Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of April 13, 2009
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's support for or opposition to the stories summarized or the views they express.
*DID YOU KNOW?
Chronic stress from growing up poor appears to have a direct impact on the brain, impairing working memory...more
*TODAY’S NEWS
States Cutting Social Safety Nets
A large majority of states are cutting their social safety nets, which are hurting preventive efforts that could save money over time. Although the stimulus package is helping to prevent some cuts, that funding is only offsetting about 40 percent of the total loses in state revenues. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington research group, reports that programs for vulnerable populations have been cut in at least 34 states. The cuts in services could cause individuals to become sicker or suffer injuries, requiring greater long-term costs. (The New York Times, 4/12/09)
Juvenile Justice Bill Up For Renewal
The federal program that funds delinquency prevention programs is up for renewal in Congress. Although the program provides protections for children who end up in custody, these safeguards have been whittled away by the sentencing of more children to adult jails. A Senate bill to reauthorize these programs takes a different approach. It strengthens protections for young people who end up in adult lockups, and it would stop penalizing states that wisely house in juvenile facilities some children convicted in adult courts. The bill encourages states to use community-based counseling and family intervention programs and calls for better screening and treatment of children with mental health needs. (The New York Times, 4/10/09)
Secret Recording Charges Army Doctors Pressured Not To Diagnose PTSD
A secret recording reveals the Army may be pushing its medical staff not to diagnose Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and brain injuries. According to an Army psychologist, the Army is pushing to have soldiers diagnosed with anxiety disorders instead. A diagnosis of PTSD might keep soldiers from being redeployed and increase costs for long-term disability payments. (Salon.com, 4/10/09)
Health Reform Office Official; HHS Will Have Similar Post
President Obama has officially created the new White House Office of Health Reform. An executive order signed last week assigned the office the work of expanding and improving health coverage in America. The office will have responsibility for coordinating with all relevant executive branch agencies, reaching out to state and local officials, working with Congress to enact health reform legislation and overseeing implementation of any eventual policy changes. The executive order also gives Health and Human Services Secretary-designate Kathleen Sebelius the power to create a comparable office in that department. The office will apparently give Sebelius a presence at the negotiating table and avert any tensions that might develop between the department and the White House. (The Washington Post; Politico, 4/9/09)
China To Overhaul Health Care
China plans to expand medical insurance and build thousands of hospitals and clinics over three years, the first steps in a 10-year plan to repair its health care system. The $120 billion first phase will by 2011 give every village a medical clinic and every county at least one hospital. Subsidies for insurance premiums will extend at least basic coverage to 90 percent or more of China's 1.3 billion people within three years. Public health care in China has been underfunded for years, and the high cost and poor availability of services have fueled discontent among the Chinese public. (Associated Press, 4/9/09)
Americans Not Filling Drug Prescriptions
The current economic recession is causing more Americans to forego their drug prescriptions, according to a market research report. The health information company Wolters Kluwer Health reports that U.S. patients failed to fill nearly 7 percent of the brand-name prescriptions their doctors requested in the 2008 fourth quarter, a 22 percent increase from the first quarter of 2007. Patients also abandoned prescriptions for generic drugs, failing to fill 4.7 percent of generic prescriptions. Higher co-payments required under health-insurance plans and other plan features helped boost the number of patients unwilling to pay for their prescriptions, according to the research. (Wall Street Journal, 4/9/09)
Latest Research
Study Links Childhood Poverty With Underachievement: Chronic stress from growing up poor appears to have a direct impact on the brain, impairing working memory, researchers at Cornell University in New York report that The 14-year study of 195 children from households both above and below the poverty line found that chronic stress played a major role in their cognitive development. The study suggests that greater proportion a child in a family spent in poverty, the poorer their working memory, and that link is largely explained by this chronic physiologic stress. The findings have implications for education where stress at home may have to be included as a factor in teachers' efforts to help underachieving children. (The Washington Post, 4/6/09)
Mental Health Problems in Childhood May Predict Later Suicide Attempts: Most males who commit suicide or need hospital care for suicide attempts during their teen or early adult years appear to have high levels of psychiatric problems at age 8, according to a new report. In a birth-cohort study, 78 percent of males who made serious, life-threatening suicide attempts had emotional and conduct problems at age 8, Finnish researchers said. However, the same was not true for girls, they reported in the April issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry. (Reuters, 4/07/09)
*Mental Health America MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
“When you are in the state’s custody, you are entitled constitutionally to safety, and it is clear that Georgia has not done that in our state hospitals,” said Cynthia Wainscott, former national chairwoman of Mental Health America. “And this [Yates’ death] is one more example.” Saleevan Adan had already been charged with killing two people, including his cellmate at the DeKalb County Jail, before he was sent back to Central State Hospital for a mental evaluation this year. He was charged with killing fellow patient Christopher Yates. Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Mentally ill felons a threat to each other,” April 12, 2009
According to Mental Health America, one in four adults will experience a serious mental disturbance in his or her lifetime. Statistics show the majority of people who are mentally ill do not commit violence, and that the majority of people who commit violent crimes are not mentally ill. Yet mental illness comes with a stigma in our culture that is costly, unhealthy and wrong. Charlotte Observer, “A public stigma with a high, hurtful price,” April 9, 2009
Stay Up to Date With More News, Views and Tools
- Register Today for Mental Health America’s Centennial Conference, June 10-13, 2009 in Washington, D.C. For information about speakers, the agenda and how to register, visit www.mentalhealthamerica.net/go/conference
- Mental Health America’s 2009 Media Awards to honor excellence in reporting of mental health issues
- Survey reveals obstacles to health care for people who have schizophrenia
- New report reveals link between states’ depression status and access to treatment
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- Check out previous issues of Mental Health in the Headlines
Mental Health in the Headlines is produced weekly by Mental Health America. Mental Health America's Mental Health in the Headlines staff: Steve Vetzner, senior director, Media Relation and Sarah Jones, communications coordinator.
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