HRSA Women's Health USA 2011 Available

The HRSA Women’s Health USA 2011, the 10th edition of an annual data book identifying priorities, trends, and disparities in women’s health, is now available. The 2011 edition highlights several new topics, including secondhand tobacco smoke exposure, Alzheimer’s disease, preconception health, unintended pregnancy, oral health care utilization, and barriers to health care. For the first time, the special population section of the report features data on the health of lesbian and bisexual women, as well as Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander women. Data on American Indian and Alaska Native women are also featured.

Press Release: http://www.hrsa.gov/about/news/pressreleases/111031womenshealth.html
Reposted at  http://www.darkestcloset.blogspot.com/

Three Recent Articles Describe Recovery-Oriented Approaches

Behavioral Healthcare recently published a two-part interview with author Robert Whitaker as well as an article about the Hearing Voices Network; and The New York Times ran an article highlighting the importance of peer support. The two-part Whitaker interview – by Bill Anthony, Ph.D., and Lori Ashcraft, Ph.D. – covers Whitaker’s thoughts about the effectiveness of psychotropic medications (among other topics) and includes a sidebar from a critic of his views.

Said Whitaker, “. . . [U]nfortunately I’m afraid psychiatry no longer knows how to get back on track with honest reporting of what it does and does not know, and honest investigations of psychiatric medications. . . . Ultimately, I think we need a new paradigm built on the framework of psychosocial and recovery practices.” The Hearing Voices Network story, published online, covers a presentation by Daniel Hazen, executive director of Voices of the Heart Inc., and Oryx Cohen director of the National Empowerment Center Technical Assistance Center. They offered strategies for handling the experience of hearing voices. “The notion that peer-led groups might help voice-hearers to tame and better live with their voices was, in the words of one local psychiatrist, ‘liberating,’ ” Behavioral Healthcare reported.

The New York Times article featured the story of Antonio Lambert, diagnosed with bipolar disorder and a co-occurring substance use disorder, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison when he was 17 years old. Today, Antonio trains peer specialists across the United States. The article – the last of a five-part series entitled “Restoring Lives,” about individuals with psychiatric diagnoses who are in recovery – quoted Larry Davidson of Yale University: “Peers are living, breathing proof that recovery is possible, that it is real.”

Sources: http://www.behavioral.net/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=9B6FFC446FF7486981EA3C0C3CCE4943&nm=Archives&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=64D490AC6A7D4FE1AEB453627F1A4A32&tier=4&id=A5BC331586DC4D8B89B194044A0D83F1

http://www.behavioral.net/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=9B6FFC446FF7486981EA3C0C3CCE4943&nm=Archives&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=64D490AC6A7D4FE1AEB453627F1A4A32&tier=4&id=43C2D89CC0364CFA94916B05462A9556#sidebar

http://www.behavioral.net/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=64D490AC6A7D4FE1AEB453627F1A4A32&tier=4&id=2AD887EA1E4847C293174A191EAEA422

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/20/health/20lives.html?ref=health">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/20/health/20lives.html?ref=health

Reposted at http://www.darkestcloset.com/

" Boycott Normal” – May 5, 2012, in Philadelphia

On May 5, 2012, MindFreedom International will hold a march and rally in Center City Philadelphia to coincide with the American Psychiatric Association (APA) annual meeting, at which the new version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, DSM-5, is scheduled to be rolled out prior to its 2013 release. “Raise your voices for more non-drug choices!” is one of the rallying cries for the event. See the source below for ways to participate:

Source: http://www.mindfreedom.org/campaign/boycott-normal/boycott-more-info

Copeland Center Publishes Position Paper on Seclusion and Restraint

Copeland Center Publishes Position Paper on Seclusion and Restraint

The Copeland Center for Wellness and Recovery has published a position paper calling for the elimination of seclusion and restraint, both physical and chemical. “The paper also aspires to stimulate an active and ongoing dialogue about alternatives to seclusion and restraints among change agents in the mental health recovery arena. . . . The Center also opposes the use of body bags of any kind, strait jackets and other devices that restrict movement, full body searches including body cavity searches, torture of any kind, the use of tasers and the use of force or coercion as treatment for emotional distress.

The Center believes the use of these methods in any area of psychiatric services should be prohibited by national and international law.” The Center is developing an action plan to work toward achieving these goals. The paper is available at the following link:
http://tinyurl.com/copeland-sr-position

Source: http://www.copelandcenter.com    Reposted at http://www.darkestcloset.blogspot.com/,

CASD Publishes Fourth in a Series of Research & Practice Briefs

A paper on barriers and incentives to finding employment as perceived by individuals with psychiatric disabilities has been published by the Center on Adherence and Self-Determination (CASD). The paper also investigates the relationship between incentives and commitment to obtaining employment, as well as the use of motivational interviewing to help people improve employment outcomes. The paper is available at the source below.

Source: http://www.adherenceandselfdetermination.org/images/stories/casdrpb112011.pdf
Reposted at http://www.darkestcloset.blogspot.com/,

CMS Finds Overpayment for Antipsychotic Medications

Physicians too often violate federal standards designed to prevent overmedication and inappropriate use of drugs, according to a report by the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Testifying before a U.S. Senate panel recently, high-ranking government officials said that in the six months between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2007, 51 percent of the Medicare reimbursement claims for atypical antipsychotic medications were erroneous and cost the program $116 million. The report also found that 83 percent of all reviewed Medicare atypical antipsychotic drug claims for older adults living in nursing homes were for off-label uses. The officials said that more care must be taken to keep physicians from prescribing such medications, although the panel’s chairman noted that the drugs can be beneficial “when properly prescribed,” according to an article published in Health Care Daily Report.

Source: http://www.bna.com/officials-antipsychotic-drug-n12884904634/
Reposted htttp://www.darkestcloset.com

Facebook Provides First-of-Its-Kind Service to Help Prevent Suicides

In partnership with the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, Facebook has announced a new service attempting to prevent suicides across North America. The service enables Facebook users to report a suicidal comment posted by a friend using either the Report Suicidal Content link https://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=suicidal_content or the links found throughout the site.

The poster of the comment will immediately receive an e-mail from Facebook encouraging them to call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or to click on a link to begin a confidential chat with a crisis worker. The project is a collaboration among the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and Facebook.

In another story, a new survey by University of Washington researchers has found that, while about one of nine youths attempt suicide by the time they graduate from high school, nearly 40 percent of those who said they had tried suicide reported their first attempt was before they entered high school. The study was published in the November issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health http://jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(11)00127-3/abstract.

Sources: http://www.samhsa.gov/newsroom/advisories/1112125820.aspx
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_119226.html

SAMHSA Releases New Working Definition of Recovery

Reposted at http:/www.darkestcloset.bloggerspot,

SAMHSA recently announced a new working definition of recovery from mental disorders and substance use disorders.  The definition is the product of a year-long effort by SAMHSA and a wide range of partners in the behavioral health care community and other fields to develop a working definition of recovery that captures the essential, common experiences of those recovering from mental disorders and substance use disorders.  Major guiding principles support the recovery definition.  SAMHSA led this effort as part of its Recovery Support Strategic Initiative.

The new working definition of Recovery From Mental Disorders and Substance Use Disorders is as follows:

A process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live a self-directed life, and strive to reach their full potential.

Through the Recovery Support Strategic Initiative, SAMHSA also has delineated four major dimensions that support a life in recovery:

• Health: Overcoming or managing one's disease(s) as well as living in a physically and emotionally healthy way.
• Home: A stable and safe place to live.
• Purpose: Meaningful daily activities, such as a job, school, volunteerism, family caretaking, or creative endeavors, and the independence, income, and resources to participate in society.
• Community: Relationships and social networks that provide support, friendship, love, and hope.

Read the Full Press Release  |  Learn More About SAMHSA's Recovery Support Initiative

Circle of Friends Key to Adopting Healthy Habits: Study

When people of similar age, sex, size buddied up online, they made gains, researchers say

By Maureen Salamon

THURSDAY, Dec. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Interested in adopting healthier habits? You have a better chance of success if you find a friend with similar traits to share the experience, a new study suggests.

Participants paired with others of similar body mass, age, fitness level and diet preferences were three times as likely to adopt healthy behaviors as those matched randomly in an Internet-based study conducted by a researcher from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

"I think the reality is, we as individuals may have less motivation to change on our own than if we're surrounded by our peer group, even if we met on a social network site," said Dr. Victor Fornari, director of child and adolescent psychiatry at North Shore-LIJ Health System in New Hyde Park, N.Y., who is familiar with the study. "We're very influenced by the group phenomenon."

The study is published in the Dec. 2 issue of the journal Science.

For the study, an online social network was created to promote health and fitness. Broken into small groups of "health buddies," 710 participants were introduced to the idea of an online diet diary through a "dummy" participant who invited others to take part. Each participant was provided with a personalized, online "health dashboard" that displayed real-time information, such as daily exercise minutes, healthy behaviors and personal characteristics of the health buddies.

At the end of seven weeks, those who were matched with health buddies using the principle of "homophily" -- the tendency of people to have similar friends -- were far more likely to use the diet diary and take part in other healthy behaviors than participants whose buddies were assigned randomly. Not one obese individual signed up for the diet diary in the random networks, compared to more than 12 percent of obese participants in the similarly matched networks.

The results also suggest that the most effective social environment for increasing the willingness of obese people to adopt a behavior is one where they interact with others with similar health characteristics, the study said.

"I think it was a pretty brilliant study," said Tricia M. Leahey, an assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Miriam Hospital's Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center in Providence. "It's neat that they're actually starting to manipulate a social network in a way specific to homophily."

Group therapy is also partially based on the premise that people can empathize better with others they relate to, said Dr. Alan Manevitz, a clinical psychiatrist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

"The question of whether people can benefit from role models that show how to move out of similar thinking is also part and parcel of the development of social networks," Manevitz said. "We all need to be able to interact with people who can promote other senses of self, that you can take in and create within yourself."

However, the current findings refute prior research. Leahey wrote a study published in January 2011 that indicated that overweight people tend to have more social contacts who are also overweight or obese.

"We can say, 'Gee, if I'm in a network of relatively healthy individuals and become friends with someone who's overweight or obese, we might be influenced by this one individual,'" she said. "So I guess it cuts both ways."

But Leahey said she has observed results similar to the new study in "Shape Up RI," a statewide initiative in Rhode Island that draws friends, family members and coworkers into teams to increase exercise, family meals, fruit and vegetable consumption and reduce screen time. The program has shown that group support can become a powerful driver of healthy behaviors, she said.

Ideally, Fornari and Leahey said, the findings should spur other statewide or public programs promoting healthy lifestyles either in person or on Internet-based social networks.

"Certainly, that would be an exciting opportunity and I know that more and more educational opportunities will be web-based," Fornari said.

More information

For more about healthy behaviors, see the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

SOURCES: Tricia M. Leahey, Ph.D., assistant professor, psychiatry and human behavior, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Miriam Hospital's Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center, Providence; Victor Fornari, M.D., director, child and adolescent psychiatry, North Shore-LIJ Health System, New Hyde Park, N.Y.; Alan Manevitz, M.D., clinical psychiatrist, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City; Dec. 2, 2011, Science

Last Updated: Dec. 01, 2011

Copyright © 2011 HealthDay. All rights reserved

Posted at
http://consumer.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=659440