mental health in the headlines
Week of June 22, 2009
Mental Health America' Mental Health in the Headlines offers summaries of the latest news and views in the mental health field. Coverage of news items in this publication does not represent Mental Health America' support for or opposition to the stories summarized or the views they express. For information on Mental Health America' initiatives and policy positions, visit our website at www.mentalhealthamerica.net.
Mental Health America is the new name of the National Mental Health Association. For more information, visit our new website at www.mentalhealthamerica.net.
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*DID YOU KNOW?
A recent study shows that accommodating OCD behavior may trigger more serious symptoms, but therapy may help in reversing that...more
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*TODAY’S NEWS
On Health Care, Obama Tries to Seize the Moment:Few in the Obama administration would have predicted late last year that they would be this well positioned by June to achieve a major victory on health care. As the economy faltered, and attention focused on Wall Street and Detroit, it seemed unthinkable that Congress would be ready to devote the summer of 2009 to the costly proposition of providing health coverage for all. But five months after the inauguration, health care dominates the domestic agenda on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. Any package that emerges will preserve the country’s private insurance system, at least for now. It could nonetheless bring sweeping changes, requiring that everyone be insured, creating a government health plan to compete with commercial carriers and perhaps taxing employer-provided health benefits. (New York Times, 6/19/09)
Doctors signal they'll work with Obama:The nation's largest group of doctors began their annual meeting as a potential obstacle to President Obama's health care overhaul. After a big pep talk from Obama himself, they ended it Wednesday by signaling they won't close the door on one of his key proposals, a public health insurance plan to compete with private insurers. While the Obama administration would have preferred a strong endorsement, the vote by American Medical Association doctors is a victory of sorts for the White House and the group will continue to be a player in the health care reform efforts. The AMA is known to be a conservative bunch and has clashed with previous administrations' attempts to shape health policy. The group acted Wednesday in its typically cautious fashion on the health care reform effort, heeding concerns of its most conservative members while indicating it wants to be a team player and work with Obama. But critics say it missed a chance to go bolder and signal clear support for the public plan concept. (Associated Press; Yahoo.com, 6/17/09)
Latest Research
Study Shows Possible Link Between Deaths and ADHD Drugs:Children taking stimulant drugs such as Ritalin to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder are several times as likely to suffer sudden, unexplained death as children who are not taking such drugs, according to a study published yesterday that was funded by the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institute of Mental Health. While the numbers involved in the study were very small and researchers stopped short of suggesting a cause and effect, the study is the first to rigorously demonstrate a rare but worrisome connection between ADHD drugs and sudden death among children. In doing so, the research adds to the evolving puzzle parents and doctors face in deciding whether to treat children with medication. (Washington Post, 6/16/09)
Well-meaning parents may be worsening their children's OCD:A recent study shows that accommodating OCD behavior may trigger more serious symptoms, but therapy may help in reversing that. In the study, which appears in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 49 children aged 6 to 18 with OCD took part in 14 sessions of family-based cognitive-behavioral therapy with their parents. In those sessions, emphasis was placed on helping parents reduce "family accommodation," or trying to relieve the anxiety by offering comfort, giving the child objects, or even doing tasks like homework. The therapy also included exposure-response prevention, a method of treatment based on the idea that by facing their fears and realizing they're baseless, people will eventually stop their behaviors as they find better ways to cope. (LA Times, 6/17/09)
Report on Gene for Depression Is Now Faulted: The 2003 finding of a single gene determining a person’s likelihood for depression has not held up to scientific scrutiny, researchers reported. The original finding created a sensation among scientists and the public because it offered the first specific, plausible explanation of why some people bounce back after a stressful life event while others plunge into lasting despair. The new report, by several of the most prominent researchers in the field, does not imply that interactions between genes and life experience are trivial; they are almost certainly fundamental, experts agree. But it does suggest that nailing down those factors in a precise way is far more difficult than scientists believed even a few years ago, and that the original finding could have been due to chance. (New York Times, 6/16/09)
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MentaMental Health in the Headlines is produced weekly by the Mental Health America. Mental Health America´s Mental Health in the Headlines staff: Ken Chamberlain, writer and editor; Holly Seltzer, senior editor; and Bridget Toland, media and publications assistant. Other staff include Julio Fonseca, director of training for Healthcare Reform, and Heather Cobb, senior director of Media Relations.
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