News: As economy takes toll, mental health budgets shrink
Writing in Stateline.org, staff writer Christine Vestal assesses how states have met mental health budgets and what this means for people needing psychiatric services in today's fiscal crisis. "The drop-off is translating into a reduction in the number of psychiatric hospital beds, as well as fewer services for mental health emegencies and longer waiting lists for housing," says Vestal. . .
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News: Therapy or torture? Shocking children in Mass. school
ABC's Nightline airs a program (tonight) about aversive punishments including shock treatments at the Judge Rotenberg Center, a school for children with behavioral and emotional disabilities in Mass. . .
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News: Restraints and seclusion debated in states
While the nation waits for congressional action on bills eliminating seclusion and restraints as a form of discipline, states are acting independently while educators, and staff in residential treatment facilities, continue to respond to unruly youth with physical, chemical, or manual force.
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News: FDA says Pfizer study overdosed kids

News: Passing health reform energizes advocates
Historic, jubilant, transformative were among the adjectives enunciated in the on-going celebrations of Sunday's historic pass of health reform in America. Recalling his mother who battled insurance companies on her deathbed, Pres. Barack Obama said passing this law represents the "core principles that everybody should have security." . .
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News: Move over Zyprexa, Seroquel, trial on Risperdal

Track Legislation: Preventing restraints of children -- HR 4247 -- gets bi-partisan committee support.
House Committee on Education and Labor passed HR 4247, a measure opposing restraints and seclusion of children in schools. The bill had widespread support and passed with a bi-partisan vote of 34 to 10 including 5 Republicans. Rep. George Miller (D-CA) has been shepherding this issue. A report from the Government Accounting Office (GAO) about abuses in residential treatment programs was issued in 2008 and you can download it here....
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Did You Know: More children in Pennsylvania had access to mental health care than in any other state.
Click here to find your state. The average nationwide was 60 percent, with a low of 42 percent in Texas and a high of 82 percent in Pennsylvania. The 2007 statistics were compiled by the National Survey of Children's Health....
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News: Psychiatric Solutions: pay raise, lawsuits and a new military contract
Psychiatric Solutions, Inc., a national chain of psychiatric hospitals plagued with state and federal investigations and share-holder lawsuits has received a military contract for serving vets in eight hospitals.. . .
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News: Sex abuse in childhood is suicide risk
Sexual abuse during childhood is a risk factor for suicide say the authors of a study of more than 8,500 people, drawn from Britain's extensive data base on psychiatric illness. The study appears in the October issue of theAmerican Journal of Psychiatry (subscription required).
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News: Mental health team in pediatric clinic

News: Safety of atypical antipsychotics
Atypical antipsychotic drugs are used widely beyond the original group of mental disorders, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, for which they were initially approved.
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News: Childhood depression after parental death
All children who lose a parent are at greater risk for depression than their peers who do not suffer this loss. But the risk of those whose parent dies because of suicide continues to increase while that for the others (i.e., natural causes or accident) levels off sooner, say the authors of a report in the American Journal of Psychiatry....
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News: ADHD stimulants and cardiac deaths
A first-of-its-kind study about ADHD and stimulants asked whether the medications contributed to the "rare event of sudden unexplained death in children and adolescents." The authors found that 10 of the 564 (1.8 percent) children were taking stimulants for ADHD....
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News: FDA green lights pediatric antipsychotic meds
An FDA review panel approved drugs, saying they met safety standards for treating bipolar and schizophrenia in children. AstraZeneca's Seroquel and Pfizer Inc.'s Geodone were approved; Eli Lilly's Zyprexa was given back-up status should the others fail. All have been the subject of controversial court cases involving allegations of withholding information and dangerous side effects. An FDA report indicates children already account for something between 5 percent and 11 percent of these drugs, bringing the total to five for the...
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News: June in the journals

News: Cuts threaten chaos in Calif.
Closing a California deficit now estimated at $24 billion has led to charges that the governor is using nickle and dime strategies to avoid raising taxes to plug holes and has failed to lead during a growing fiscal crisis. Among the cuts to health care the governor has proposed: mental health ($92 million); AIDS reduction program ($55 million), and eliminating health care to 1 million poor children that will save the state $247.8 million. But it will lose nearly three...
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News: New York's Timothy's Law for kids
New York's governor David Paterson announced support for making access to mental health treatment permanent for kids by extending Timothy's Law. The law is named after Timothy O'Clair, a 12 year-old who committed suicide and whose family ran into insurance barriers for mental health treatment. Paterson announced his support on what would have been Timothy's 21st birthday and on the heels of a report citing how effective the temporary law had been in getting kids services. The state subsidizes businesses...
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News: Cal. voters consider retrenchment
California lawmakers have been called "cowardly" for asking voters to undo decisions they previously made to fund programs for children or for people with a mental illness. They represent two of five items for an unusual May 19 ballot that will help plug a budget deficit. As the election nears, citizen editorials are lambasting Gov. Arnold Schwartzenegger for targeting programs vulnerable people while sparing taxes for owners of yachts and planes. Mental health advocates worry that the governor's aggressive campaigning...
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Consider This: The doctor isn't in
. . .shortages in psychiatry
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News: Awards for stories about mental illness
The Association of Health Care Journalists announced five of its annual awards will go to reporters who have written about mental illness. They are: •Mary Carmichael of Newsweek for a story detaiiling how bi-polar disorder dominates the life of one youngster and his parents. •Randy Dotinga, of Voice of San Diego, for a story about the bridge in San Diego which has been used by people intending suicide since 1973. •Sharon Salyer and Alejandro Dominguez, of the Daily Herald in...
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News: House passes SCHIP
By a vote of 290-135, the House of Representatives passed SCHIP. In addition to a provision for mental health parity, the measure removes a waiting period for legal immigrants, adds pregnant women, and limits family eligibility to 300 percent federal poverty levels. All but two Democrats voted for the bill, and 40 Republicans joined the majority. President Obama is expected to sign the bill today....
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News: Stumbling toward children's health insurance
The 111th Congress was expected to quickly pass SCHIP once Barack Obama was in office. The House did (289-139), but the Senate has been stalling -- a vote is expected this week, perhaps today -- but party lines are drawn and the debate has become acrimonious. Today CQ reports that two amendments were vetoed that would require cost-sharing and limit enrollment of legal immigrants. Shedding light on the enormity of this problem, the Kaiser Family Foundation released its 2009 report...
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News: SCHIP passes House
The House voted 289 to 139 to approve children's health insurance, extending coverage to another 4 million kids in families earning up to 300 percent above the poverty level and lifting a time limit on documented immigrant children. If it rides through the Senate as easily, it could well be the first bill the new president finds on his desk awaiting signature. Congress failed to override two vetoes from President Bush last year....
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Consider This: Highway to wellness
. . .includes mental health
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News: Harvard psychiatrist courted pharma
Documents in a class action law suit show an active courtship between psychiatrist Dr. Joseph Biederman and Johnson and Johnson to fund a center at Massachusetts General Hospital to promote marketing goals. Discussions dating from 2002 address "deliverables" and positioning the company for child and adolescent pharmacology. Emails were posted on the Wall Street Journal. The documents are part of a class action law suit over pediatric use of Risperdal. Additional stories: Reuters, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Bloomberg News, The...
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News: Rx for kids: problem with label or doctor?
Despite lack of evidence, label warnings, side effects, and doubts about its efficacy for youngsters under 13, Risperdal and Zyprexa are being prescribed (including off-label use for ADHD) in record numbers for kids. How to change this becamse the subject of an FDA review panel....
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News: In the journals. . .focus on youth
From the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine: In the 1960s an anti-war poster read, "War is not healthy for children or other living things." A study in the Nov. issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine confirmed this sentiment with a study of 169 families: "Children age 3 and older who had a deployed parent had significantly higher scores on measures of externalizing and overall behavior problems than children of the same age without a deployed parent."...
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News: New books about bi-polar disorder and schizophrenia
Two books have been published this month for an audience concerned about mental illness in their families. Author Michael Greenberg writes about his daughter and her hospitalizations, starting as a teenager, when she was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder. Greenberg's discussed Hurry Down Sunshine, with radio host Lenny Lopate on WNYC. Researchers at New York State's Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Irene and Jerome Levine, wrote a book they hope will debunk myths and explain current research and treatments....
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Consider This: Local ballot boxes '08
. . . impact mental health
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News: Protecting children
Following the death of a youngster in a residential treatment program, Maryland passed a licensing law requiring minimal educational and training requirements for child care workers in residential programs....
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Did You Know: Boys are twice as likely as girls to be diagnosed with ADHD.

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Did You Know: Boys are twice as likely as girls to be diagnosed with ADHD.

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From Our Readers: Michelle D. Sherman writes:
Many Americans are joining in the important and much-deserved recognition and celebration of our troops upon homecoming from war. Most people know someone who has been deployed in support of the Global War on Terrorism...a relative, friend, neighbor, or co-worker. We are bombarded by images and stories of the war in the media, and the internet and advances in communication allow for almost instant connection with people and events half way around the world. The Global War on Terrorism is...
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News: Schizophrenia and childhood bedwetting
The part of the brain linked to bed wetting appears to be the same part associated with language fluency and processing information, language fluency and schizophrenia. Research scientists at the National Institute of Mental Health were helped with MRI brain scans to pinpoint the brain's gray matter where these are located (red section). Findings appear in the September issue of Brain....
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News: Disorders seen in teens in adult system
Psychiatric disorders were diagnosed in two-thirds of a group of youthful offenders from Chicago's Cook County whose crime or age required their transfer to adult courts. A study appearing in Psychiatric Services (n=1,715) noted that "males from ethnic minority groups are among the least likely to receive mental health treatment, either in the community or in prison."...
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News: Helping kids who witness violence
Children who witness violence at home, or in their community or school, are at risk for PTSD. The San Francisco Chronicle reports a bill is now on the desk of California's Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that would provide mental health services to these youngsters. Some consider this the first step in acknowledging this as a public health crisis....
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News: Violence, mental health and human rights
Several articles in the August 13 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association address the relationship between violence and mental health. Articles have an international focus, and examine the impact of combat and armed conflict for military personnel exposed to combat; child soldiers in Nepal; children in Indonesia; citizens exposed to violence in Liberia; and sexual violence toward women in India....
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News: Ritalin prescriptions in United Kingdom
British differences in prescribing Ritalin for ADHD have been called "dramatic" and "extraordinary." In some districts, 14 percent of the children are receiving the drug for problems associated with attention deficit behaviors. It is unclear whether the highly variable prescribing rates stem from over use in some districts or under use in others, but the difference between the highest and the lowest districts is 23 fold....
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News: Regulating residential treament programs
Parents with troubled teens often choose mental health and behavioral treatment programs within an industry suffering from lack of state and federal oversight. Congressional hearings, and an April GAO report about reforms needed in the residential treatment industry are part of the background to a bill proposed by Reps. George Miller (D-CA) and Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), "Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008" 
(H.R. 5876). Kathryn Whitehead (above) discusses her experience in a Montana program....
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News: Drug funding for psychiatrists questioned
Psychiatrists who failed to report receiving a combined $4.2 million from 15 drug companies since 2000 were the subject of a Senate inquiry according to information released by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) (top left). The three Harvard doctors -- Joseph Biederman (see left), Thomas Spencer, and Timothy Wilens -- mentioned by the senator have been aggressive proponents of medication management for ADHD and bipolar disorder in children and Biederman is a popular conference speaker for parents and educators. His 300...
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Track Legislation: S. 2819
Economic Recovery in Health Care Act of 2008, introduced by Sen. John Rockefeller, April 2, 2008, "Prohibits the Secretary of Health and Human Services from finalizing, implementing, enforcing, or otherwise taking any action to give effect prior to April 1, 2009"
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News: Growth in antipsychotic meds for kids
A British study reported in Pediatrics indicates a hike in prescribing atypical anti-psychotic medication for kids “despite the lack of conclusive evidence showing their superiority over older conventional antipsychotics.” About six times as many American children take antipsychotic medication, according to the Associated Press. Recent research indicates conditions for which they are being used, including bipolar disorder, might be over diagnosed....
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News: Fiscal woes confusing states
Threatened federal cuts and an economic downturn are stressing states already coping with mounting health related expenses. Yesterday New Jersey's governor announced intentions to expand insurance coverage, similar to Mass., but others are scaling back. And some, such as Ohio, remain resolute that the federal government was not entitled to deny them expansion of programs such as SCHIP at the same time plans are underway to close a mental health facility and save $9 million. In New York, according to...
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News: Genes plus environment influence PTSD
A study (n= 900) published in the March 19th issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) looks at the interaction of genes, stress and child abuse as risk factor for adult PTSD. The study was conducted in urban clinics and nearly all participants were African-American....
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News: Zyprexa off-label
Off-label use of Zyprexa to treat disruptive children or address pain was aired in an Anchorage courtroom last week. A previously undisclosed 2003 memo from John C. Lechleiter, who will become CEO in April, said “to seize the opportunity to expand our work with Zyprexa” by using the door it had opened with pediatricians about another medication. The company says it was only trying to respond to physician interest. Alaska is suing Eli Lilly to recoup Medicaid costs for treating...
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News: Detecting childhood bipolar
Reading facial emotions may provide clues to brain circuitry and pediatric bipolar disorder, according to a new study appearing in the American Journal of Psychiatry (abstract online)....
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News: Bush health plans costly
Sara Rosenbaum writes in the Feb. 27th issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (free article) that it is an effort to redefine “the role of government in organizing and overseeing the health care marketplace,” not budget, which has driven Bush health proposals. Her case in point is SCHIP, which she calls the "proxy war," but others are in the news. Today, the New York Times says that another Government Accounting Office report (scheduled for release) will again...
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News: Medicaid cuts to vulnerable
The Center on Budget Priorities released a revised report about the snowball effects of proposed budget cuts to Medicaid. The Bush policy aims to continue shifting federal responsibility to states, started during the Reagan administration with block grants, and the reduction in supports for vulnerable people. The current proposals for Medicaid, which the administration is trying to impose despite bipartisan opposition, will cut rehab programs for people with serious mental illness, and will weigh heavy on children with special needs,...
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News: Paradoxical priorities for youth
With the release of new reports about the devastating effects of poverty on the growth of infant brains, a study from The National Center for Children in Poverty is particularly disturbing. Towards Better Behavioral Health for Children, Youth and their Families suggests that despite record funding for children and adolescents, it is disproportionately spent on residential treatment and psychiatric hospitals instead of the community-based interventions for families and children that could help avert later mental health problems....
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News: Bullying hurts
A study in Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine suggests that being bullied at a young age is a risk factor for depression, anxiety, social isolation and suicidal thoughts. The research design using identical twins (n=1116) born in England and Wales, between 1994 and 1995, indicates the power of environment in internalizing victimization....
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News: Dems renew fight over SCHIP, Medicaid
Congressional leaders blasted the Bush administration for unilateral decisions curbing eligibility for States Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and Medicaid. “Congress made it clear in law that Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program should be there for lower-income kids living without insurance,” said Sen. Max Backaus (D-Mont.) And Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) accused the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) of stacking “the deck through administrative fiat” when it disagreed with Congress. A group of ranking Democrats has...
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News: Treating kids for bi-polar
Public Broadcasting System's FRONTLINE explores the complexities and uncertainties facing parents who turn to medication when their children are diagnosed with bi-polar disorder. The hour-long film, The Medicated Child, tells the story of three youngsters, their families and how they are living with the decisions they made. Interviews conducted for the broadcast, and questions about bi-polar disorder, are also available....
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News: Medicaid screening for kids
Controversy in Mass. is flaring over policies to screen kids on Medicaid for psychiatric disorders. Brought on by a law suit resulting in an expansion of Medicaid services, some worry that pediatricians screening for anxiety disorders, ADHD, depression, and other disorders, leads to over use of medications for young children. The debate falls within a larger issue of medicating children, and then of medicating foster children. From Oregon to New York to Florida there are reports that foster children are...
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News: Childhood schizophrenia
January’s issue of the Schizophrenia Bulletin contains a (free) article about the treatment of early onset schizophrenia for children and adolescents, including use of second-generation antipsychotic medication, side effects, a synopsis of published studies, and research gaps. Other articles in this issue (subscription required) focus on brain development, cognitive deficits, and neuroimaging....
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News: Law suits and pay hikes
Psychiatric Solutions, the for-profit corporation owning psychiatric hospitals and residential treatment programs for youth, landed on the Forbes list of America’s Best Big Companies of 2007. With managers who cut their teeth on Nashville’s Corrections Corporation of America, and Hospital Corporation of America, this should not surprise. Still the stock was downgraded recently by Credit Suisse to underperform. According to SEC filings, the company recently approved pay hikes for its managers. In an unrelated incident, another law suit charging sexual...
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News: More cuts to kids
New federal rules undermine congressional intentions for kids in foster care, nearly all of whom received Medicaid, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The rules under the auspices of the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services promote fragmentation for Assertive Community Treatment (ACT), case management services, and initiate a fee schedule based on a 15-minute increment of service. Related site: Voices for America’s Children...
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News: SCHIP stalemate
After a bruising fight over SCHIP Democrats had to accept defeat in their efforts to expand the current children's health insurance program. With the extension set to expire in March 2009, both parties are calculating how to turn this into an election-year advantage. Rep. Pete Stark (D-Cal), chairman of the House Ways and Means health subcommittee, intends to revisit this, along with revisions to Medicare and physician reimbursement. Related Why SCHIP matters to the mental health community...
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Consider This: This campaign misfired
by Phyllis Vine

The Child Study Center withdraws "Ransom Notes."


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Commentary: Working with youthful offenders: Crossroads
by Judge Linda Teodosio

Judge Linda Teodosio, Summit County Juvenile Court, describes Crossroads, a unique and intense diversionary probation program for juveniles in Ohio. Since 2003, Crossroads has worked with community collaboration to help youthful offenders get the treatment, and the fresh start, they need. Judge Teodosio's program was recently cited as a model for juvenile justice by the National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice (NCMHJJ).


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News: Domestic violence affects kids
Youngsters who witnessed domestic violence involving their mothers were three times more likely to use mental health services than those who did not, reports November's online journal Pediatrics....
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News: Foster kids over-medicated
Foster kids in Oregon are prescribed psychiatric medicines nearly four times more often than other children according to a three-part investigative report by The Oregonian. The pattern can be traced to a system with incentives paying foster families twice as much ($600 per month) for taking kids with "special needs" and one that failed to monitor. Foster parents alone can decide to place the children on psychotropic medications, no independent tracking mechanism exists, and only one nurse reviews prescriptions for...
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News: Upgrade for child mental health in UK
Following disclosures that kids are often treated in adult mental health wards because there are insufficient resources, Britain’s Health Minister Ivan Lewis vowed, "within two years no child under 16 would be treated on an adult psychiatric ward." The BBC reports that the government is committing £30m to pay for new beds and move others to more appropriate locations....
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News: Anticipating disaster -- school preparedness
RAND, a nonprofit research organization, released a report saying schools should create programs to anticipate students needs after a hurricane, shooting or earthquake. An assessment of 196,000 students in grades K-12 displaced by Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana, in 2005, indicated that even where emergency responses were adequate, six months later many programs had disappeared leaving PTSD, chronic stress, anxiety or depression untreated. Lisa H. Jaycox, study director, said schools must follow-up “for the months and years afterward when lingering mental...
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News: House fails to override SCHIP veto
The House failed to gather a two-thirds majority to override a presidential veto of the States Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The largely partisan vote, 273 to 156, included 44 Republicans joining Democrats to override, and two Democrats voting to sustain the veto. Two of each party did not vote. Rep. John Boehner, House Minority leader, accused the Democrats of not paying attention to poor children; Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the president is isolated from the nation's consensus and promised...
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News: Children at risk
The House Committee on Education and Labor heard testimony citing abuses in residential programs -- also called "boot camps," "wilderness programs," or "behavioral treatment programs" -- for children and adolescents. Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Cal) reviewed the Government Accounting Office (GAO) scathing report, Residential Treatment Programs, which documents 33 states in which at least 1600 individuals were charged with abuse in a single year, 2005. A full investigation was hindered, the reports says, because it could not locate: a single...
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News: When a parent has a mental illness
Children with a mentally ill parent is not just a topic for feature films such as Canvas, but one that is beginning to receive attention with new books and an article in the Sept-Oct. issue of Social Work Today. Concrete ideas for answering questions, creating an accepting environment, and tools for helping youngsters who may feel a stigma, are enumerated....
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News: Combined treatments help depressed teens
A study of adolescents (N=327) diagnosed with a major depressive disorder reports that treatment which included a combination of Cognitive Behavior Therapy and medication was superior to monotherapy. Measurement took place at 12, 18 and 36 weeks at 13 different sites. The study appeared in the Archives of General Psychiatry....
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News: Trent Lott invokes common sense
Blogging on the website Human Events, Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss) supported President Bush's veto of SCHIP, and questioned its funding with higher cigarette taxes: "Some contend that when you increase tobacco taxes, tobacco use drops. Common sense, often missing from Washington debates, says we can't have it both ways. If we tax people out of smoking, then we're taxing children off SCHIP." Nearly 435,000 people a year die from tobacco-related causes, many after suffering lengthy and costly medical care. And...
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News: Oregon's kids
Oregon ran short of funding community-based care for kids despite having reorganized its services in 2005 for just that purpose, according to the Oregonian. The shortfall trickled down to providers and one of the the largest, Trillium Family Service, cut 20 percent of its staff and will cut the case load to 3,500 from 8,600 youngsters. Reimbursement for residential care was not affected....
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News: Swift response to Bush's veto of SCHIP
President Bush followed through on promises to veto the States Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which lapsed on Sunday. The veto, the fourth of his presidency, came behind closed doors. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md) said he will not rush to schedule a vote to override, hoping 15 of the 159 who originally voted against the measure will change their minds. Meanwhile, contradictory messages are coming from the White House. Bush told a crowd in Lancaster, Pa., that he...
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News: Barriers hurt the vulnerable
The former Commissioner of Public Health in Massachusetts, Christine Ferguson, explains in a recent article in Health Affairs how barriers prevent vulnerable people from getting needed care. When it comes to getting mental health services, she says: Mental health services stand out as a major need among poor and disabled children, and yet in many parts of the country there is a grave lack of pediatric mental health providers and services. The interaction between the health and education systems is...
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News: SCHIP showdown
Congress and the Bush administration will test wills over the States Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) which the president threatens to veto. Neither bi-partisan endorsements, nor huge public support have moved the president who remains stubbornly opposed to this proven, successful program. The House might vote today on a compromise measure which costs $60 billion over five years ($35 billion more than at present) and is paid for by a hike in cigarette taxes to $1 a pack. At least...
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News: SCHIP--a decade later
A study about SCHIP since its implementation in 1997 concludes that the children's insurance program, which expires on Sept. 30, improved access significantly. The report from Mathematica Policy Research notes retentions varied considerably, ranging from 31percent to 98 percent, and that gaps in enrollment were most evident for kids with special health needs and children of ethnic and racial minorities. SCHIP was particularly important during the recession of 2000-2003, when many families stopped paying for insurance coverage. According to Mathematica,...
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News: SCHIP edict harnesses New York
The federal government has declined New York's request to expand SCHIP enrollment to families earning four times the federal poverty level (or roughly $81,000). Another 70,000 kids could be covered by New York's request which currently enrolls 88 percent of those eligible. The Bush administration's edict demands 95 percent enrollment, leading the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to assert, New York "has not demonstrated that its program operates in an effective and efficient manner with respect to the core...
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News: Youth suicide rates up 2003-2004
The Centers for Disease Control report youth suicide rates for 2003-2004 showed a reversal in trend and jumped after years of steady declines. It was "the biggest annual increase that we've seen in 15 years," said Dr. Ileana Arias, director of CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. "We don't yet know if this is a short-lived increase or if it's the beginning of a trend." The analysis comes from the most recent year for which there are data....
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News: Readers want SCHIP
Letters to the Editor of the New York Times reveal six reasons to embrace the States Children's Health Insurance Program. On its own editorial page, the paper noted "what used to be a problem for low-income families has become a problem for the middle class as well."...
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Consider This: The SCHIP debate heats up
by Phyllis Vine
An MIWatch Commentary addresses the intense reaction to the Bush administration's edict revising the States Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
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News: Neurofeedback and ADHD
A Swiss and German research team reports that kids with ADHD can learn to reduce impulsive and hyperactive behavior with tools provided by computerized neurofeedback. Observations came from teachers and parents. Researchers emphasize that behavioral training is not a replacement for prescribed medication....
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News: Reactions to Bush on SCHIP
The response to the administration’s announcement of a unilateral decision to limit SCHIP (States Children's Health Insurance Program) to families earning twice the federal poverty rate has created an August storm. At least 18 states are affected. The edict also requires children to verify that they have been uninsured for at least one year before enrolling; and states must enroll 95 percent of the kids meeting those standards before they may expand. Below is a sample of reactions: In Iowa,...
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News: FDA approves pediatric antipsychotic
Following double-blind controlled trials, the FDA approved Risperidal for pediatric use in two conditions, schizophrenia (ages 13-17), and bipolar disorders (ages 10-17). It was approved in 1992 to treat adults with schizophrenia....
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News: New bar on SCHIP
The Bush administration has challenged state eligibility criteria in its on-going battle over expanding SCHIP, State Children's Health Insurance Program. State health commissioners received notice of a new federal policy by letter last Friday evening, saying 95 percent of the kids at 200 percent of the federal poverty level, or $41,300 for a family of four, must be enrolled before more children will be accepted. Previously states, especially those with high costs of living, set their own limits -- 300...
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News: States hassle over SCHIP
The Kaiser Foundation reports a debate in the nation's press over expanding insurance for children while Congress hears from locals during its summer break and states are examining their responsibilities. Last week, a Wall Street Journal editorial criticized the vote for SCHIP (State Children's Health Insurance Program), called CHAMP in the House (HR 3162), for appearing as a Trojan Horse to expand government. The editorial took comfort that the president has promised a veto for a measure it termed "so...
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News: Two years later: problems abound
Coming up on the second anniversary of Katrina, USA Today ran a four-part story on persistent mental health issues for kids. Some problems appear to be a direct consequence of the trauma of the hurricane, others due to the limbo in which people have been living since....
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News: Dopamine, ADHD and addiction
Two articles in the August issue of Archives of General Psychiatry address the importance of dopamine for ADHD. This comes shortly after a report about pregnant women who were exposed to nicotine during their second and third trimesters, months of brain development. The study (N=204) in the July issue of Child Psychiatry and Human Development showed their children had more symptoms of ADHD. In a July conversation with Terry Gross on Fresh Air, Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National...
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Consider This: Why SCHIP matters to the mental health community
by Phyllis Vine
The States Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) has huge implications for access to mental health providers and sustained treatments for an additional 3.3 million kids. Who could object?
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News: Senate passes SCHIP
With a safe margin of 68-31, the Senate passed the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Now the House and Senate versions go to conference with a strong likelihood of an agreement before current legislation expires on Sept. 30. Differences needing to be resolved include revenue sources to pay for the program. The House version trims Medicare Advantage, reported to be bloated; and the chambers have differing proposals for hiking cigarettes taxes. Although Republican support was strong ("Covering these children...
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News: Military children struggle
NPR discusses the impact for military children of their parents' long deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. The broadcast cites a study in the August 1 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association in which the authors conclude: "[R]ates of maltreatment are greater when the soldiers are on combat-related deployments." With tours of duty increasing, and multiple re-deployments, these patterns raise considerable concern....
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News: House endorses children's health insurance
By a vote of 225-204, the House passed a controversial measure, States Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), to expand insurance coverage for kids from poor and working poor families. Because of the expanded protections for people with a mental illness, the American Psychiatric Association issued an immediate press release applauding the vote for bringing coinsurance down from 50 percent to 20 percent (effective 2008), broadening the number of medications available to treat anxiety disorders and other psychiatric conditions, and trimming...
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News: Children's Hospital Faulted
A Washington, D.C., children's psychiatric hospital has been accused of neglecting and abusing children. Riverside Hospital has been followed for the past decade by federal regulators for intermittent concerns about staff choking, slapping, shoving, in addition to the use of medication to subdue and punish. The complaint was brought by University Legal Services, Inc., and an attorney for the hospital said they did not learn of the report until they received an inquiry from the Washington Post to comment on...
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News: Traumatized children use brain differently
A study using functional magnetic resonance imaging looked at the brains of 30 children, and concluded that blood flow and oxygenation differed for those with PTSD symptoms (n=16) compared to non-traumatized children (n=14). "Now we can see some real neurological reasons for the impulsivity, agitation, hyper-vigilance and avoidance behaviors that children with untreated PTSD often exhibit," said the study's author, Dr. Victor Carrion, Stanford School of Medicine....
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News: Senate panel defies Bush on SCHIP
In clear defiance of President Bush's threatened veto, a bipartisan Senate panel voted 17- 4 to expand health insurance for low-income children. Current funding for the States Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) runs out in Sept. The Senate voted an additional $35 billion over the president's request of $5 billion a year, providing for more than three million kids. Six million still have no coverage....
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News: Debate continues over antipsychotics for kids
Last year's death of a four year-old in Boston, and concern over efficacy, have created a backlash about treating young children with atypical anti-psychotics. Sunday's Boston Globe report how child psychiatrists are lining up in the debate. In Mass., the number of children under the age of 18 who are receiving the most commonly prescribed drugs (Zyprexa, Risperdal, and Seroquel) increased 25 percent over a four year period ending in 2006....
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News: Antidepressants in Kids - Another Look
Scientific American Mind, June 2007 Science writer Paul Raeburn asks if antidepressants are "altering the brains of the kids who take them?" This article is based on lab research and interviews with child psychiatrists to address the impact medication versus untreated depression on the development of the brain....
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News: Advocates cheer Colorado’s governor
Rocky Mountain News, May 31, 2007 Colorado’s Gov. Bill Ritter signed into law four bills expanding mental health services helping children and older Americans, including those suffering from substance abuse disorders, anorexia and PTSD. They strengthen programs allowing the elderly to remain in their homes to receive needed services, and increase the numbers of disorders included under mental illnesses....
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News: CBO report on SCHIP
Kaisernetwork.org, May 11, 2007 To address questions about SCHIP (States Childrens Health Insurance Program) and the program's ability to provide insurance to children from low-income families, the Congressional Budget Office published a study enumerating eligibility criteria, with funding and threshold levels. The Daily Report of the Kaiser Family Foundation summarized some of the differences of key members of the Sentate Finance Committee....
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Links: Children and Youth
These organizations explicitly address children's concerns as they relate to diagnosis, education, statistical prevalence, and medication. Updated 10.03.07
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Links: Find Help
New visitors will find useful resources for narrowing a search or for general information. Updated 11.02.07.
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News: Diagnosing bipolar disorder in children
The Journal of Pediatrics reports findings of a cross-cultural study about the onset of bipolar disorder indicating that about half the subjects in the United States experienced symptoms before the age of 19. Delays in the correct diagnosis, and a lag in treatment, could lead to an adverse course of illness for adults....
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News: JAMA reviews studies of pediatric antidepressants
According to an article in JAMA, a review of 27 pediatric trials (including major depression, OCD and other anxiety disorders) showed selected benefits of antidepressants appear to outweigh risks of suicide attempts. Variations occurred depending on age, severity, and study characteristics. This follow recent news that prescriptions for antidepressants declined after revisions in FDA labeling and media coverage of suicide attempts....
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News: Foster care kids in California at risk
San Francisco Chronicle, April 8, 2007 With rates of PTSD higher than those for war vets, the California system of foster care has come under scrutiny for the failure to implement mental health treatment for the 30,000 children in its care....
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News: Reaching young adults
The Lancet reports (in audio file) conversations with adolescents and young adults who discuss their priorities for making mental health services user-friendly: what will enable them to seek services, and what will keep them once they do....
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Commentary: Introducing School-Based Mental Health Services
by Charles Soule'
What happens when a child's behavior indicates a problem but the family is unable or reluctant to go to community health clinics? Dr. Charles Soule' discusses the benefits of providing appropriate intervention to children in school, linking teachers and staff to families who can use the assistance.
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Commentary: Trauma and PTSD in Children
by Julian Ford
Not all children who experience a traumatic event will develop a post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Those who do, however, will need help learning how to manage the stress and its symptoms. Dr. Julian Ford discusses how parents and teachers can become aware of when youngsters need help.
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News: Military resources insufficient for soldiers’ families
A preliminary report critical of the military’s programs for meeting the psychological needs of redeploying soldiers was released by the Presidential Task Force of the American Psychological Association. The Task Force noted an absence of coordination and implementation of mental health programs across and within military branches. It also identifieid inconsistency as an additional burden to families. TRICARE does not provide mental health services to families overseas, and MilitaryOneSource does not treat children under 12 years old. More than 700,000...
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News: FDA and ADHD drugs
The FDA has asked the makers of ADHD drugs to develop more comprehensive guidelines about their products including adverse reactions, new symptoms, and possible cardiovascular risks. These recommendations aim to simplify the language and presentation for commonly prescribed medicines such as Ritalin, Adderall, and Daytrana among others....
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