Mental Illness Watch

Browse by Topic

addiction (21)
ADHD (10)
adolescents (8)
advocacy (20)
anxiety disorders (15)
bipolar (2)
bipolar disorder (18)
children (62)
chronic illness (10)
community care (16)
Complex PTSD (1)
Congress (49)
consumers (10)
courts (10)
depression (71)
diagnosis (6)
disaster (6)
diversion programs (7)
drug trials (5)
DSM-V (4)
eating disorders (3)
education (7)
elderly (20)
ethics (1)
family (12)
FDA (18)
genetics (10)
homeless (6)
hospitals (27)
housing (7)
human rights (10)
insurance (69)
investigation (2)
legal (24)
marijuana (5)
Medicaid (29)
Medicare (14)
medication (54)
military (46)
OCD (4)
panic disorder (5)
patient rights (2)
personality disorder (1)
pharmaceutical (24)
policy (31)
politics (69)
press (1)
prisons (18)
psychosis (8)
PTSD (42)
race (11)
recovery (32)
research (58)
schizophrenia (45)
schools (3)
states (14)
stigma (23)
students (10)
substance abuse (2)
suicide (28)
testimony (4)
therapies (18)
treatment programs (13)
Veterans Affairs (21)
violence (4)
workplace (8)

MIWatch Archives

Film review: Men Get Depression, a documentary for PBS

Psychiatric Advance Directives: A tool for patients and clinicians
by Marvin Swartz

More and more people are able to take control of their treatment plans by anticipating how to manage in a crisis. In Psychiatric Advance Directives: A tool for patients and clinicians, Dr. Marvin Swartz, a psychiatrist at Duke University Medical Center, discusses how they work to promote autonomy.

Full Story | Posted on: April 29, 2008 | Comments (1)

Suicide vs combat in Iraq

The risk of suicide after leaving Iraq might surpass that of actual combat, Thomas Insel, head of NIMH, told reporters during a press briefing an annual meeting of psychiatrists in Washington, D.C.

Full Story | Posted on: May 6, 2008 | Comments (0)
Topics: military, suicide

Overuse of psychiatric nursing homes

The Hartford Courant reports an excessive number of psychiatric admissions to nursing homes will cost Conn. $6.5 million in Medicaid reimbursements.

Full Story | Posted on: May 5, 2008 | Comments (0)
Topics: elderly, hospitals, Medicaid

Military sends mixed messages

Calling PTSD the “unseen wounds” of war, Sec. of Defense Robert Gates is urging soldiers to get help “to remove the stigma.” Yet in practice, there are people like Sgt. Scott Metcalf, Minnesota National Guard, whose doctors say he has PTSD, but “the Army officially says he doesn't.” NPR reports on his 14-month hospitalized struggle, and the eventual disability rating of anxiety disorder, which carries a lesser benefit.

Full Story | Posted on: May 2, 2008 | Comments (0)
Topics: military, PTSD, recovery

A firewall between discrimination and genes

By a vote of 95-0, the Senate approved a measure that would protect against genetic profiling in employment or insurance, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. The law would affect dozens of conditions influenced by genes. The National Human Genome Research Institute has encouraged people to take advantage of genetic testing.

Numerous genes, and combinations, are thought to be implicated in disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, or anxiety. Home kits are being marketed to people wanting to test for a predisposition to bipolar depression. Experts doubt they are ready for use, and they may run as high as $399. Discrimination against people with a psychiatric disorder continues to be widespread.

The bill, which had 224 co-sponsors, was also heavily lobbied, according to Lamplight.org, by numerous interest groups, including health care, biotech and engineering. These groups spent, on average, more than $600,000 for each of the 95 votes. Opponents of the bill were retail trade, and manufacturing interest groups.

Full Story | Posted on: May 1, 2008 | Comments (0)
Topics: Congress, genetics

Trial over VA, suicides rests

A two-week non-jury trial involving a class action law suit over veterans' mental health services has ended in San Francisco. It will now be up to U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti, to decide what, if any, measures to demand of the government. The suit focused on lapses in service, with waits still averaging 30 days, the especially high rates of suicide, and roughly 1,000 suicide attempts each month.

Emails indicating top officials knew about the suicide trend, and tried to hush it, led Sen. Daniel Akaka to call for the resignation of Dr. Ira Katz., the VA’s chief mental health officer. Instructive here is the Countdown segment with Keith Olberman.

Vets sue feds for treatment

Full Story | Posted on: May 1, 2008 | Comments (0)
Topics: courts, legal, suicide, Veterans Affairs

Antipsychotics harm dementia patients

Members of Parliament are urging a new policy halting the practice of prescribing psychotropic medicine to nursing home patients with dementia, reports the BBC. A recent study indicated that 70 percent of the prescriptions were inappropriate. When used for patients with dementia, the drugs were associated with rapid deterioration including a loss of verbal skills.

Full Story | Posted on: April 29, 2008 | Comments (0)
Topics: elderly, medication

Reactions to Medicaid (HR 5613) moratorium vote

Action of a decisive House of Representatives, led by Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich), to hold off Medicaid cuts, has received considerable local support. President Bush has threatened to veto this bill (it must first move through the Senate), citing a savings of $13 billion over five years. The one-year moratorium is estimated to cost about $1.6 billion. An analysis of the economics, prepared by the Congressional Budget Office, is available in a pdf file.

The vote had overwhelming support, and 128 Republicans crossed party lines for the final vote of 349 to 62 (20 not voting). The greatest opposition came from Republican representatives from Texas (10), Georgia (6) Florida (5).

A selection of responses nationwide includes:
California’s hospitals threatened, governor asks Bush to reconsider veto, Mercury News.

Calls on congress to support moratorium from the Bangor News.

Florida's Connie Mack (R-Fla) changes mind to oppose moratorium, News-Press.

North Carolina embraces Dingell, moratorium, Ashville Citizen-Times.

Bush veto threatens Illinois jobs, The News-Gazette.

To track this through the House of Representatives, click here.

Full Story | Posted on: April 25, 2008 | Comments (0)
Topics: Congress, Medicaid, politics

Reauthorizing community centers likely

A bill (H.R. 1343) reauthorizing community health care centers through 2012, a major source of medical care for 17 million uninsured people living in areas with few medical services, was approved by a congressional sub-committee reports CQ. The centers date from the 1960s, and the Senate approved a similar bill (S 901) last year.

To follow H.R. 1343 through the House of Representatives, click here.

To follow S. 901 through the Senate, click here.

Full Story | Posted on: April 23, 2008 | Comments (0)
Topics: community care, Congress, policy, politics

Calls for resignation of VA mental health chief

Citing a cover-up of the 12,000 suicide attempts by veterans under treatment with the VA, Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI) called for the resignation of Dr. Ira Katz, the VA’s mental health chief. Akaka’s demand came soon after Katz's emails were introduced into evidence in a federal court hearing charges that the VA failed to address suicide and other mental health issues. Katz began emails discussing the with “Shh!” reported the San Francisco Chronicle. “Dr. Katz's personal conduct and professional judgment have been called into question by his response to the mental health needs of veterans, and in particular to veteran suicides,” Akaka said.

Full Story | Posted on: April 22, 2008 | Comments (0)
Topics: Congress, suicide, Veterans Affairs

Trial hears of veteran suicides

On the opening day of a non-jury trial in San Francisco, U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti heard about backlogs, delays, and 18 suicides a day despite staff increases in VA hospitals. A class-action suit, brought by two advocacy organizations, asks for improved treatment for mental health care and not for a financial settlement.

The trial follows last week’s report from the Rand Corporation"Invisible Wounds of War: Psychological and Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences, and Services to Assist Recovery" noting a serious gap in treatment for one in five soldiers returning from combat with a mental health problem. The 500-page report estimates that “PTSD and depression among returning service members will cost the nation as much as $6.2 billion in the two years following deployment.”

Related:
Vets sue feds for treatment