 
Dear Friends,
Today I am privileged and honoured to be appointed by the Prime Minister as Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation.
My appointment brings great challenges and great responsibility. These portfolios impact on the lives of all Australians and present a great opportunity to deliver a better quality of life for all Australians.
While I am thrilled to serve at the Prime Minister’s discretion in this role, it is with some regret that I relinquish my former role as Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities. However, let me assure you that the Gillard Government remains committed to ensuring that people with disability have the opportunity to lead the rich and fulfilling lives they deserve.
Although this Government has made many advances in the area and put disability on the political map, there is still much to be done before people with disability and carers are treated as equal citizens in this country.
I knew little about disability when I was elected as a Member of Parliament, but my eyes have since been opened to the suffering and need that still exists in Australia. They have also been opened to the needless barriers and attitudes that prevent people with disability from reaching their potential.
I have been inspired by the courage and passion of the many people with disability who refuse to accept the arbitrary limits that society puts on them, and who fight to change things for the better. I have also been inspired by the commitment of disability workers and organisations to giving people with disability lives of dignity and opportunity. If we are to be a truly fair and equal society, we need to do more to ensure that the most vulnerable in our community are not shut out or neglected.
The Productivity Commission’s study into a long-term care and support scheme will report by July 2011. This study represents a unique opportunity to make real change to the way disability is organised in this country. I know this Government will treat the report with the seriousness it deserves.
You should be assured that my new responsibilities will not dampen my passion for disability and I will continue to argue the case for better treatment of people with disabilities as well as I can, both inside and outside of Government.
I look forward to keeping in touch with you as the disability fight continues.
Yours sincerely,
Bill
(Message Received Saturday, September 11, 2010)
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Article Date: 09 Sep 2010 – 2:00 PDT
For many young people getting drunk is key to being accepted as part of a social group.
Professor Christine Griffin (University of Bath) will discuss young people’s attitudes to alcohol in her presentation ‘The allure of belonging: Young people’s drinking practices and collective identification’ at the British psychological Society’s Social Section annual conference at the University of Winchester today, Thursday 9 September.
Professor Griffin explained: “Extreme inebriation is often seen as a source of personal esteem and social affirmation amongst young people. Our detailed research interviews reveal that tales of alcohol-related mishaps and escapades are key markers of young peoples’ social identity.”
In 2007 Professor Griffin led research for the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) which suggested a radical re-thinking of national alcohol policy was required to take into account the social character of alcohol consumption and the identity implications for young people.
In this presentation Professor Griffin reports on the findings from the ESRC-funded study of drinking advertisements and intensive research with young drinkers in a major metropolitan area and in two towns in semi-rural locations. This formed part of the 2008 ESRC Research programme on ‘Identities and Social Action’.
Professor Griffin explained: “In this presentation I will argue that the ‘culture of intoxication’ has become a normalised and all but compulsory aspect of many young people’s social lives. Getting very drunk with friends often insulates young people from viewing their level of alcohol consumption as a potential problem, deepening bonds of friendship and cementing group membership.”
“Campaigns that aim to change young people’s drinking habits need to take the social importance of drinking into account, as well as the pervasive availability of ‘cheap deals’ on alcohol.”
Sources: British Psychological Society (BPS), AlphaGalileo Foundation.
 
In recognition of World Suicide Prevention Day on Friday, September 10, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) urges public education about mental illness and suicide.
According to The World Health Organization, nearly one million people around the world die from suicide each year.
“More than 90 percent of those who die by suicide have a diagnosable mental health disorder and we currently have a mental health crisis in this country,” said NAMI Executive Director Michael Fitzpatrick.
“We all need to learn the signs of depression and take talk of suicide seriously,” writes Fitzpatrick in the latest weekly entry of the NAMI blog.
Fitzpatrick quotes novelist Kurt Vonnegut, who survived a suicide attempt in 1984 and once expressed a desire to “go as close to the edge…without going over”- and had experienced depression first-hand.
“Though people may feel there is no one with them on [the] edge, the reality is that many have stood in that same place of hopelessness, and many understanding listeners are available on suicide hotlines, at support groups and among mental health professionals,” Fitzpatrick writes.
– Suicide is the eleventh-leading cause of death in the United States and the third-leading cause of death in people ages 10-24 years.
– One in four adults, approximately 57.7 million Americans, experiences a mental health disorder in a given year, yet less than one-third of adults receives mental health services.
– Unemployed persons and veterans are at higher risk of suicide. “We need to hold them especially close,” he writes.
– Male veterans are twice as likely to die by suicide compared to civilian peers. For the first time since the Vietnam War, the Army suicide rate has surpassed the civilian rate.
Call the National Suicide Prevention Hot Line at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) if you or anyone you know is in suicidal crisis or severe emotional distress.
NAMI’s Emergency Room Resource Toolkit with educational brochures around suicide prevention also is available.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/200648.php
 
Suicide Prevention Program To Be Tested In High Schools
Article Date: 09 Sep 2010 – 1:00 PDT
With students returning to classes, University of Rochester Medical Center researchers are beginning a large, long-term study of the effectiveness of a unique suicide prevention program in high schools across New York and North Dakota.
The study of the program called Sources of Strength, led by Peter Wyman, Ph.D., associate professor of Psychiatry at the Medical Center, is supported by a five-year, $3-million grant awarded by the National Institute of Mental Health.
“Most school-based programs are oriented by a medical model designed to identify students who already are suicidal or highly distresses and refer them to treatment,” Wyman said. “That approach has several limitations. The traditional approach assumes that mental health services are available and acceptable to most teens, which is frequently not the case. The traditional model does not change school culture and teen socialization in ways that prevent new instances of suicidal problems.”
Sources of Strength aims to “strengthen how teens handle depression, stress and other problems by training influential teen ‘peer leaders’ who work to change coping practices in their friendship networks,” he said.
Wyman’s study will include 36 high schools, two-thirds of which will be in New York State. Schools in Chemung, Franklin, Onondaga, Schuyler, Tioga and Wyoming counties already have agreed to participate. As many as 14,000 students will be involved.
“We’re focusing on rural and underserved areas where the traditional suicide prevention models are not a reasonable sole solution,” Wyman said.
Suicide accounts for more deaths among those aged 10 to 24 in the United States than do all natural causes combined. Each year, 5 to 8 percent of adolescents attempt suicide. Up to one-third of these attempts result in an injury requiring medical intervention.
“This study is a real opportunity to determine how influential peer leaders in high school can change the culture of their schools and peer groups and determine whether this intervention leads to a decrease in suicide attempts,” Wyman said.
The New York State Office of Mental Health Suicide Prevention Initiatives already has backed the program and the study.
“This office is proud to help support the expansion of the evidence-based Sources of Strength project,” said Melanie Puorto, director of the Suicide Prevention Initiatives. “This school-based program promotes resiliency and helps increase positive help-seeking behaviors. This is an important effort to help prevent youth suicide.”
Read in Full:Â http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/200365.php
 
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on September 10, 2010Â
Researchers are investigating how the emotionally soothing effect of music can augment the treatment of depression and the management of physical pain.
To do this, scientists are using an innovative combination of music psychology and leading-edge audio engineering to determine how music conveys emotion.
The project at Glasgow Caledonian University is supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The research could lead to advances in the use of music to help regulate a person’s mood, and promote the development of music-based therapies to tackle conditions like depressive illnesses.
It could help alleviate symptoms for people who are dealing with physical pain and even lead to doctors putting music on a prescription that is tailored to suit the needs of an individual.
“The impact of a piece of music on a person goes so much further than thinking that a fast tempo can lift a mood and a slow one can bring it down. Music expresses emotion as a result of many factors,†says audio engineering specialist Dr. Don Knox, project leader.
“These include the tone, structure and other technical characteristics of a piece. Lyrics can have a big impact too. But so can purely subjective factors: where or when you first heard it, whether you associate it with happy or sad events and so on. Our project is the first step towards taking all of these considerations – and the way they interact with each other – on board.â€
The research team has already carried out an unprecedentedly detailed audio analysis of pieces of music, identified as expressing a range of emotions by a panel of volunteers.
Scientists have each volunteer listen to pieces of previously unheard contemporary popular music and then ask the listener to assign each piece a position on a graph.
One axis measures the type of feeling (positivity or negativity) that the piece communicates; the other measures the intensity or activity level of the music.
The research team then assesses the audio characteristics that the pieces falling into each part of the graph have in common.
“We look at parameters such as rhythm patterns, melodic range, musical intervals, length of phrases, musical pitch and so on,†says Dr Knox.
“For example, music falling into a positive category might have a regular rhythm, bright timbre and a fairly steady pitch contour over time. If tempo and loudness increase, for instance, this would place the piece in a more ‘exuberant’ or ‘excited’ region of the graph.â€
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/09/10/music-prescription-for-depression/17960.html
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Article Date: 10 Sep 2010 – 1:00 PDT
Pediatric-onset obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and Tourette’s disorder (TD) share similarities in their underlying genetic and environmental factors, psychiatric features, and treatment methods. Advances in understanding the neurobiological basis of these disorders and discovering new and more effective therapies are highlighted in a special issue on OCD and TD in Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The entire issue is available free online here.
Guest editors Barbara J. Coffey, MD, MS, from the New York University Child Study Center, and Judith Rapoport, MD Chief, Child Psychiatry Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH describe the current reality of these challenging neuropsychiatric disorders in the editorial, “Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Tourette’s Disorder: Where Are We Now?” They conclude that “studies are still few, and validated predictors, moderators and mediators of treatment response are still very much needed.”
Riluzole, a drug approved for treating patients with the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), has shown promise in psychiatric conditions such as OCD in children and is currently being studied in a clinical trial that will assess its efficacy and side effects in young people who have not benefited from standard-of-care treatments. Paul Grant, Jane Song, and Susan Swedo from the National Institute of Mental Health (Bethesda, MD) describe the potential for riluzole to help control OCD symptoms based on its ability to block the release of glutamate from nerve cells. Although the drug appears to be generally well tolerated at therapeutic doses, cases of pancreatitis in children, an uncommon adverse effect associated with riluzole use, are cause for concern, as the authors report in the article, “Review of the Use of the Glutamate Antagonist Riluzole in Psychiatric Disorders and a Description of Recent Use in Childhood Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.”Â
Read in Full:Â http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/200527.php
 
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on September 10, 2010
A new Canadian study suggests medications to treat insomnia and anxiety may increase the risk of mortality.
According to a study conducted by Geneviève Belleville, a professor at Université Laval’s School of Psychology, the risk could increase by as much as 36 percent.
Dr. Belleville arrived at these results through analysis of 12 years of data on over 14,000 Canadians in Statistics Canada’s National Population Health Survey. The data includes information on the social demographics, lifestyle, and health of Canadians age 18 to 102, surveyed every two years between 1994 and 2007.
During this period, respondents who reported having used medication to treat insomnia or anxiety at least once in the month preceding the survey had a mortality rate of 15.7 percent. Respondents who reported not having used such medications had a rate of 10.5 percent.
After controlling for personal factors that might affect mortality risk, notably alcohol and tobacco consumption, physical health, physical activity level, and the presence or absence of depressive symptoms among participants, Dr. Belleville established that the consumption of sleeping pills or anxiety-relieving medications was associated with a 36 percent increase in the risk of death.
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/09/10/medications-for-insomnia-and-anxiety-could-be-dangerous/17963.html
 
A type of neurone that, when malfunctioning, has been tied to epilepsy, autism and schizophrenia is much more complex than previously thought, researchers at MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory report in the Sept. 9 issue of Neuron.
The majority of brain cells are called excitatory because they ramp up the action of target cells. In contrast, inhibitory cells called interneurones put the brakes on unbridled activity to maintain order and control. Epileptic seizures, as well as symptoms of autism and schizophrenia, have been tied to dysfunctional inhibitory cells.
‘Too much activity and you run the risk of uncontrolled activity, while too little leads to cognitive and behavioural deficits,’ said Mriganka Sur, Paul E. Newton Professor of Neuroscience, whose laboratory carried out the study. ‘Normal brain development and function hinges on the delicate balance between excitation and inhibition.’
For a long time, interneurones, which make up only one-fifth of brain cells, were thought to be a kind of generic, homogenous shutdown agent. The MIT study points to a new view: At least some interneurones have very precise responses and form specific connections and circuits.
Read in Full:Â http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/10090941-mit-researchers-find-that-interneurones-are-not-all-created-equally.html
 
Bethany Sciortino
Bedtime is often the most stressful part of a day for a family who has a child with autism. Not only is it extremely challenging to get an overstimulated child to go to and stay in their bed, but it is near impossible to get them to sleep. When the kicking and screaming subsides and your child finally drifts into dreamland, it is not uncommon to find them bright eyed at 3 in the morning next to your bedside. Research shows that up to 70% of children with autism suffer from sleep disturbances and while the reason is still largely unclear, there does seem to be some evidence that points to an irregular production of melatonin, your body’s natural sleep hormone.
Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland, a small gland in the brain, and in most healthy children and adults is regulated by the light and dark patterns of day and night. During the day when your body is exposed to light, your pineal gland produces very little melatonin and as dusk and evening appear, your body produces more melatonin causing you to become sleepy and rest at night. In autistic children, there is a disruption in the production of melatonin making it hard for the body to feel the natural instinct of desiring rest.
Children who take melatonin have been shown to fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer, and ultimately helps their bodies self-synchronize sleep patterns. Melatonin supplements are available over the counter and are considered to have no side effects. Generally, most children will benefit from a low dose of .5 to 1 milligram taken 20- 30 minutes before bedtime. Supplementing your child with melatonin should always be accompanied by a consistent bedtime routine which limits stimulating activities such as television and video games several hours before sleep, and implementing relaxation techniques such as joint compressions, light massage, reading or soft music. Lighting should be low and the noise level should be kept moderate, as well.
Read in Full:Â http://www.examiner.com/autism-parenting-in-orlando/melatonin-sweet-dreams-for-autistic-children
By Lisa Jo Rudy, Autism Guide
One of the trickiest aspects of discussing or writing about the autism spectrum is that there is so little we can say about “people with autism” that holds true across the board. People with autism are highly intelligent and intellectually challenged; they are hyper-verbal and non-verbal; they are ultra-sensitive to light and sound or less sensitive than most. Some are savants; most are not. Some are subject to a wide range of physical issues, others are perfectly healthy.
Even when we talk about what people with autism have in common – delays and challenges in social interaction and communication – those commonalities run the gamut from slight to absolute, and look different in almost every case.
In order to write about or discuss autism, though, we have to say SOMETHING – and over time, certain “truisms” about autism have been shared so often that they’re assumed to be universally accurate.
The problem is, they aren’t.
Recently, I was reading a book that described people with autism spectrum disorders as systems-oriented, mechanically inclined, good with machines and computers, and unable to think creatively. Of course, this is true some of the time: SOME people with autism are indeed terrific with machines, computers and systems – and rotten at creative expression. On the other hand, however, my son has little interest in systems, machines and computers – but enjoys writing poetry, making up stories, and improvising on the clarinet.
I’ve heard over and over that people with autism are visual learners – and, in fact, entire classrooms are set up on that assumption. The problem is that while SOME people with autism are visual learners, many are actually kinesthetic, mathematical, musical or naturalist learners. As a result, the very classrooms set up for their “special needs” ignore their actual learning styles!
Lists of “best careers for people with autism” focus assume a lack of creativity and focus almost entirely on use of machines, repetition and close observation (lab tech, stockroom worker, library staff, database management, etc.). Yet many people with autism have made a name for themselves as writers, public speakers, photographers, artists, musicians, designers, and even inventors.
I haven’t come up with a useful way to actually describe “people with autism spectrum disorders,” as I honestly believe such a description would be as tough to manage as a description of “women” or “men.” That is, people with autism are radically different from one another, though they do have a few describable commonalities.
Read in Full:Â http://autism.about.com/b/2010/09/09/stereotyping-people-with-autism.htm