Central New York receives a federal grant to train pediatricians and family physicians to treat child mental health problems.
The grant provides training by psychiatrists to physicians as well as nurses and other medical staff.
Parents have increasing turned to other types of physicians as child psychiatrists are unavailable - there are only a dozen in Central […]

A grand unified theory of YouTube and MySpace from Slate
Paul Boutin over at Slate believes he’s on to something about what makes a popular Web 2.0 site or service succeed over others:

I was skeptical when I heard how huge video-sharing hub YouTube and social-networking hotspot MySpace have become. YouTube claims 40 million plays a day, […]

According to researchers from the Cleveland Clinic and Brown University’s Butler Hospital, deep brain stimulation (DBS) may be the next potentially effective and revolutionary treatment for people with depression.
The study, Deep Brain Stimulation for the Treatment of Intractable Major Depression: Preliminary Results from a Multi-Center Prospective Trial, was conducted in six patients, four females […]

Despite Conflicts, Drug Judges Continue to Vote Yea or Nay
The bad news: the FDA doesn’t care that professionals may have ties to the industries or drugs they’re asked to consult about.
The good news: it doesn’t matter, as the outcome of FDA review meetings would be the same if you removed those unscrupulous professionals from the […]

Bipolar Disorder and the Brain is a look at neuroscience research and bipolar disorders. The Society for Neuroscience publishes a monthly newsletter called Brain Briefings aimed at highlighting neuroscience for the layperson. Sign up for free copies in the mail, and have a look at the archives on their web site.
Bipolar Disorder and the Brain […]

The U.S. House of Representatives has overwhelmingly passed an amendment (H.R. 609) that allows child and adolescent mental health professionals to be eligible for loan forgiveness.
NAMI (National Association for the Mentally Ill) applauds that move but says much more is needed to address the shortage of child mental health professionals.
They’re advocating The Child […]

As prisons become mental hospitals, this has major implications. Mind Hacks reports on executions of psychotic prisoners:
US Judge Wayne Salvant has ordered that Steven Kenneth Staley, a death-row inmate who is so severely mentally ill as to be unable to comprehend his situation, can be forcibly medicated so he can be executed while mentally competent.
A […]

Women fret about their bodies every 15 minutes
These results are not suprising, as we’ve long known that women have more body image issues than men do. It is the reason that eating disorders are largely a women’s issue, and it is the reason that many women have such poor self-esteem (constantly reinforced by stereotypical media […]

Stress may cause depression
While not untrue in terms that stress can indeed contribute to the cause (or be the primary) cause of depression in some individuals, drug treatments affecting this issue are many years away. In the meantime, there are dozens of stress relieving strategies one can do in one’s life to help relieve stress. […]

Dr. Tom Ferguson has passed away. A man I’ve known for many years, I met Tom back in the early 1990’s because we were both thinking about how the Internet was changing the roles of doctor and patient. Dr. Tom Ferguson (”DocTom”) and I met when he contacted me about a book he was writing […]

The SAMHSA Resource Center to Address Discrimination and Stigma Associated With Mental Illness invites you to participate in a free online training teleconference titled, “Self-disclosure: The Public and Personal Effects of Revealing Mental Health Problems” on Thursday, April 27 from 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM (Eastern Daylight Time).
To participate, please complete the online registration form. […]

The National Institute of Mental Health reports that the use of stimulants for children with ADHD has not increased significantly in recent years, in contrast to popular opinion about over-prescription.
Although there was an increase between 1987 and 1997, rising from 0.6% to 2.7%, by 2002 the estimated use was only 2.9%. The rate was highest […]