Did You Know: 106,000 Soldiers are prescribed some form of pain, depression or anxiety medications.
Read Army Health Promotion, Risk Reduction and Suicide Prevention from the United States Army....
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News: State news: Florida, Illinois, MInnesota
Illinois was ordered ordered to move people out of a state hospitals and nursing homes and into the community by the end of the year. A similar decision was made in New York. According to the the Chicago Sun Times. Illinois spends more to keep adults in institutions than any other state. . .
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News: Benefits of parity law showing

News: The bar for normal -- DSM update
Advancing the conversation about revising the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, DSM-V, On the Media's Brooke Gladstone. . .
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Commentary: From community mental health to substance abuse treatment: bridging treatment cultures

Did You Know: Last year about 30.9 million people drove under the influence of alcohol.
Read more from the National Institute of Drug Abuse about patterns of drivers, age 12 and older, reporting alcohol and drug use....
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News: Mental health in health reform
Advocacy organizations are getting behind the House bill for health reform (HR 3962) citing benefits to those with a mental illness or addictive disorder. Organizations such as AARP and the American Medical Association, announced . . .
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News: Vaccine for cocaine dependence promising

Consider This: Thought parity was a done deal?
. . .Think again
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News: Parity sets stage for reform, says Kennedy

Consider This: 162nd APA kicks off in San Francisco
. . .Monday morning
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News: Stimulus package boosts mental health research
The National Institutes of Health will dedicate $200 million to aid research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute on Mental Health (NIMH). Each agency has identified priorities in target areas for understanding cost-effective interventions and treatments, bioethical issues raised by technology and information systems, and genetic and stem-cell research. Interest has been intense for the grants with an April 27 due date, said an NIMH spokesperson. The complete list of additional eligible grant categories...
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News: Another try to regulate tobacco
A bill (HR 1256) to allow the FDA to regulate smoking is long overdue said Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Cal.). The powerful committee chairman signed up 124 co-sponsors for a smoking prevention bill which he introduced on March 3. (It is similar to a bill (HR 1108) the House passed last year.) Despite support for regulating nicotine, some doubt the FDA is capable of regulating this industry, and critics fear the intent is to eliminate rather than control nicotine. Smoking is...
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Did You Know: Overall costs of substance abuse and addiction exceeds $500 billion.
Read more from the National Institute of Drug Abuse....
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News: Drug treatment to reduce crime recidivism
The criminal justice system has five gateways for helping offenders with an addictive disorder get treatment. Informed by neuroscience and the biology of addiction and treatment, authors of an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) urge they become opportunities for interventions. Research has shown that chronic drug use alters the brain's circuitry which affects behavior. Treatment upon returning to the community is a key to reducing recidivism, say these authors who are part of the National...
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News: Treatments lag for substance use
Research appearing in the January 2009 issue of Psychiatric Services indicates fewer parents in the child welfare system are offered treatment for substance use if they do not also have a mental illness. At the same time, writes Benedict Carey in the New York Times, it is estimated that "20 million Americans who could benefit from treatment do not get it." A lack of uniformity about models for rehab and recovery has contributed to a recognition that evidence does not...
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News: Maryland counties return treatment funds
Counties in Maryland regularly return money to the state and leave a treatment gap instead of expanding programs for substance and alcohol addiction, reports the Washington Post....
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News: Forecasting treatment costs
A study published in the current issue of Health Affairs forecasts spending to treat mental health and substance abuse conditions will reach $239 billion by 2014. This is double what it was in 2003, but as a proportion of total, it represents a decline of public sector spending on health from 7.5 percent to 6.9 percent....
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News: SAMHSA addresses substance abuse
SAMHSA announced the award of $66 million to medical centers and resident training programs for screening, intervention and treatment for people at risk for substance abuse....
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Consider This: Hats off to Dems
. . .for opening the closet door
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News: Wellness caucus in Denver a political first
With a good percentage of the 84 million who suffer from a mental illness or addictive disorders unable to get equal, early and appropriate treatment, or programs designed for recovery, the Whole Health Campaign (WHC) has been striving to make sure political candidates understand these concerns belong to discussions about health care reform. At next week's Democratic Convention in Denver, the WHC, a coalition of 70 organizations, will host a "wellness room," a significant achievement for focusing delegate attention...
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News: Canada confronts and combats stigma
A Canadian survey released today shows widespread stigma persists, even among those who have been clinically depressed, according to Canwest News Service. The results indicate "a harsh, and frankly unflattering light on the attitudes we Canadians have," said Dr. Brian Day, president of the Canadian Medical Association. Day added, "mental illness is the final frontier of socially-acceptable discrimination." With a mandate for a decade-long campaign to combat stigma, Canada doubled funding for the year-old Mental Health Commission....
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Consider This: When the press gets it right. . .
Three items of note
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News: No two alike: study on substance use and mental health
Communities differ in substance abuse and mental health problems, and a new report from SAMSHA details the use of addictive substances -- pain relievers, marijuana, cocaine -- based on responses from 200,000 people in 345 selected regions of all 50 states. Some of the findings: Nationally, 7.7 percent of the population aged 12 or older was classified with being dependent on or having abused alcohol in the past year in 2004-2006. Nationally, 7.6 percent of adults aged 18 or older...
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Consider This: Drug to stop smoking
Patients can be burned by side effects
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News: Fla. drug treatment threatened
Three of Florida’s agencies –- Departments of Corrections, Juvenile Justice, and Children and Families -- are considering cuts to drug programs to trim $2 billion from the state budget. As yet, there have been no estimates to show how costs will increase as a result of the recidivism associated with continued drug use, or the added expense for social service programs or addiction related criminal offenses....
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News: Drinking, drugs and depression: SAMHSA's study
Roughly one in ten youngsters between 12 and 17 years old have a depressive episode each year, SAMHSA administrator, Dr. Terry Cline, told a House subcommittee on Weds. "[T]these young people are twice as likely to take their first drink or use drugs for the first time as those who did not experience depression.” Help, should they become addicted, is not readily available. Cline said that slightly more than 10 percent of the 23.6 million needing treatment for drug or...
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News: House votes for parity
The House of Representatives voted 268 to 148 to require equal insurance coverage for mental illnesses and addictive disorders, a measure which would overturn federal approval of discrimination. It’s almost one year to the date since the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act was introduced by Rep. Patrick Kennedy, here testifying at congressional hearings. President Bush once endorsed parity but now says he opposes it for ideological reasons, according to a report in the New York Times....
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News: Equivalence of co-occurring therapies
The authors of an article in Advance Access Schizophrenia Bulletin (subscription required) found little evidence of the superiority of any single psychosocial intervention for reducing substance abuse in people with mental illness. About 50 percent of the people with severe mental illness also have a hazardous co-occurring addiction, according to the authors....
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News: Marijuana withdrawal
Cannabis withdrawal was observed in a pilot study of adolescents (n=21) voluntarily attending a substance abuse program. An article published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry reports that during the month of observation, the 13-19 year olds displayed clinical symptoms of withdrawal including twitching, irritability and cravings....
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Interviews: Q & A with Bill Emmet: Mandating health reform
by Phyllis Vine
A coalition of advocates launched the Whole Health Campaign to remind presidential hopefuls that health reform is incomplete without including mental health and substance abuse in the calculus. In a conversation with MIWatch, Bill Emmet discusses this necessity.


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News: Soldiers need follow-up
A survey of 88,235 soldiers returning from Iraq indicates that psychiatric symptoms, including depression, PTSD , and alcohol abuse, can take months to become apparent. The study, the first of its kind from the Walter Reed Military Institute, aimed to evaluate the impact of two screenings on detection and treatment. The first was soon after return; the second three to six months later. In many instances, soldiers had already left service, or were beyond the six month window for military...
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News: Tobacco industry creates "self-medicating" rationale
An outstanding article in Schizophrenia Bulletin Advance Access exposes the tobacco industry's aggressive tactics to market smoking to people with schizophrenia. This includes the creation of the "self-medicating hypothesis" and in 1997 the formation of an R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company subsidiary, Targacept, a biopharmaceutical company. The authors say the industry's success came from "suppressing research that does not support their position, and disseminating their data and interpretations to the lay press and policy makers" including family advocacy groups. They...
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News: Psychiatric hospitals ban smoke
National Public Radio reports that psychiatric hospitals are beginning to enforce a non-smoking policy for patients. The calming effect of cigarettes can be traced to the impact of nicotine on dompamine, and for years many hospitals actually distributed cigarettes to reward good behavior. The ready availability of nicotine substitutes and heightened concern for cardiovascular disease are competing concerns. NPR noted that St. Elizabeth's in Washington, D.C., prepared for last January's change in policy with classes, pills, gum, and patches. Although...
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News: Smoking, dopamine and mental illness
Nicotine has long been known to be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and cancer, but it also is a gateway to substance abuse and marijuana, and a factor in mental illness. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University has now published Tobacco -- The Smoking Gun (for purchase or free pdf download) discussing the damage done to the adolescent brain. Anxiety symptoms are stronger for smokers than for non-smokers, and twice as many (22 percent)...
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News: Drug curbs alcohol cravings
A new study showed that the drug topiramate might have promising results for treating alcohol dependence. The results of a double-blind trial (N=371) appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that those taking the drug had fewer heavy drinking days, but also more side effects, than those taking a placebo. The 14-week double-blind trial was conducted at sites in 17 cities....
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News: Integrated model of primary care
A study appearing in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry found that integrating mental health and substance abuse treatments with primary care reduced racial disparities based on access. The conclusions are based on a randomizing 183 elderly patients at a single site....
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Commentary: Disaster Mental Health
by Anthony T. Ng, MD
In "Disaster Mental Health," Dr. Anthony T. Ng draws on his extensive experience to discuss challenges psychiatrists face when helping individuals and communities respond to natural or man-made disasters. Dr. Ng is the former chair of the American Psychiatric Association's Committee on Psychiatric Dimensions of Disasters.

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News: Anti-psychotics cut addictive cravings
Results of a 14-week double-blind study reported in the American Journal of Addiction showed both olanzapine and resperidone cut cravings for marijuana and cocaine for people with schizophrenia....
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News: British consider paying for results
Advocates, physicians, and consumer groups have been commenting on a British proposal to use small vouchers as incentives to substance abusers to remain drug free. Britain's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence knows this is a controversial incentive, but bases its recommendation for a pilot program on studying results from 5,000 people....
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News: Diagnosing substance abuse and psychotic disorders
With mounting evidence that marijuana is a major contributor to schizophrenia, part of the research agenda for the DSM-V includes differentiating between substance-induced psychotic symptoms and independent psychotic disorders....
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News: Anxiety and substance abuse in teens
A study (N=816) reported in the ">Journal of Psychiatric Research concludes that social anxiety is a more likely risk factor for alcohol and marijuana abuse in teens than mood or other anxiety disorders....
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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: Treatment for co-occurring drug dependence
"Most individuals with drug use disorders have never been treated," say the authors of a study in the Archives of General Psychiatry. They also note, "treatment disparities exist among those at high risk, despite substantial disability and co-morbidity."...
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Interviews: Q & A with Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-MN) on insurance parity
by Phyllis Vine
Rep. Jim Ramstad talks about insurance parity which will put psychiatric and addi tive disorders on par with physican ailments.
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News: Smoking reduction project
Using peer leaders, and a grant from New York State Department of Health, a New York clubhouse designed a curriculum to change smoking behavior of its 57 members. Elements of the program included eight sessions of instruction about wellness, and access to off-site psychiatrists who prescribed medicine targeted for smoking cessation. People with mental illness smoke at rates considerably higher than the general population, 70% versus 23%, making this an especially grave health risk....
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