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Recent Mental Health News
Short-Term
Psychodynamic Therapy Found Effective in Several Disorders
Psychiatric News story - " Effect sizes were significant
for a wide range of psychiatric conditions including
depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, and personality
disorders, among others. A meta-analysis of more than
30 years of randomized controlled trials of short-term
psychodynamic psychotherapy (STPP) found it effective
for treatment of psychiatric disorders. Short-term psychodynamic
psychotherapy produced statistically significant pretreatment-posttreatment
effect sizes for target problems, general psychiatric
symptoms, and social functioning. The effect sizes were
stable and tended to increase at follow-up, according
to a report of the study in the December 2004 Archives
of General Psychiatry."
Bipolar
Patients Say Depression More Disabling Than Mania
Psychiatric News story - " When treating bipolar
patients, clinicians may focus more on manic than depressive
symptoms, but a new study suggests that it is time for
that focus to shift. In bipolar patients both manic
and depressive episodes take their toll, of course,
but a large new population-based study finds that the
depressive phases are far more disabling on several
key dimensions than are the manic phases. Among bipolar
illness patients, depressive symptoms caused more serious
disruptions in occupational, family, and social functioning?findings,
researchers emphasized, that point to a need for strategies
that will lead to enhanced recognition and treatment
of bipolar disorder."
Mental
Health Screening Will Save Lives
Page at the NAMI web site - "Our nation simply
cannot afford to continue to fail our youth with mental
disorders who need treatment. The tragic consequences
of our failure to identify youth through early assessment
and to intervene with appropriate mental health treatment
and services are well documented..." See also NAMI's
recently adopted position paper on mental health screening.
Intellect
linked to suicide risk
BBC story - "Intelligent young men are less likely
to take their own lives than others, researchers suggest.
Young men who scored low on intelligence tests were
two to three times more likely to commit suicide, the
Swedish-UK team found. They followed nearly a million
18-year-old men, consigned to serve in the military,
for up to 26 years. The researchers told the British
Medical Journal that problems in childhood might be
an underlying cause. "
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