A proposed bill would bring marriage and family therapists and licensed counselors under Medicare’s coverage.

The proposal has drawn strong opposition from the American Psychiatric Association, which says it would waste government money by increasing spending for marriage counseling or family troubles without improving care for more serious problems like schizophrenia.

“These are the wrong services to cover at the wrong time. There’s a huge resource issue,” says Tom Leibfried, the association’s lobbyist. “Congress is finding it hard to provide new money for services, and the first thing to fund would not be these.”

Sen. Craig Thomas, R-WY, introduced the proposal, which has become an amendment to legislation designed to cut federal spending by $36 billion over 10 years. The legislation passed the Senate last week, but it would have to survive negotiations with the House before being sent to President Bush.

Cholesterol-lowering drugs may help to delay the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, the leading cause of dementia in the elderly, French scientists said on Thursday.

In a three-year study involving 342 Alzheimer’s patients, they found that the illness did not develop as quickly in sufferers with high cholesterol levels who were given statins as in patients not taking the drugs.

Professor Florence Pasquier, of the University Hospital in Lille, France, said the drugs “may slow cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease and have a neuroprotective effect.”

Nearly 130 patients in the study had high cholesterol levels. About half were given statins while the remainder did not receive any treatment.

The findings, which are reported in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, support the results of other human and animal studies which have suggested that high cholesterol levels may play a role in the progression of Alzheimer’s.

SCIENTISTS may have found a gene for fear – a gene that controls production of a protein in the region of the brain linked with fearful responses.

Their finding, published today, could lead to new treatments for mental disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder and generalised anxiety.
The gene, known as stathmin or oncoprotein 18, is highly concentrated in the amygdala, a region of the brain associated with fear and anxiety, the researchers report in today’s issue of the journal Cell.

“This is a major advance in the field of learning and memory that will allow for a better understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder, phobias, borderline personality disorder and other human anxiety diseases,” said Gleb Shumyatsky of Rutgers University in New Jersey, who worked on the study.

MRI scans used to pick up brain tumours could detect early schizophrenia in young adults, suggests a new study.

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) found they were able to detect the unique brain characteristics of individuals suffering from schizophrenia using the scans, which are normally used to diagnose strokes and tumours.

Schizophrenic is one of the most severe mental disorders, typically developing in the late teens or early twenties.

The team, led by Dr Christos Davatzikos, found brain scans were 83 per cent accurate in detecting the early brain characteristics of schizophrenia sufferers.

EMPLOYERS will be required to provide a mentally friendly working environment and patients with serious psychological disorders may receive free hospitalization, according to a draft of the nation’s first mental health law, experts said yesterday.

The draft will be completed by the end of this year. It will then be sent to the State Council and the National People’s Congress. The law is expected to be enacted before 2008.

According to Xie Bin, vice president of the Shanghai Mental Health Center and a member of the legislative team, each industry may determine the requirements for creating a mentally favorable environment. This includes providing paid holidays and giving care to employees through associations such as a trade union or women’s federation.

“Improving the overall mental quality of the public is an important task of this law,” said Xie. “In addition to treating patients, we want to help people prevent and control mental problems.”

Experts said the law focuses on patients’ rights, reducing social prejudices and improving overall mental health.

Antisocial behavior in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be associated with a variant gene involved in brain signaling, British researchers report.

This variant of the “catechol O-methyltransferase” (COMT) gene may also increase a child’s susceptibility to the effects of lower birth weight, the study said.

Researchers at Cardiff University in Wales looked for the COMT variant in 240 children, ages 5 to 14, with ADHD who were at high risk for early onset antisocial behavior.

The study found a significant association between the COMT variant and antisocial behavior and between birth weight and antisocial behavior.

The researchers also concluded that interaction between this COMT variant and low birth weight could be associated with antisocial behavior.

Like war veterans and survivors of disasters, dogs and cats also can suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Katrina survivors who are reunited with their pets may notice such signs of stress and anxiety as breaking housetraining or pottying outside the litter box, barking or meowing more than usual for no apparent reason, hiding and sometimes aggression. In addition, dogs may pant, pace or lose weight.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) urges parents and other caregivers to pay special attention to children’s mental health needs as the nation continues recovery and rebuilding efforts following Hurricane Katrina. The AAP has placed a listing of resources on its Web site at http://www.aap.org that address the physical and emotional needs of children. Children who have been displaced by the flood face many losses such as the loss of home, familiar surroundings, a supportive school or daycare community, peers, prized possessions, and potentially, loved ones.

Studies conducted after the events of September 11 showed that mental health needs among children were widespread and persistent — but often went unrecognized, and in the majority of cases, untreated. Because of children’s developmental limitations, they are often unable to express their needs directly or clearly. They rely on adults to help them identify and express their concerns, to help them access supportive services, to model appropriate coping behaviors, and to provide a supportive environment so they can begin to understand and adjust to the crisis.

The AAP urges parents and caregivers to remember that if children receive support, they may emerge from a crisis more capable and resilient. Without such support, though, children are more likely to have difficulty adjusting, and risk long-term problems.

Mental health care isn’t just for humans anymore. Mental Health and Well-being in Animals, published this month by Blackwell Publishing, is the first textbook to be written on mental health in animals. Recent research has now clearly shown that psychological and emotional issues once believed important only for people-happiness, stress management, the mind-body connection, emotional suffering, mental illness, emotional abuse, and mental cruelty — are experienced by animals. With writings by the world’s leading authorities in the fields of animal emotion research, animal behavior, cognitive science, neuroscience, and veterinary medicine, this landmark textbook ushers in a new era of animal care and establishes mental health as a bona fide field of animal health care.

Expressive writing, the art of putting individual thought and feeling on paper, has long been known to improve health and speed recovery. Now, a new study finds this effect may be influenced by the writer’s mental state at the time of writing.

The U.S. study included 86 college undergraduates whose parents were divorced. The students were divided into two groups after an interview in which they first described their feelings about the divorce.

One group was told to write for a total of 60 minutes about their thoughts and feelings about their parents’ divorce. The other group of “controls” was told to write for a total of 60 minutes about a less emotional issue, time management.

Following the exercise, the participants’ physical and mental health were measured by the researchers.

The research team found that both groups reaped cognitive and psychological benefits from the exercise, including lowered levels of stress and improved memory.

The key may lie in the pre-test interview: the researchers believe that, regardless of what they were writing about, talking about their parents divorce “primed” the participants to better process their emotions, even if they were writing about a non-emotional issue (time management).

“These results show that the effects of [emotional] expression are not fixed, but rather are dependent on the writer’s mental context at the time,” study lead researcher Louise Sundararajan, a psychologist at Rochester Psychiatric Center, said in a prepared statement.

I’m curious to read about more on this.

Family therapy, where parents are included in treatment sessions, is an effective therapy for conduct disorders and substance abuse in children and teens, according to a review examining 10 years worth of research.

The review authors also concluded that family therapy helps reduce behavior problems associated with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and also shows promise in treating anxiety and depression.

Military veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder received good news Sunday when Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed a bill that requires insurance companies in Illinois to cover treatment for the condition.

Addressing hundreds of veterans during the Illinois State Fair’s Veterans Day, Blagojevich announced that the legislation, which is effective immediately, will help military veterans grappling with the chronic mental-health condition that results from experiencing or witnessing life-threatening events, including military combat and terrorist incidents.

“Post-traumatic stress disorder is a terrible condition that hurts thousands of veterans in Illinois. It’s a disorder that makes it hard for them to work, take care of their families or function fully in society,” Blagojevich said in a statement. “Our veterans put their lives on the line defending this country. It’s our duty to help them get the treatment they need.”

The legislation, initiated by Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, expands the list of mental illnesses that insurance companies must cover to include post-traumatic stress disorder. The law applies to providers that are required to cover treatment services for serious mental illnesses.

Guarding against misuse of employee blogs is the latest challenge for human resource departments.

Anecdotal evidence abounds on personal Web sites, called blogs, getting employees in trouble with employers. But what happens when an employee opens the employer up to lawsuits, industrial espionage or just bad publicity?

“It’s a fertile area for potential liability these days,” said Michael Karpeles, a principal at Chicago-based Goldberg Kohn Bell, Black, Rosenbloom and Mortz Ltd.

Virtual reality has been used for years to help treat people with various phobias and fears. Now, the technology is being used by therapists to treat post traumatic stress in military personnel before the disorder disrupts their lives and careers.

For Pfc. Joshua Frey, the war in Iraq is all too real.

“I’m just very blessed I got to come home and tell my story,” Frey said.

The Marine Corps machine gunner has quite a story to tell. Last November, Frey and his team were attacked by insurgents as they cleared a house during the fight for Fallujah.

“That’s when my friend Dickinson was hit three times in the head with 762 rounds,” Frey said.

Frey ran inside to get his friend out. That’s when he said he was hit.

“I went in there (and) came out the back. Half my scapula was (taken) out. I can’t use my arm at all,” Frey said.

Frey received a Purple Heart for his shattered arm, but the loss of his friend shattered his world.

Evergreen Park’s move to shut nursing homes to mentally ill and drug-addicted patients may violate federal law.

The ordinance, passed July 18, bars any nursing home in the community from taking new patients with mental illness, drug addiction or aggressive or antisocial behavior.

“I don’t see how that could at all be lawful,” said Michael Seng, executive director of the Fair Housing Clinic of John Marshall Law School.