Program aims to help teens keep clear of alcohol
Monday, September 29th, 2008Tarrant County mental health professionals and advocates are drafting a pilot program aimed at treating teens who are slipping into alcoholism.
The proposed High School Alcohol Diversion Program, modeled after college programs, would allow teens with alcohol violations to stay at their schools instead of being sent to alternative schools.
That would help prevent them from losing academic focus and allow professionals to help them combat alcohol abuse.
Alcoholism often surfaces among shy teens who want to stop feeling bad about themselves and among thrill-seeking teens who drink for the buzz. But genetics also play a role, Chorpita said.
Understanding what treatment works for which condition helps parents and mental health providers better address young people’s mental health problems, he said.
Social anxiety disorder can be treated by challenging teens to face their fears so they can better handle social pressures while maintaining their individuality, Chorpita said.
Tags: academic focus, advocates, alcohol abuse, alcohol diversion program, alcohol violations, alcoholism, alternative schools, county mental health, fears, genetics, individuality, mental health problems, mental health professionals, mental health providers, pilot program, proposed high school, shy teens, social anxiety disorder, social pressures, tarrant countyRelated posts
Marion Teens Remember Students Killed In Accident
Monday, September 29th, 2008The Marion community is mourning the loss of two teens killed this weekend in a single-car accident.
It happened shortly before 7 AM Sunday at the intersection of Route 13 and Old Bainbridge Road. That’s the intersection in front of Heartland Regional Medical Center.
A dent remains in the traffic pole from where the vehicle hit it. There are pieces of glass everywhere and reminders of the deadly accident.
Visitation for Noah Saffelder is Tuesday night from 5 until 8. That’s at the Blue Funeral Home in Marion. The funeral service starts at ten Wednesday morning at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Marion.
Tags: medical center, noah, Teens, traffic, urnRelated posts
Election Opens Polls To Teens
Sunday, September 28th, 2008The idea for the mock election came from the library’s Teen Advisory Board, a group of middle- and high-school students that meets twice a month to provide input about books, music and movies and help plan the Young Adult Department’s monthly teen programs.
In addition to selecting their choice for president, teens will cast votes for Colorado’s representative in the 2nd Congressional District, the U.S. Senate and on statewide ballot initiatives.
They also will vote for their favorite high school football team and the best Colorado band.
“This is a way for teens to get their voice heard and express how they feel about the issues,” said Fran Jenner, co-manager of the Young Adult Department at the library. “They get really excited to participate in a realistic voting process, with a computer voting booth and scanning machine that counts the votes.”
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Teens Take Out Top Lifesaving Award
Sunday, September 28th, 2008The Papamoa pair of 15 year-olds, Nathan Smith and Liam O’Toole, took out the award at a ceremony in Wellington last night for their dramatic rescue of five girls at Papamoa beach in December 2007.
Smith was off duty and surfing at the time when he came across five girls in trouble. He single-handedly dragged three girls from heavy surf returning for two more, one of whom was unconscious.
O’Toole assisted on the beach with oxygen for the patients and monitored the girls until an ambulance arrived.
Surf Life Saving NZ (SLSNZ) chief executive Geoff Barry said the teenage lifeguards showed a maturity well beyond their years and their quick action saved the lives of two of the girls.
The Lifeguard of the Year award was taken out by Debbie Phillips-Morgan from Raglan.
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Man accused of kidnaping teens commits suicide
Sunday, September 28th, 2008Marion County Sheriff’s deputies were called to a home northeast of Scio early Sunday morning after two boys reported they had been kidnapped. The boy’s mom returned home around 2 a.m. and convinced Williams to release the boys.
After her son and his friend were freed, Mack was able to give her son a cell phone and he called 911 for help. Williams then ran back inside the home and reappeared holding a shotgun to his head.
Officers said Williams would not communicate with them and began to scream obscenities while continuing to hold the weapon.
Deputies said Williams eventually shot himself in the head and died at the scene.
Williams was reported to have outstanding warrants from Linn, Jackson, and Deschutes Counties for coercion, assault, DUII, and various other charges.
Tags: Kid, Teens, two boys, urnRelated posts
Four Teens At Pasco Juvenile Detention Center Charged In Beating
Sunday, September 28th, 2008Four teenagers at the Pasco juvenile detention center were charged with felony battery for their attack on another inmate, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The arrest report said the four confronted the other boy Friday and forced him into a cell. Inside, the four knocked the boy to the ground and began punching and kicking him. While two of the attackers stood outside the cell as lookouts, one teen kept striking the boy and another poured urine on him from a small bottle.
The boy suffered bruises on the left side of his face, multiple broken bones, and ligament damage to his left leg and ankle, the report said. Hospital staff said the boy will need surgery on the leg.
The boy and a witness gave deputies details of the attack. All of the accused teens denied attacking the boy, saying they had no idea how he came to be injured.
Tags: four teens, lookout, teenager, teenagers, Teens, witnessRelated posts
National Survey of Adults with ADHD
Thursday, September 25th, 2008
According to a national survey of over 1,000 adults diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), ADHD significantly impacts many areas of their life.
Respondents commented that the disorder impeded their ability to focus at work, as well as perform their responsibilities at home and maintain their relationships.
McNeil Pediatrics™, Division of Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc, sponsored the survey as part of its commitment to the ADHD community’s 2008 National ADHD Awareness Day.
ADHD is thought to affect about 9 million adults in the United States, and research on the life span of the condition notes the disorder can impair academic, social and occupational functioning, and is often associated with academic underachievement, conduct problems, underemployment, motor vehicle safety and difficulties with personal relationships.
“Findings from today’s survey underscore the impact ADHD can have for adults who are struggling to cope with and manage this condition at work, at home and in their relationships,” said Dr. Edward Hallowell, a practicing psychiatrist and founder of the Hallowell Center for Cognitive and Emotional Health in Sudbury, Mass.
“As a psychiatrist who has treated adults with the condition for more than 25 years, and as an adult who was diagnosed with ADHD at age 31, I know firsthand the importance of working with a healthcare professional to identify strategies that may be effective in controlling ADHD symptoms, such as behavioral modifications and medication.”
The survey findings on adults with ADHD reinforce previous findings from a recent World Health Organization (WHO) report, which concluded ADHD is a relatively common condition among working adults and is associated with impairment and work performance.
The WHO survey also found that only a small number of employed adults with ADHD are being treated for the condition, even though evidence shows medication can be effective in improving ADHD symptoms, and that on average, adult workers with ADHD miss more than three weeks a year in workplace productivity.
Adult ADHD Survey Findings
Conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of McNeil Pediatrics™, key survey findings included a variety of participant perspectives, including:
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- Most adults with ADHD agree that having the condition strongly affects their performance in multiple areas of their lives, including:
- Their responsibilities at home (65 percent)
- Their relationships with family and friends (57 percent)
- Their ability to succeed at work (56 percent of those employed)
Up to half (50 percent) of those employed worry ADHD symptoms affect opportunities for promotion, and the majority feel they have to work harder (65 percent) and/or longer (47 percent) than their co-workers to accomplish similar work.
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– Three-quarters of respondents said their ADHD symptoms strongly affect their ability to stay on task at work (75 percent), while others listed challenges such as:
- Concentrating on what others were saying (70 percent)
- Wrapping up projects (61 percent)
- Following through on tasks (61 percent)
- Sitting still in meetings (60 percent)
- Organizing projects (59 percent)
Just as their needs differ, adults with ADHD report divergent goals in managing ADHD symptoms. In selecting their top three goals for managing the condition, half cited being able to finish projects and tasks (51 percent), and getting their household more organized (51 percent). Other top-three goals included:
- Feeling less irritable and upset (38 percent)
- Getting personal finances more organized (28 percent) - Improving personal relationships (26 percent)
- Feeling calmer and to feel less need to always be moving (22 percent)
- Getting along better with others in social situations (20 percent)
One-third (36 percent) feel their ADHD symptoms are not under control, and many more (58 percent) are not satisfied with their ability to handle stress.
- Of those whom symptoms are not under control, 54 percent feel like a failure for it.
– One-third (37 percent) get depressed thinking about how hard ADHD is to deal with.
Adults with ADHD who participated in the survey also reported utilizing a variety of techniques to help manage their symptoms. Four out of five have used visual reminders, such as post-it notes, to help manage their ADHD symptoms. Those in the survey also reported:
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– Taking prescription medication (82 percent)
– Listening to music (75 percent)
– Using a planner or organizer (71 percent)
– Exercising (69 percent)
Of those adults on medication, four out of five (81 percent) reported that not taking medication negatively impacts their work or home performance. Patients on medication said they are focused primarily on goals of symptom control and improving performance at work (74 percent), at home (69 percent) and in relationships (62 percent).
“I was diagnosed two years ago after I realized that some of the stress I felt from trying to keep up with my career, home and family might be more than stress,” said Natalie Knochenhauer, a former public defender, non-profit executive and founder of the Metro Philadelphia Chapter of Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD), and advocacy chair of Pennsylvania CHADD.
“After my diagnosis, I felt like I had extra hours in every day to accomplish what I needed to get done. Because of the clear benefits I have experienced, I work closely with my doctor to manage my condition, which enables me to perform better in all aspects of my life.”
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Are American Kids Overmedicated
Thursday, September 25th, 2008
According to a new study, American children are approximately three times more likely to be prescribed psychotropic medication than children in Europe.
The study, published in BioMed Central’s open access journal Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, claims that the differences may be accounted for by regulatory practices and cultural beliefs about the role of medication in emotional and behavioral problems.
Julie Zito led a team of researchers from the USA, Germany and the Netherlands who investigated prescription levels in the three countries. She said, “Antidepressant and stimulant prevalence were three or more times greater in the US than in the Netherlands and Germany, while antipsychotic prevalence was 1.5 to 2.2 times greater”.
The use of antidepressants, like Prozac, and stimulants, like Ritalin, in children has been the subject of a great deal of controversy and this study quantifies the differences in practice between the US and Western Europe.
The authors claim that the differences may be partly due to different diagnostic classification systems, “The US trend of increasing bipolar diagnosis in children and adolescents does not reflect European practice”.
The authors also mention government cost restrictions in Europe, the larger number of child psychiatrists per capita in the US and the use of two or more different psychotropic drugs in a single year in US children as possible explanations.
Zito concludes that, “Direct to consumer drug advertising, which is common in the US, is also likely to account for some of the differences. The increased use of medication in the US also reflects the individualist and activist therapeutic mentality of US medical culture”.
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“Next Generation” Depression Treatment
Thursday, September 25th, 2008
In preparation for advanced space travel scientists with the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) are developing a software program can provide self-guided treatment for depression.
Specifically, the interactive, multi-media program will assist astronauts in recognizing and effectively managing depression and other psychosocial problems, which can pose a substantial threat to crew safety and mission operations during long-duration spaceflights.
Even though the depression treatment is under development for NASA, project leader Dr. James Cartreine said it could be spun off for use on Earth.
“This project has great potential as a self-guided treatment for many people,” said Cartreine, a member of NSBRI’s Neurobehavioral and Psychosocial Factors Team. “Depression is the number one cause of disability days in the United States, but it’s not only about days lost.
Depression also results in presenteeism - showing up for work but not really working.”
The depression treatment is part of the Virtual Space Station, a multi-media program that addresses multiple types of potential psychosocial problems and can be used for training before, and for assistance during, missions. Other problems being addressed via the Virtual Space Station include interpersonal conflict, and stress and anxiety.
Cartreine, a Harvard Medical School research psychologist based in the Division of Clinical Informatics at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, said the Virtual Space Station will make effective therapeutic depression treatment more easily accessible to astronauts aboard the International Space Station and proposed missions to the moon and Mars. Currently, astronauts have audio and video access to psychologists only when communication links are available.
Project co-investigator and former astronaut Dr. Jay Buckey said long-duration spaceflight can be tough on astronauts. “While astronauts are not particularly prone to psychological problems, the environment is very demanding,” Buckey said. “On a mission, they face a lot of challenges that could lead to depression.”
Buckey, a professor and physician at Dartmouth Medical School, said the depression module and other aspects of the Virtual Space Station are based upon proven methods. “These are unique NSBRI products that did not exist before,” Buckey said. “The Virtual Space Station is based on proven treatment programs and is a very helpful way to work on problems in general.”
The system’s multi-media approach for depression includes graphics and video featuring a psychologist who leads the user through a straightforward process called Problem-Solving Treatment. The system provides feedback based upon the information provided when answering a series of questions.
The first step of the process is to make a problem list and select a problem on which to work. The second and third steps are setting goals and brainstorming ways to reach them. The final two steps are assessing the pros and cons of possible solutions and making an action plan to implement them. The program also helps users plan and schedule enjoyable activities, which people who have depression often stop doing. Additionally, the program provides preventative and educational information on depression.
Cartreine and Buckey, who received input from 29 current and former astronauts while designing the Virtual Space Station, said some of the system’s other benefits include its portability and privacy. “It can be delivered to the International Space Station on a flash drive and run directly from that drive, so that the astronaut has complete control over his or her data,” Cartreine said. “The system is private and secure. The user is the only one who can share the information with others.”
An early version of the depression treatment system was beta-tested on research stations in Antarctica, which is used as an analog to long-duration spaceflights due to its isolation from the rest of the world, length of stay and team composition. Cartreine said feedback from that early test run has been positive, and a clinical evaluation of the latest version on 68 Boston-area volunteers is about to begin.
“We plan to study the program’s ability to treat depression,” he said.
“We are looking for people who are similar to astronauts, such as people in the technology industry.”
Eventually, the researchers want to adapt the system for use in many different settings, giving people access to treatment they may not have now. For instance, people with depression often seek treatment by going to their primary care physician, so the researchers hope to adapt it for use at the doctor’s office or in a person’s home.
The system could also be beneficial in rural areas where clinical help is in short supply or nonexistent. Other possible locations for use include schools, social service offices, places of worship, military bases, prisons, commercial ships, oil rigs and underwater research stations.
The self-guided treatment project is part of the NSBRI Neurobehavioral and Psychosocial Factors Team portfolio, which includes studies on and development of countermeasures for stress, anxiety, interpersonal conflict and fatigue.
Content on stress and anxiety management for the Virtual Space Station is being developed by Dr. Raphael Rose at UCLA. Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital researcher Dr. Gary Strangman is studying the depression treatment program’s effects on brain activity using infrared imaging.
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Physician Personality Influences Depression Dxs.
Thursday, September 25th, 2008
A new study suggests a physician’s personality can affect how well they diagnose depression.
The University of Rochester study found that individual traits influence how, or if, physician inquiries about patient mood.
“Some doctors, due to their personal preferences, traits or attitudes, are loathe to broach sensitive topics such as depression or suicide,” said Paul R. Duberstein, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry at the Medical Center and lead author of an article on the study published online this month by the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
“There is not one right way to do this. A physician does not have to undergo a personality change to ask patients about depression. But physicians should reflect on the possibility that their personal traits might have implications for their approach to the assessment of depression and perhaps other mental health concerns.”
Some physicians, who are reluctant to inquire about depression and suicide or who are unnerved by the inquiry, could use a screening questionnaire, said Duberstein. Some practices should hire mental health specialists.
Treatment for depression often is sought initially from a primary care physician. But inquiries about depression and suicide could challenge a physician, emotionally and intellectually. Primary care physicians also have a limited time frame to collect information about many subjects, including sensitive issues such as depression.
“It is not surprising, therefore, that depression is frequently not diagnosed and physicians often do not inquire about suicidal thoughts,” the article’s authors state.
The researchers analyzed data, audiotapes and medical records from a study in which six actors, all of women were women, were trained to portray a patient with major depression or one with adjustment disorder with depressed mood.
With prior physician consent and the cooperation of health plans, the actor-patients received insurance cards and other paperwork corresponding to their false identities. The meetings with the physicians were taped using concealed tape recorders. The physicians, who were not informed when an actor was a patient, were internal and family medicine specialists in Rochester. In all, 46 physicians with 88 patient visits were studied.
Physicians in the study were characterized along three dimensions: dutifulness, vulnerability and openness to feelings. Dutiful suggests conscientiousness, the tendency to follow through reliably, as in paying bills on time. Vulnerability means anxiousness, the tendency to feel unsettled, moody and under stress. Openness indicates empathy, the capacity to understand the feelings of others.
“Doctors high in dutifulness are more likely to document a depression diagnosis but ask fewer questions about depression. They are no more (or less) likely to ask about suicide than their less dutiful peers,” the researchers report.
“Concern with time-economy could explain why, despite their apparent level of vigilance, they ask fewer questions about depression and are not more likely to inquire about suicide, arguably the most important symptom of depression. Perhaps they believe that asking about suicide will extend the office visit.”
Physicians high in vulnerability were also more likely to document a depression diagnosis.
The research is part of a series of studies of the physician-patient relationship. In one study, Duberstein and other researchers showed that primary care physicians with high levels of openness and average, as opposed to extremely high, levels of conscientiousness are more likely to be trusted by patients.
An article published earlier this year reported that more dutiful physicians engaged in greater exploration of a patient’s psychosocial and life circumstances, but involved the patient less in treatment discussions. Physicians with more anxious vulnerability also involved the patient less.
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