was deemed so unstable she was placed under a 28-day section order which forced her to remain as an in-patient at the Grove Clinic, the hospital’s psychiatric wing, alongside paranoid schizophrenics and violent patients on suicide watch.

Three months after her release, and talking about her ordeal for the first time, the star is still shaken and emotional. She says she has turned a corner in her recovery after leaving hospital and embarking on an intensive counselling programme at The Cabin, a private rehabilitation centre in northern Thailand, which she completed last weekend.

But despite her positivity, her darkest moments still haunt her as she recalls the heavily medicated weeks in hospital with nothing to pass the time except a single television shared between the unit’s 50 patients and cups of instant coffee.

‘The worst part about being sectioned was the lack of structure,’ says Gail. ‘There was no treatment programme – we were just locked in the unit and basically forgotten about.

‘When you are suffering from depression as badly as I was, you genuinely believe you will never come out of a place like that.

‘It felt as if I was in the film One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. I had been forced into this place with some very, very ill people and we were left to our own devices and to fend for ourselves.

‘I had no idea how long I had been in there because each day followed exactly the same pattern as the last.

‘In the morning I was woken at 7am. We would have cereal for breakfast in the common room then the nurses came round with our medication. I was given 5mg of diazepam in a little pot to swallow to keep me calm. I didn’t even know what it was but there was no point complaining because you had to take what you were prescribed.

‘That was followed at lunchtime by clorazepate, an anti-anxiety drug, and in the evening another 5mg of diazepam and 7.5mg of zopiclone  for insomnia.

‘It seemed to me that the nurses didn’t really know what to do with us so it was easier to give us lots of drugs so we were calm and quiet.

‘In three weeks I saw three doctors for ten minutes each. Each time all I was asked was, “How are you feeling?” I told them I felt depressed, they wrote it down and a week later another one came back.

‘There was no treatment programme and nothing to do. It meant patients just focused on their problems instead of getting better. My ex-husband came to visit me and said recently, “You got madder every day you were in there. You were dosed up to your eyes with nothing to do.”

‘I kept myself to myself but there were some very ill people in there. The woman in the room next to mine would get up at  3am every morning and flush the toilet in her room for three hours and talk into the cistern. She said it was her contact to God.

‘Two patients believed they were Jesus and on another occasion a male patient burst into the common room naked because he said he was better.

‘I was desperate to get out but because I had been sectioned it was illegal for me to leave the hospital. I honestly believed I would never leave.’

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The circumstances surrounding the death of Hansel Cunningham, 30, remain under investigation by Illinois State Police, and officials said the probe could take a year to complete.

Don Moss, a disability rights advocate who works with Evanston-based Rimland Services for Autistic Citizens, which operates the group home, questioned the use of force and the judgment of Des Plaines police officers and paramedics.

“This type of force was not needed, the action was not necessary. The restraint was not protocol. Apparently the police were aware it was a home for autistic adults. But perhaps the police weren’t framed or trained in less violent techniques.”

“Our position is that we followed everything according to our guidelines. I believe the Fire Department did, too, but that is part of the investigation,” Prandini said. “Hopefully, we will find some results that will show why this unfortunate situation happened. We sincerely want the family to know that the Police Department, the entire city, offers its condolences and that we feel terrible about this.”

“I really would like to know,” Prandini said “If they point to the direction of a Taser, let’s make a Taser change. If they point to the direction of training, let’s make a training change.”

Paramedics initially were called to the home to treat the caregiver.

Moss said Cunningham did not have a history of violence and was familiar with the caregiver, who had been working at the home for more than three years.

Lt. Lincoln Hampton, public information officer for the state police, said there is no timetable for the investigation and that it could take a year to complete.

A final report will be turned over to the state’s attorney’s office, which would determine if charges are to be filed.

Dr. John Ortinau, medical director of the Arlington Heights-based Northwest Community EMS system, said the paramedics involved would be interviewed within the next week.

Attempts to reach Cunningham’s family for comment were not successful. A Rimland spokeswoman said a funeral for Cunningham was held Tuesday.

bmccarthy@tribune.com

Police Watchdog To Probe Taser Man’s Death