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: Violence with psychosis rare toward strangers
Worries about violence and mental illness have affected public attitudes and influenced treatment options around the world. Researchers in Canada, Finland, Australia and the Netherlands looked at "stranger homicide" as a way to answer the question about whether psychosis threatens strangers.
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News: Chronic PTSD affects brain functions
Can time alone heal the impact of combat in Iraq? Not likely, according to the results of a study published in the September issue of Archives of General Psychiatry. . . .
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News: Mental illness does not predict violence
A new study concludes that mental illness alone does not predict violence. For the past two decades, debate about a putative link between mental illness and violence has been heated with implications for policy, treatment and legal decisions. The authors of this study, published in Archives of General Psychiatry, interviewed 34,500 people in a national sample who were diagnosed with schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder and major depression. Their findings, based on interviews roughly 3 years apart, indicate that of the numerous...
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News: Book details military mental health crisis
Aaron Glantz, author of the The War Comes Home: Washington's Battle against America's Veterans, discussed the military mental health crisis, now a signature of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. During a radio conversation with Lenny Lopate, Glantz said failures to address PTSD, suicides, long waits, and a shortage of professional help all reside within a military system which has historically overlooked mental health concerns. This is his third book about Iraq, and it adds to growing alarm, also apparent...
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Film: "Another Kind of VALOR"

News: Patients at risk in North Carolina hospitals
Even before it was learned that a patient had been restrained inappropriately with his face held down, accreditation of North Carolina's hospitals was in jeopardy because of widespread patient neglect. That incident was yesterdays news, along with the documentation contained in 131-page federal report. Today's News Observer reports the sexual assault of a psychiatric patient at different hospital, Cherry Hospital. The technician involved in the assault was not fired until three weeks after the incident, the same day a reporter...
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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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