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Binging on Sugar Weakens Memory, UCLA Study Shows - May 18, 2012
Eating too much sugar can make us forgetful and potentially cause permanent brain damage, a new study that provides clues into how commonly consumed foods impact mental health has shown. 7 2 1 Eating too much sugar can make us forgetful and potentially cause permanent brain damage, a new study that provides clues into how commonly consumed foods impact mental health has shown....

Head Hits During a Single Season May Affect Learning, Memory - May 18, 2012
Although the focus recently has been on the cognitive effects of concussions, this study determined what happens to athletes who regularly get hit in the head but don't get concussed....

Overcoming the Fear of Making Mistakes - May 17, 2012
"Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people." This is a famous quote from Anne Lamott in her book Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Intuitively, we know that perfectionism is unrealistic and restrictive, a tyrant that steals success. In fact, there are many sayings and experts that stress the importance of making mistakes for creating and achieving great things....

Psychiatry manual panel drops plan to add 2 diagnoses - May 14, 2012
In a rare step, doctors on a panel revising psychiatry's influential diagnostic manual have backed away from two controversial proposals that would have expanded the number of people identified as having psychotic or depressive disorders....

Opponents step up campaign against Rotenberg Center - May 11, 2012
Critics of the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Canton have stepped up their campaign to stop the school's controversial skin-shock therapy, including disseminating a graphic video showing the school's "aversive therapy'' being administered to a teenager and handing a 215,000-signature petition Wednesday to Massachusetts lawmakers....

BODY DYSMORPHIC DISORDER - STRUGGLING WITH A DISTORTED BODY IMAGE - May 8, 2012
Most people look in the mirror and see themselves, but those with severe body image issues perceive their appearance in a manner that is entirely different from reality. People suffering from Body dysmorphic disorder face a constant inner struggle with the way they look. ...

New name for PTSD could mean less stigma - May 7, 2012
It has been called shell shock, battle fatigue, soldier's heart and, most recently, post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Now, military officers and psychiatrists are embroiled in a heated debate over whether to change the name of a condition as old as combat. ...

May is Mental Health Month: Do more for 1 In 4 - May 7, 2012
May is recognized as national Mental Health Month and Tri-County Services is calling on the community to help the 1 in 4 American adults who live with a diagnosable, treatable mental health condition and understand how important mental health is to overall health. "We want people to know that while mental health and substance use conditions are common, they are extremely treatable and individuals go on to recover and lead full and productive lives," said Cindy Sill Executive Director of Tri-County Services....

Psych Patients Need Patience in the ER, Wait on Average 11 Hours - May 2, 2012
Patients having psychiatric emergencies wait 11.5 hours in the emergency department, and those who are older, uninsured or intoxicated wait even longer, according to a study published online yesterday in Annals of Emergency Medicine ("Patient and Practice-Related Determinants of Emergency Department Length of Stay for Patients with Psychiatric Illness" http://bit.ly/IjQBbg ). Overall, these patients wait approximately 42 percent longer in the ER than other emergency patients. ...

Largest Medicare fraud takedown includes 4 EMS, 2 home health care operators - May 2, 2012
Nearly 100 suspects tied to more than $450 million in phony Medicare billings in Houston and six other cities were arrested Wednesday morning in what is believed to be the largest health care fraud takedown in U.S. history. ...

Medical Monday: May is Mental Health Month - May 1, 2012
One in four American adults live with a diagnosable, treatable mental health condition. And more people die from suicide in the United States than from traffic accidents or homicides. May is Mental Health Month, an initiative to help increase the number of people who will talk to their doctor or a mental health professional about their concern. ...

Houston-area clinics raided for alleged Medicare fraud - April 30, 2012
FBI agents did not let up on Thursday, following early morning raids at three Houston-area psychiatric clinics. The raids happened simultaneously just before 5 a.m. and workers said they caught them off guard. "I have no idea what they're looking for, what they're doing," employee Joyce Sheley said....

VA mental health system puts numbers ahead of helping vets, according to testimony - April 27, 2012
One manager's directions to the staff was to focus only on the immediate reason for an appointment and not to ask the veteran about any other problems, because "we don't want to know or we'll have to treat it," according to Tolentino....

Mind Body Connection the Focus of Cutting-Edge Longevity Now Conference 2012 Led by Nutrition, Wellness and Health Authority, David Wolfe - April 27, 2012
Thirteen-hundred health enthusiasts from around the world will gather at The Longevity Now Conference at the Orange County Hilton in Costa Mesa, CA. The conference will be held on Friday, May 18th through Sunday, May 20th and will examine the latest health and wellness advances specifically related to Mind Body Connection....

How to Stop Comparing Yourself to Others - April 25, 2012
As a psychiatrist, I realize that comparing is a natural tendency we all have. It can be absolutely neutral, as when you merely evaluate similarities and differences. Such comparison is essential for astute reasoning. It's also productive if you're inspired to emulate another's impressive traits. However, it becomes dysfunctional when it stirs envy and jealousy, if you judge yourself as better as or less than others. Think about it: Without comparisons, jealousy and envy couldn't exist. Interestingly, it's more common to feel inferior to those with "more" than to feel grateful compared to those with "less."...

Baby Boomers' Defining Characteristics Could Help Them Redefine Aging in America - April 25, 2012
While it's true that aging boomers will impact our communities' resources and the programs and services that provide necessary support to older Americans, it's also important to recognize that some of the defining characteristics of this generation should serve them well throughout their retirement years. Boomers should take heart knowing that what makes their generation unique could make their senior years healthier and more enjoyable than they might expect them to be. ...

Mental Health Month Raises Awareness of Trauma and Impact on Children, Families, Communities; New Approaches to Treatment - April 24, 2012
For May is Mental Health Month, Mental Health America is raising awareness of trauma, the devastating impact it has on physical, emotional, and mental well-being, and how therapeutic techniques based in neuroscience can mitigate these effects and create dramatic changes in people's lives....

New method to measure work addiction - April 24, 2012
The Bergen Work Addiction Scale is presented in an article in the renowned Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. By testing themselves with the scale, people can find out their degree of work addiction: non-addicted, mildly addicted or workaholic, Andreassen explains....

Laughter and The Big C: Why Yucking It Up Helps You Feel Better - April 24, 2012
While there isn't any current scientific proof to support the claim that laughter can cure cancer or any other disease, there is mounting evidence that there are real physical and mental benefits to yucking it up....

Oberlin social worker honored for her work in training psychiatric service dogs - April 18, 2012
She focused her attention on training psychiatric service dogs for those who need them. Clients who needed to tackle issues such as compulsive overeating were hooked up with shelter dogs that were carefully trained to interrupt negative behavior. And those who suffered debilitating nightmares were paired with dogs trained to respond to flailing arms and moans with doggy paws and kisses....

Many Psychiatric Symptoms May Result From Lyme Disease, Says Joseph Annibali, M.D. From Amen Clinics - April 18, 2012
Undetected, Lyme disease takes hold and hides in the nervous system, especially in the brain, causing havoc to cognitive functions, often going diagnosed and treated incorrectly, says Joseph Annibali, M.D., chief psychiatrist at Amen Clinics in Reston, Virginia, close to Washington, DC....

How to Stop a Bully - April 17, 2012
Part of the problem, experts say, is that we throw anti-bullying rhetoric and policies (and pledges and statues and rallies) around like confetti, but we don't address the larger cultural issues that allow bullying to take root. "We struggle in this country to get social and emotional learning the same attention, time, and effort as academics," Novick said. "And there's social exclusion and bullying among adults, so to expect that kids will be better at this than grown-ups are is downright foolish."...

Lifestyle dictates how well we age - April 17, 2012
They live longer, but the debate goes on whether they are healthier or not. It is like the tale of two generations in one. Our stereotype of the generation is like most stereotypes, usually misleading. We think of the boomers as the same folks who went to college in the late '60s and projected an image of rebelliousness and social consciousness. While this generation did acquire more education than any previous, not everyone went to college, and not all became the health conscious, socially and environmentally aware folks that describe the icon the current media might portray....

TEXTING BOOSTS YOUR HAPPINESS - April 16, 2012
Texting on mobile phones often gets bad press - but new research has shown that sending and receiving text messages can actually improve your mood if you're depressed. ...

Dementia a 'ticking time bomb,' says study - April 16, 2012
The number of people suffering dementia -- estimated to be in the tens of millions and growing rapidly -- amounts to a "ticking time bomb" that needs to be addressed before it is too late, according to a new study co-authored by the World Health Organization. The study "Dementia: A Public Health Priority" estimates that a new case of dementia is diagnosed somewhere around the world every four seconds. ...

Autism research may be about to bear fruit - April 13, 2012
More than $1 billion has been spent over the past decade researching autism. In some ways, the search for its causes looks like a long-running fishing expedition, with a focus on everything from genetics to the age of the father, the weight of the mother, and how close a child lives to a freeway. That perception may soon change. Some in the field say they are seeing the beginning of a wave of scientific reports that should strengthen some theories, jettison others and perhaps even herald new drugs....

U.S. ends investigation of conditions at psychiatric hospital - April 13, 2012
The U.S. Justice Department has closed its investigation into conditions at Ancora Psychiatric Hospital, a facility federal officials once called a dangerous place where patients were subject to "serious, recurrent and frequent harm."...

A fifth of adolescents experience auditory hallucinations - April 13, 2012
Researchers in Ireland have found that hearing voices, known as auditory hallucinations, can affect more than 20 per cent of young adolescents. In most cases the auditory hallucinations stop with time, but children who continue to hear voices could be at risk of mental illness or behavioural disorders....

Self-Compassion, a Better Motivator than Self-Criticism - April 9, 2012
In a nation founded on the incredibly dogged and persistent work ethic, laziness is seriously frowned upon. Accepting our mistakes and treating ourselves with the same care and grace we show to a friend may seem quite frightening because if we do, won't we eventually start making excuses and not giving things our all? The answer is no. Research on self-compassion reveals that offering care and nurturing to ourselves when we make mistakes, embarrass ourselves, or come short of a goal we were hoping to achieve actually gives us motivation to try again. ...

DNA sequencing consortium unveils patterns of mutations in autism - April 6, 2012
It has long been recognized that autism runs in families, suggesting a substantial genetic component to the disease. Yet few genes have so far been identified and the underlying genetic architecture of autism -- that is, how many genes contribute and to what extent they influence a person's chances of developing the disorder -- remains poorly understood....

Exercise makes you think - April 4, 2012
One of the key figures leading the charge in this field is John J Ratey, Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. "To keep our brains at peak performance our bodies need to work hard," he says in his book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain....

Tricare to close online mental health program - April 2, 2012
The Tricare Assistance Program for behavioral health counseling is being shut down due to lack of use, Tricare officials said Friday. The $3 million demonstration program, launched in August 2009, was designed to test use of Web-based video conferencing for mental health counseling....

Utah has nation's highest autism rate, CDC report says - March 30, 2012
One out of 47 Utah children have been identified as having an autism spectrum disorder, the highest rate in the country, according to new data released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention....

New Study Shows Sitting Is Killing, So Stand! - March 30, 2012
Looking for the motivation to get off of the couch and get moving? A new study just released finds those who spend 11 or more hours a day sitting are 40 percent more likely to die over the next three years regardless of how physically active they are otherwise, researchers say....

10 Signs Your Young Child Might Have Autism - March 29, 2012
Once again we're devoting this blog to bring you information on children and mental health in recognition of the upcoming National Children's Mental Health Week. Today, we're posting information from Dr. Rebecca Landa, director of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Md., who says that parents need to be empowered to identify the warning signs of ASD and other communication delays: ...

Meditation Improves Emotional Behaviors in Teachers - March 29, 2012
Schoolteachers who underwent a short but intensive program of meditation were less depressed, anxious or stressed -- and more compassionate and aware of others' feelings, according to a UCSF-led study that blended ancient meditation practices with the most current scientific methods for regulating emotions....

Philadelphia to Host Conference for Women Living With Metastatic Breast Cancer - March 28, 2012
Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC) has announced it will host its annual conference for women with metastatic breast cancer at the Loews Hotel in Philadelphia on Saturday, April 28 and Sunday, April 29, 2012. This event, now entering its sixth year promoting the theme Enhancing Your Health and Quality of Life, is designed to address the unique challenges faced by women diagnosed with metastatic disease, their families and their caregivers. Breast cancer is considered metastatic (often referred to as Stage IV) when it spreads from the breast to other parts of the body, such as the lungs, bones, liver or brain. ...

Health & Safety Human Resources CMS Demonstration Project Will Allow Reimbursement for Emergencies - March 27, 2012
The Medicaid Emergency Psychiatric Demonstration will test whether Medicaid enrollees who are experiencing a psychiatric emergency receive better care when the institutions treating them receive Medicaid reimbursement. Historically, federal law has prohibited Medicaid from paying for mental disease services provided to Medicaid enrollees between the ages of 21 and 64, CMS said....

Physical exercise and music can both improve brain health - March 27, 2012
une focused on her experience with their residents who have memory impairment. She has seen personally how exercise has helped these people almost immediately. The aerobic activity helps because of the increased circulation to the brain. The coordination required for exercise promotes additional mental stimulation....

What's the matter with 20-somethings? - March 26, 2012
According to psychologist Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, who's quoted in the article, young adults are going through a new stage of development called "emerging adulthood" that's similar to adolescence. They're not just putting off big financial milestones because they're forced to, he says. They're doing it so they can find themselves before they have to buckle down. ...

Program uses 4-legged therapist to reach kids - March 26, 2012
The hospital is one of the few places in central Indiana using therapy dogs to help in the treatment of behavioral and mental-health problems. For many patients dealing with depression, addiction or anxiety, the healing process becomes easier by having a canine support system during sessions....

Denver Woman Accused of Faking PTSD to Dodge Jury Duty - March 23, 2012
Susan Cole, 57, arrived for jury selection in June looking purposefully disheveled, wearing curlers in her hair and mismatched shoes, according to an affidavit obtained by the Denver Post. Cole reportedly told Denver District Court Judge Anne Mansfield she "broke out of domestic violence in the military" and had "a lot of repercussions," including PTSD....

Warning: violent video games cause aggressive behaviour, claims bill - March 22, 2012
A bill has been submitted to the House of Representatives in the US calling for warning labels to be placed on video games. Representatives Joe Baca and Frank Wolf want their warning to be placed on the packaging of any video game that is rated 'T' (Teen) or higher by the Electronics Software Ratings Board. ...

Deep brain stimulation studied for depression, other disorders - March 21, 2012
Used to treat movement disorders since the late 1990s, deep brain stimulation involves implanting electrodes into the brain through which electrical impulses are sent to block or modify the firing of the neurons that cause the problems. The amount of stimulation is externally controlled by a pulse generator, a pacemaker-like device placed under the patient's skin in the upper chest. ...

Parkview program treats traumatic brain injuries - March 21, 2012
The Brain Injury Association of America has declared March to be Brain Injury Awareness month. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 52,000 people die annually from brain injury and 275,000 hospitalizations result from such injuries in the United States....

Guzzling energy drinks but more tired than ever? - March 20, 2012
"Guys create an up-and-down trap with energy drinks and with whatever they take at night to help slow down," says Matthew Edlund, M.D., author of The Power of Rest. "They never feel completely rested." Or, even scarier, they end up on a gurney in the ER. Hospital visits related to energy drinks have surged more than tenfold since 2005, reports the U.S. Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality. And most of those amped-up patients are men....

Yesterday's Top Army Psychiatrist Ponders Today's Mental-Health Army Ills - March 20, 2012
I would like to offer one thought: 10 years of beastly conflict has scarred all of us. There are no good and bad guys – just a lot of fallout from this long and difficult conflict. Most of us are doing the best we can. ...

The doctor who broke up families: Psychiatrist who damned hundreds as 'unfit parents' faces GMC probe - March 19, 2012
A leading psychiatrist faces extraordinary claims he deliberately misdiagnosed parents with mental disorders – decisions which meant their children were taken away from them. Dr George Hibbert faces being struck off over his conclusions that hundreds had 'personality disorders' after assessing them at his private family centre. ...

A psychiatrist tells the truth -- it's OK not to be 'normal' - March 16, 2012
The American Psychiatric Association invented the term "ADHD" in 1980 to give kids with hyperactivity, impulsivity, short attention span and easy distractibility a diagnosis. Who would have thought that 28 years later, the National Center for Health Statistics would report that over 5 million American kids (8 percent) between the ages of 3-17 would receive this diagnosis? That's 1 out of 12, with about half of those on medication. ...

Menopause fog? It's real, but not what you think - March 16, 2012
A new study published this week in the journal Menopause makes a start at finding answers to those questions, and leaves many more still to be explored. It finds that when menopausal women complain of memory problems, they are most likely having trouble with two specific cognitive skills: maintaining their focus -- especially on tasks that are complex or tedious -- and holding short bits of information -- say, a telephone number or a shopping list -- in memory for less than a few minutes....

Early classes may be linked to better grades - March 15, 2012
According to a recent study, students who enroll in morning classes tend to get better grades than their classmates in afternoon classes. Serge Onyper and Pamela Thacer, psychology professors at St. Lawrence University, determined students with later class times sleep for longer periods in the morning, but they also have more freedom at night to engage in behaviors that are harmful to their academic careers. "Those who elect earlier classes may be more motivated to find ways to offset the early start time by making healthier choices about their daily living," Thacer said....

Research shows regular exercise improves mental health - March 15, 2012
Jeffery has hit on an undeniable truth about physical activity: whether it's attending football practice (which, in Jeffery's case with the B.C. Touch Football League, includes sprint drills and running patterns), riding your bike to work, going to the gym, or hiking trails, regular exercise does wonders for your mental health....

Maine one of 11 states to test expanded access to emergency psychiatric care - March 14, 2012
According to a CMS press release, "this new demonstration will help ensure patients receive appropriate, high quality care when they need it most and save states money," said CMS Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner....

How well does your brain handle emotions? - March 12, 2012
How do you react when your flight gets cancelled, when your boss chews you out for missing a deadline, or when you find out your ex is dating someone else? Do you lash out in anger, curl up into a fetal position, or take it in stride?...

Control your Kids in Front of the T.V. - March 12, 2012
It is not a problem spending hours in front the television. However, the problem surges when this habit brings about social passivity, that is, not spending one's leisure time by doing more active activities....

45.9 Million Americans Suffered From Mental Illness Last Year - March 9, 2012
Over 11 million people in the country suffer from a severe form of mental health problem, which is defined as symptoms resulting in "substantial impairment in carrying out major life activities." About 8.7 million people had serious thoughts of suicide; 2.5 million made plans to kill themselves and 1.1 million attempted suicide. ...

Victory against psychoanalysis - March 9, 2012
Thousands of families have struggled for months or even years with their children in psychiatric hospitals or with psychiatrists, complaining that their children were kept in a state of "psychosis" and were not taught how to communicate. Those who refused to enter their child into the psychiatric facility were often sued for neglect. ...

Mexico teen prodigy is a psychologist at 17 - March 8, 2012
The director of child psychology at the Center for the Attention to Talent is a child himself: 17-year-old Andrew Almazan, a prodigy who was reading Shakespeare and Cervantes at age 6....

Build your stress fitness - March 7, 2012
You can't avoid stress, but there is much you can do to help build resilience to the toxic pressures of everyday life....

Loneliness 'can kill you', scientists say - March 7, 2012
John Cacioppo, a neuroscientist at the University of Chicago in Illinois, presented his latest research at the Social Psychology and Perception meeting in San Diego recently, discussing his findings that there is a direct biological link between being lonely and ill health....

Snoring, mouth-breathing tots more likely to develop behavioral problems - March 6, 2012
Snoring has been tied to many health problems in adults, including obesity, sleep apnea, and a higher risk for heart disease. But according to a new study, snoring may also be problematic for kids' mental health....

Exercise your brain to enhance memory, prevent mind lapses - March 6, 2012
It's on the tip of your tongue, but you just can't quite recall the reason you ran upstairs, or the name of the person walking toward you, or the answer to the history test question that you reviewed endlessly last night....

SAD season: Short, cold days of 'winter blues' can morph into major depression - March 5, 2012
During the winter months, when the sun rarely warms the skin, moods can turn sour. Even in Memphis, where the winters, including this year's season, are fairly mild, people can come down with the "winter blues." Along with the shorter days and the grayer skies, they put on weight or feel run down, irritable and socially withdrawn. Those who start feeling the inner storm clouds roll in at the end of each autumn could be suffering from seasonal depression, also known as seasonal affective disorder....

Why You Should Care That New Eating Disorders Might Make The DSM-V - February 29, 2012
When most people hear 'eating disorder,' they think anorexia or bulimia. But there are lots of different types of disordered eating-binge eating, compulsive night eating, obsessively health-conscious eating-and psychiatrists may officially recognize several 'new' eating disorders in the upcoming Diagnostic and Statistic manual. ...

How Changes To Autism's Definition Could Affect Millions In School Funding - February 27, 2012
A panel of experts at the American Psychiatric Association have been drafting the changes for the past decade. Once formally published next year, the revised definition will likely reduce the number of people who can receive a formal diagnosis for autism. The question Brenda - and thousands of others in the autism community - are asking is, 'How much narrower will the new definition be?' ...

RESEARCHERS SEE DIFFERENCES IN AUTISM BRAIN DEVELOPMENT AS EARLY AS SIX MONTHS - February 21, 2012
"These results offer promise that we may one day be able to identify infants at risk for autism before the behavioral symptoms are present," says study co-author Geri Dawson, Ph.D., Autism Speaks chief science officer. "The goal," she adds, "is to intervene as early as possible to prevent or reduce the onset of disabling symptoms." One promising area of follow-up research is to identify the specific genetic and biological mechanisms behind the observed differences in brain development. ...

New approach could ease personality disorders - February 21, 2012
Nearly one in 10 Americans suffers from a personality disorder, a group of disabling conditions characterized by serious, sometimes catastrophic, problems with relationships and work. Behavioral features can vary widely, from pervasive disregard for the law and the rights of others (antisocial personality disorder) to extreme mood instability (borderline personality disorder)....

Tired of Feeling Bad? The New Science of Feelings Can Help - February 20, 2012
If you believe most pop psychology, you probably assume that most of us react to life events in just about the same way-there is a grieving process, a sequence of events when we fall in love, a standard response to being jilted. But these one-size-fits-all assumptions are not true....

Do Rich People Live Longer?: Wealthier people do live longer, but the reason isn't as obvious as it seems - February 20, 2012
he longest-running longitudinal study of health, run by George Vaillant, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, found education to be one of the biggest determinants of longevity, along with behavioral factors--excessive drinkers were more likely to die young, for example. Out of the 500-plus Harvard students and inner-city Boston men the study has followed since 1937, the Harvard students lived an average of 10 years longer than the inner-city men, says Vaillant. In fact, 3 in 10 of the Harvard students lived to 90, compared to the 3 to 5 percent one would expect from that age group....

It's possible to teach an old brain new tricks - February 20, 2012
While the brain once was thought incapable of change into adulthood, increasingly, research is demonstrating our potential for brain plasticity throughout our lives. The brain's ability to remodel itself based on learning and new experiences is vital for long-term memory. Plasticity is also the basis for patients experiencing brain injury or stroke to be able to relearn tasks such as talking or writing. Through therapy and practice, the brain can recruit new areas and new pathways to help restore function. Age-related cognitive decline might be delayed or prevented by increased mental activity, such as learning and problem-solving, thereby increasing the number and strength of connections in the brain, called brain reserve. Brain plasticity can contribute to disease as well. Evidence indicates that changes in plasticity might be involved in chronic pain syndromes; neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Huntington's disease; and in some psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety disorder, anorexia nervosa, bulimia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Scientific evidence strongly suggests that frequent experience with addictive substances, including alcohol, narcotics, cocaine, sugar and fat, causes lasting changes in brain circuitry, which might explain why these addictions are so difficult to conquer. ...

A Specialists' Debate on Autism Has Many Worried Observers - February 20, 2012
A debate among medical professionals over how to define autism has spilled over into the public domain, stirring anger and fear among many parents and advocates of those with the neurological disorder, even as some argue that the diagnosis has been too loosely applied....

New study confirms it: Nurturing moms may help boost their child's brain development - February 15, 2012
"It is to our knowledge the first study that links early maternal nurturance to the structural development of a key brain region," said study author Dr. Joan Luby, a professor of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. "It provides very powerful evidence of the importance of early nurturing for healthy brain development and has tremendous public health implications."...

Just say "no" to kids - February 13, 2012
Ken Callis, a child psychologist with a Cape Girardeau practice, says kids need to hear "no." Callis argues that "In life, they're going to hear the word no. On the job, in relationships. They're going to have to deal with disappointment and setbacks. They need to hear no when they're growing up so they can handle the ups and downs of adulthood....

Autism experts to gather at USC symposium - February 13, 2012
USC faculty and community experts are slated to convene on March 9 at the USC Occupational Science Symposium to share research and perspectives on autism and autism spectrum disorders with an audience of university colleagues and students, health professionals and public advocates....

Doctors' Honesty Put to the Test - February 13, 2012
Survey Finds Some Doctors Are Not Truthful About Patients' Prognoses and Are Unwilling to Disclose Mistakes for Fear of Lawsuits...

Hospital exec charged in $116 million Medicare scam - February 10, 2012
Mohammad Khan, 63, is identified in the indictment as an administrator "who managed and controlled the day-to-day operations of the hospital's (clinics)," where he is accused of also plying supposed patients with cigarettes, food and coupons redeemable at the hospital's "country stores" in order to entice them to therapy....

Psychologists highlight pitfalls of online dating - February 8, 2012
Single people have more options than ever before, as websites such as Match.com and eHarmony have dramatically widened the pool of potential dating partners. But that may have a downside. According to a new review of online dating written by a team of psychologists from around the country, dating websites may warp a person's outlook and expectations in ways that can actually lower the chances of building a successful relationship....

Fun and Play Are Key to Survival for Bears, Dogs, Humans, Birds and Maybe Even Ants - February 6, 2012
Play gives a brain the experience and thus the courage to search outside the box, he says, - to try out new ways of doing things in an unpredictable world that constantly keeps presenting new kinds of menacing problems and obstacles to survival....

Some Depression Patients Find The Effects Of Magnetic Therapy Really Stick - February 6, 2012
Some patients who struggle with depression say a new alternative treatment called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) therapy is doing the work that a prescription anti-depressant cannot do alone. NY1's Health reporter Kafi Drexel filed the following report....

One Out of Five Americans Found to Be Mentally Ill - January 30, 2012
Nearly 50 million Americans suffered from one or another form of mental illness in 2010, according to a report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA), a federal government agency founded in 1992 to survey and reduce the impact of substance abuse and mental illness on communities throughout the country. ...

Should Grief Be Considered A Disorder? - January 30, 2012
If you're grieving over the loss of a loved one, is that normal? Or should it be diagnosed as depression? That's the controversy over a proposed change to the medical diagnosis of depression that would characterize grieving as a disorder and greatly increase the number of people treated for it, reports the New York Times. ...

Mental Illness Affects 1 In 5 Americans - January 24, 2012
According to criteria specified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association [APA], 1994), mental illness amongst adults above the age of 18 is defined as having had a diagnosable mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder, excluding developmental and substance use disorders. Figures from The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA) National Survey on Drug Use and Health show that during the past year 11.4 million adults, representing 5% of the adult population, suffered from serious mental illness. Serious mental illness is defined as seriously impairing a person's functionality, meaning a substantial interference or limitation of one or more life activities. ...

Perspective: Narrowing Autism Definition Will Cost More, Later - January 24, 2012
This cost-sharing arrangement will change radically if the American Psychiatric Association adopts a proposed new definition of autism that – a recent Yale estimate suggests – will exclude vast numbers of school children now diagnosed on the autism spectrum. Overnight, the number of individuals diagnosed with autism will fall by half, and the steady upsurge in numbers will turn into a dramatic decline. We will have "solved" the autism epidemic and helped school budgets, not by finding a cure, but by perpetrating a definitional slight of hand....

When memory fails to serve - January 23, 2012
Memory loss is serious for many seniors. It can be a sign of dementia, and the most common cause of dementia is Alzheimer's disease, a condition treated best when it's diagnosed early. Half of those 85 and older have Alzheimer's, including about 15,000 in Berks County and more than 5 million nationwide, according to the Alzheimer's Association. The disease is fatal, destroying the mind as it creeps from the top of the brain down to the brain stem. ...

New definition of autism could deny government aid and services - January 23, 2012
A new definition of autism could dramatically reduce the number of people diagnosed with the disorder, and deny government funding and educational services. The American Psychiatric Association's proposal would narrow the diagnosis criteria, and require patients to show three deficits in social interaction and two repetitive behaviors. ...

Recreational Play Can Be Far More Important Than Academics - January 17, 2012
We're cutting traditional after-school activities to make time for academic ones, but the role of play in development shouldn't be forgotten....

Combo Of Bright Lights, Exercise May Help Stomp Out SAD - January 17, 2012
"We wanted to enhance the effects of exercise, so we had the idea of using bright light therapy, which is actually a proven therapy for seasonal affective disorder, or 'SAD,' which is the winter blues or depression among many people around this time of year," says NYSC exercise physiologist Martica Heaner. The class, aptly titled "Lighten Up," is split up into 30 minutes of high- to low-intensity cardio and 30 minutes of stretching, meditation and breathing exercises in front of light boxes designed to mimic all the natural sunlight one is missing when it is darker and colder outside. ...

In schools, self-esteem boosting is losing favor to rigor, finer-tuned praise - January 17, 2012
Now, an increasing number of teachers are weaning themselves from what some call empty praise. Drawing on psychology and brain research, these educators aim to articulate a more precise, and scientific, vocabulary for praise that will push children to work through mistakes and take on more challenging assignments. Consider teacher Shar Hellie's new approach in Montgomery County....

Are Americans less stressed? - January 17, 2012
The average stress level in 2011 was 5.2 on a 10-point scale, down from 6.2 in 2007, according to the survey by the American Psychological Association. But that doesn't mean we're not feeling stressed -- 39 percent of those surveyed said their stress rose last year; 17 percent said it dropped; and 44 percent said it stayed the same. ...

U.S. wants $145 million from N.J. over contested Medicaid bills - January 16, 2012
Auditors with the federal government say the New Jersey owes the U.S. $145 million for incorrectly billed Medicaid services. Garden State officials dispute the charges, but service providers are worried....

Study: Johns Hopkins researchers ID brain-protecting protein - January 10, 2012
Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered a novel protein that can protect brain cells by interrupting a naturally occurring "stress cascade" resulting in cell death. The scientists say that drugs mimicking the protein, nicknamed GOSPEL, have the potential to protect brain cells against a range of neurodegenerative conditions, including stroke and Alzheimer's and Huntington's diseases....

For Kids With ADHD, Some Foods May Complement Treatment - January 10, 2012
"When [elimination] diets fail, parents can feel they've failed," says Linda Brauer, coordinator of the Grand Rapids chapter of the advocacy group Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. She remembers feeling guilty when her son's symptoms did not improve. But now she says the science is on her side. A review paper published today in the journal Pediatrics evaluated the evidence from many studies on this topic. And it concludes that changing a child's diet is usually not enough to effectively treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder....

Foregiveness can bring peace - January 9, 2012
Forgiveness is a universal theme in both the spiritual and religious life. Every spiritual tradition recognizes the necessity to let go of past suffering and betrayal, and find a way to release the burden of pain and hate that we carry. ...

Talking Can Be Good for What Ails You - January 9, 2012
Talking to a skilled mental health professional can be a powerful and therapeutic experience. The ancient Greeks knew this as early as 4 B.C. Today, therapists agree that talk therapy is critically important in treating most emotional disorders. About one in five who experience emotional distress will benefit from talk therapy....

El Paso doctor gets 25 years for fraud - January 9, 2012
An El Paso psychiatrist has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for participating in a fraudulent health-care benefit program billing scheme. Senior U.S. District Judge David Briones handed down the sentence this morning for Dr. Anthony Francis Valdez, who has been in custody since his conviction by a federal court jury in July....

Experts urge BMI method for calculating weight in kids with eating disorders - January 6, 2012
An exact determination of expected body weight for adolescents based on age, height and gender is critical for diagnosis and management of eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia. However, there are no clear guidelines regarding the appropriate method for calculating this weight in children with such disorders. In a study to be published online Jan. 4, 2012, in the journal Pediatrics, researchers from the University of Chicago, the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Rochester Medical Center compared three common methods for calculating expected body weight of adolescents with eating disorders and found that the body mass index (BMI) percentile method is recommended for clinical and research purposes....

NEW STUDIES DISMISS LINK BETWEEN VIDEO GAMES AND YOUTH CRIME - January 6, 2012
A host of respected researchers and government authorities, including the U.S. Supreme Court, examined claims of a causal link between violent video game content and real-life violence and determined that existing research provides no evidence to support this argument, ESA has reported. ...

5 Mental Health Pro Trends We Hope To See For 2012 - January 6, 2012
More or Less? Here's our take on a few mental health professional trends we'd like to see in 2012:...

Beauty ads make women feel bad about themselves : Did 'ashamed ' prof make the whole study up? - January 3, 2012
The topic was important for the advertising business: Do women feel bad about themselves when they see ads for beauty and fashion products? Professor of psychology at Tilburg University Dr Diederik Stapel published a study on the topic - and concluded that women who saw fashion or beauty products in ads had lower self-esteem than women who viewed the same items in a non-advertising setting....

Local experts share tips on making, keeping resolutions - January 3, 2012
Last January, Time magazine had a story about the Top 10 commonly broken New Year's resolutions. Five of them were health-related resolutions. So The Columbian took those common health and fitness resolutions to the pros. We consulted with local experts and compiled a list of tips to help goal-setters stick to their resolutions....

New Year's resolutions can set you free - December 29, 2011
Each year, 40 percent of Americans make one or more resolutions. Of those, only 46 percent actually keep their resolution after six months. Research has shown that while a lot of people break their resolutions, making them is still useful. In fact, people who make a resolution are ten times more likely to attain their goals over those who don't. (Source: Auld Lang Syne: Success Predictors, chance process & self-reported outcomes of new year's resolvers and non resolvers, by John C Norcross, Marci S Mrykalo, Matthew D Blagys, University of Scranton, Journal of Clinical Psychology, volume 58, issue 4 (2002), John Norcross co-author, Changing for Good. ...

Some Experts Worried Over Revised Autism Guidelines - December 28, 2011
In May 2013, the American Psychiatric Association will release a new, revised set of guidelines for diagnosing someone with autism spectrum disorder. And some experts don't think this is a good idea. ...

Elderly Can Be As Fast as Young in Some Brain Tasks - December 28, 2011
"Many people think that it is just natural for older people's brains to slow down as they age, but we're finding that isn't always true," said Roger Ratcliff, professor of psychology at Ohio State University and co-author of the studies....

Are New Year's resolutions harmful to your health? - December 28, 2011
One reason is many people approach making New Year's resolutions as a way to motivate themselves. They subconsciously believe that the New Year presents some sort of magic momentum for change - as if a flip of the calendar can make everything in their life right. However, if a person isn't ready to consciously change negative habits, it won't matter - committing to huge life changes well before you are mentally, emotionally and physically ready is likely to lead to failure and disappointment. It may also explain the high failure rate associated with making New Year's resolutions. ...

Why we make bad decisions - December 28, 2011
In his new book "Situations Matter: Understanding How Context Transforms Your World," author Sam Sommers, an associate professor of psychology at Tufts University, looks at what context can teach us about everything from test questions to romantic partners to career choices. Sommers offers a fascinating glimpse into the way our most important judgments are framed by the world around us....

Do today's classrooms stifle creativity? - December 27, 2011
Teachers say they like creative kids. Most say that devoting time to the promotion of creative thinking in the classroom is important. But there seems to be a disconnect between theory and practice is the finding of a study published in the Creativity Research Journal by professors of psychology Erik Westby and V.L. Dawson. From the report: "One of the most consistent findings in educational studies of creativity has been that teachers dislike personality traits associated with creativity."...

How 'overlooked' middle children triumph in the end - December 27, 2011
But middle children are more likely to grow up to become successful and well-adjusted adults, a study has claimed. Far from being apathetic or withdrawn, researchers found that a middle child's place in the family helps them develop negotiation and communication skills. ...

Feeling down? Maybe you need more light - December 27, 2011
Seasonal Affective Disorder is a type of depression that strikes some people when the days are short and exposure to natural light is limited. If you routinely feel depressed in the winter but good in the summer, you may have the disorder....

The holiday blues is a phenomenon affecting many people annually; health professionals advocate available resources - December 27, 2011
The holiday season, ideally, evokes images of festive gatherings with family and friends. For some, however, major holidays such as Christmas and New Year's can signal the beginning of an annual descent into anxiety, isolation and depression, and even thoughts of suicide....

Parents' stressful lives taking a toll on kids - December 21, 2011
"Stress is highly contagious," says David Code, an Episcopal minister and author of Kids Pick Up on Everything: How Parental Stress is Toxic to Kids. "Parental stress can weaken the development of a child's brain or immune system, increasing the risk of allergies, obesity, or mental disorders."...

Living with an attitude of gratitude - December 20, 2011
And the research also showed that people who focused on gratitude slept longer and had more restful sleep than those in the other groups. This is more beneficial than you may think, as sleep research proves that adequate restful sleep is a necessary ingredient for good health. Taking time to focus on what you are grateful for was also shown to increase feelings of connectedness with others. This is an especially wonderful feeling to engender and cultivate at Christmas....

Give yourself the gift of a healthier you - December 20, 2011
Perhaps it's time to assemble a list of gifts you can give yourself to create a healthier you. ...

After Drugs and Dark Times, Helping Others to Stand Back Up - December 20, 2011
"I started talking to myself, out loud; that's one of my coping strategies, and one reason I relapsed is I had forgotten to use those," said Mr. Lambert, 41, a mental health educator who has a combined diagnosis - mood disorder with drug addiction - that is among the scariest in psychiatry. He texted a friend, someone who knew his history and could help talk him back down. And he checked himself into a hospital. "I know when it's time to reach out for help."...

Blue Cross change concerns patient advocates for autistic children - December 20, 2011
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota will begin dropping coverage in most cases for a costly therapy for autistic children as early as Jan. 1 - a change that has patient advocates worried about losing coverage through a key state program, too. The Eagan-based health insurer said Monday that the coverage change will be phased in over next year and affect about 200 children who have been receiving a treatment known as early intensive behavioral intervention. The treatment cost averages about $80,000 per year. ...

After 29 years at the mall, this Santa has heard it all - December 19, 2011
Imagine Royal-Memorial Stadium filled up 2½ times with little kids. That's how many children 250,000 that Carl Anderson figures have sat in his lap during his 29 years as a mall Santa. So Anderson has heard it all. And he's learned that when kids are asking for presents, you'd better listen closely....

Working Mothers Generally Healthier Than Stay-At-Home Moms - December 19, 2011
Mothers with jobs tend to be healthier and happier than moms who stay at home during their children's infancy and pre-school years, according to a new study published by the American Psychological Association....

Human Lie Detector Paul Ekman Decodes The Faces Of Depression, Terrorism, And Joy - December 19, 2011
Expert humans or face-reading machines could have saved thousands of lives on 9/11 by detecting the emotional states of hijackers. They would have triggered detainments, says San Francisco-based psychologist Paul Ekman. But they weren't being used....

It's time to stop the bigoted attacks on left-handed people - December 19, 2011
The headline was sad but not surprising: "The Health Risks of Being Left-Handed: Lefties Face Chance Of ADHD, Other Disorders; Brain Wiring Holds Clues." The article, published in the prestigious Wall Street Journal, cites "research" which claims that left-handed people – called "lefties" by epithet-flinging bigots in the right-handed majority – aren't quite as good as right-handed people....

Volunteer Mental Health Professionals Give More Than $4.6 million in Free Services to Military Community Through Give an Hour™ - December 19, 2011
Give an Hour™, a national nonprofit organization providing free mental health services to members of the military, veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, their loved ones, and their communities announces that that its network of licensed mental health professionals has given more than 46,000 hours of free services....

Despite Fears, 'Mental Health Parity' Law Has Not Caused Drop in Coverage - December 12, 2011
Despite fears that a 2008 law requiring employers to cover mental health care and addiction treatment as broadly as medical health care would backfire and cause employers to drop coverage altogether, a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) suggests that "mental health parity" legislation has benefited American employees on the whole, cutting costs for those who need treatment and reducing limits on care. ...

How perfectionism stole Christmas - December 12, 2011
The word "perfection" should be changed to "purefiction."...

6 Money Mistakes Couples Make - December 12, 2011
Money and marriage may go together like a horse and carriage, but don't put the cart before the horse. Or buy one without talking to your spouse. ...

People still sleep as much as they did a decade ago - December 12, 2011
Australian researchers have found people still get about eight hours of sleep a night, roughly the same amount as a decade ago. ...

Risk Factors for Recurrence of Depression - December 12, 2011
Depression is a common mental health disorder that negatively affects daily functioning and quality of life. Unfortunately, depression is often a recurrent disorder. Current treatment guidelines are based on clinical features of the disease, but new evidence points to sociodemographic and psychosocial characteristics that influence the severity and prognosis of depression....

Dementia risk up in patients with depression, diabetes - December 12, 2011
Patients with diabetes who have comorbid depression are at increased risk for developing dementia compared with those with diabetes alone, study results indicate. ...

Exchanging Christmas Gifts with Family Members: How to Reduce the Angst - December 9, 2011
I adore the Christmas season (the decorating, the cookie baking, the holiday cards). Yet I often dread the present part. And I know I'm not alone. "Holiday gifts are sometimes a joy on both ends - the giving and the receiving," says child psychiatrist Elizabeth Berger, author of Raising Kids with Character. "But sometimes they are a headache and a waste of money to boot." ...

ASHP: Thyroid Test Overused in Psych Admissions - December 9, 2011
Screening for thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) is done often and unnecessarily when patients are admitted for psychiatric evaluation, a researcher said here....

Look Out, Kids: Competitiveness Peaks in Middle Age - December 5, 2011
New research finds middle-aged men are most willing to engage in competitive risk-taking....

New Details on Teen Sexting Revealed in Study and Advice from Child Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Jellinek - December 5, 2011
Conducted by researchers from the University of New Hampshire Crimes Against Children Research Center in Durham, the study surveyed internet users between the ages of 10 and 17 about whether they've ever created, sent, or delivered sexually explicit images or videos either through their mobile phones or the internet in the past year. The results showered that only 2.5 percent of respondents admitted to sexting and only 1 percent admitted that their activities included actual nudity that would be considered to be child pornography. ...

5 signs your child is too busy - December 5, 2011
"Parents feel remiss that they're not being good parents if their kids aren't in all kinds of activities," wrote Alvin Rosenfeld, M.D., a child psychiatrist and author of The Over-Scheduled Child: Avoiding the Hyper-Parenting Trap said in a recent Psychology Today article. "Children are under pressure to achieve, to be competitive. I know sixth-graders who are already working on their resumes so they'll have an edge when they apply for college."...

Why Creative Types May Be More Likely to Cheat - November 29, 2011
Creative people think "outside the box," a gift of psychological flexibility that, it turns out, may also apply to their ethics, according to the latest research from the American Psychological Association. Creative types, in other words, may be more likely to cheat. ...

Your parenting strategy may be working against you - November 29, 2011
Your kid's having another meltdown. What are you going to do? New research says time-outs or other punishments won't make the bad behavior stop in the long run. Neither will nagging, endless explaining, or yelling....

Young at Heart – Depression and Cardiovascular Mortality in Young Adults - November 21, 2011
For one of the first times, a new epidemiological study, published in the November issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, examines the risk of heart disease and depression in a younger age group....

Vail Valley Voices: Suicide devastates entire families - November 21, 2011
Each day in the U.S. approximately 90 people take their own lives, leaving behind loved ones to struggle with the loss, grief and all of those questions that begin with "Why?" ...

Brat gene found - November 18, 2011
Scientists may well have found what mothers have suspected exists for a long time - a gene for brattiness. ...

New Study Suggests Treating Sleep Apnea and Alzheimer's Can Really be as Easy as Side Sleeping, Says Rematee - November 18, 2011
A new study by the American Psychiatric Association of Psychiatric Services suggest a connection between sleep apnea and the worsening of certain psychiatric conditions, such as Alzheimer's disease. Rematee is a company with a viable solution to sleep apnea-side sleeping....

Alleged Fake Psychologist Charged in Nassau - November 17, 2011
A Los Angeles woman has been accused of falsely presenting herself as a psychologist, treating patients and billing an insurance company, despite not having a license to practice medicine....

Child Psychiatrist: talking with your kids about tough material is teaching moment - November 17, 2011
Instead of turning off the TV when tough material -- like the Penn State story -- comes on, Chayer believes this can be a teaching moment....

Weber State study: Not all teens take risks - November 16, 2011
"We've been selling them short," said Leigh Shaw, Weber State University associate professor of psychology, who conducted a new study with department head Eric Amsel. "Certain groups of teens are more thoughtful than we have given them credit for before, and have reasons to engage or not engage in risky behavior."...

On Your Mind: Why adult siblings fight at family get-togethers and what you can do about it - November 16, 2011
How would you like to feel 12 years old again, with no effort required? Visit your family of origin over the holidays. Walking through the door of your parents' or grandparents' home is almost like stepping into a time machine. ...

How children's 'play' is being sneakily redefined - November 16, 2011
* Children should have plenty of opportunities to play. * Even young children have too few such opportunities these days, particularly in school settings. These two propositions - both of them indisputable and important - have been offered many times.[1] The second one in particular reflects the "cult of rigor" at the center of corporate-style school reform. Its devastating impact can be mapped horizontally (with test preparation displacing more valuable activities at every age level) as well as vertically (with pressures being pushed down to the youngest grades, resulting in developmentally inappropriate instruction). ...

Computer gamers' brains 'differ' - November 16, 2011
The brains of people who regularly play computer games differ from those of infrequent gamers, research suggests....

Paying attention to the signs of ADD - November 16, 2011
Both ADD (attention deficit disorder) and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) are thought to be primarily biological, brain-based conditions that are characterized by poor attention and/or hyperactive and impulsive behaviours. Because these symptoms typically present first in childhood, ADD/ADHD are two of the most common behavioural disorders diagnosed in children today....

A Revised Version Of This Handbook Could Lead To An Onslaught Of Disability Lawsuits - November 16, 2011
The DSM, which will be updated for the first time since 1994, has altered definitions of several notable disorders, in some cases lowering the thresholds for what is considered an illness. Members of the Society for Humanistic Psychology are worried that these new definitions could lead to unwanted and unwarranted protections in the workplace. ...

At age 102, this therapist is still psyched - November 15, 2011
Hedda Bolgar's job just doesn't get old. Seeing patients four days a week, the 102-year-old psychologist and psychoanalyst also trains new therapists and has scheduled lectures well into next year....

Can You Train Your Brain for Healthy Behavior? - November 14, 2011
When it comes to our pursuit to live healthier, happier, more meaningful lives, the Web offers us an unprecedented number of resources to aid us on our quest. From expert advice and health tips to low-calorie recipes and yoga poses, nearly all information in recorded history is now accessible within just a few clicks. Have you noticed that this seeming avalanche of resources has not produced the utopia everyone once predicted? How is it that so many of us continue to struggle to achieve that quintessential life? Obviously, knowing what to do is not the problem. So, what is the answer?...

The Neuroscience of 'Genuine' Love – And What Love Quotes Say! - November 14, 2011
Everyone has ideas about love; for human beings, it is a lifelong reoccupation. Love between life partners is unique in that, across cultures, nothing drives otherwise normal human beings to do crazy things than the quest to realize a love connection in their love relationship. ...

INLAND: Parents of autistic children sought for relaxation study - November 10, 2011
Helping reduce stress in parents of children with autism and other developmental disabilities is the focus of an upcoming study at Loma Linda University....

Case Shatters Penn State's 'Happy Valley' Image - November 10, 2011
For nearly half a century, Penn State football had been the model for how to run a successful - and clean - college sports program. And coach Joe Paterno has been its fatherly leader, revered in all quarters not only for winning games but for doing so with integrity. ...

Can You Meditate Your Way to Better Mental Health? - November 9, 2011
Those who practice meditation tout the benefits of this practice, but is there any truth to the idea that meditation can influence one's psychological health?...

New study suggests autism starts in the womb - November 9, 2011
Children with autism have many more brain cells than typically developing children, researchers have found, supporting previous research that suggests that autism may be caused by something going awry before a baby is born as opposed to something triggering autism in a toddler....

Shining a Bright Light Into Ears Can Beat Winter Blues, Scientists Claim - November 9, 2011
Researchers from the University of Oulu said that the human brain is as sensitive to light as the eyes, making it possible to treat SAD with a headset that beams light, rather than music, into the ears. ...

Brentwood-based Vanguard to pay $2 million in whistleblower fraud lawsuit - November 9, 2011
U.S. Attorney Jerry Martin said Tuesday that the settlement with Vanguard Healthcare is the just the latest case in an ongoing effort to detect fraud and abuse in federally funded health care programs....

Light up your life to battle SAD - November 9, 2011
I will start by saying while you may think you have SAD, this disorder, just as any other, can only be diagnosed by a medical professional such as your family doctor or a psychiatrist. Psychiatrists and other doctors use a manual published by the American Psychiatric Association, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The DSM lists specific criteria that must be met to diagnose specific illnesses....

NEW STUDY LINKS EATING DISORDERS WITH BRAIN MALFUNCTION - November 8, 2011
New research has linked anorexia and bulimia to a brain malfunction, which means drugs to treat the eating disorders could be on the horizon. Considering that eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, this could be big news....

The Neuroscience of Why Gratitude Makes Us Healthier - November 7, 2011
But consider this: Negative attitudes are bad for you. And gratitude, it turns out, makes you happier and healthier. If you invest in a way of seeing the world that is mean and frustrated, you're going to get a world that is, well, more mean and frustrating. But if you can find any authentic reason to give thanks, anything that is going right with the world or your life, and put your attention there, then statistics say you're going to be better off. ...

Raising the Good Enough Teen - November 7, 2011
There we sat, a couple hundred parents, many with pen and paper in hand, hoping to hear the answer to the question: How do we and our children survive the teenage years?...

Lifestyle : Are you a person who cannot say no? - November 7, 2011
"Sometimes we all have trouble saying no, which is why there are so many clothes, friends, relatives, engagements, parties and chores hanging around, even though we do not want, like or need them. However, with a little bit of confidence and a whole lot of tact we can free up all that space in our life. Mrs. Virginie Bissessur-Corsini, a clinical psychologist who has been in the practice since five years encourages honesty in this matter. "Say no, but always explain the why behind the no. People take rejection rather harshly, which is why we need to soften our stance with explanations."...

Sleep Like a Baby at Any Age! - November 7, 2011
Research tells us that the amount of sleep we need actually stays relatively the same over our lifetime -- 8 to 8 1/2 hours -- and that uninterrupted, deep sleep contributes to good physical health and emotional well-being at any age. ...

Maternal separation stresses the baby - November 4, 2011
It is standard practice in a hospital setting, particularly among Western cultures, to separate mothers and their newborns. Separation is also common for babies under medical distress or premature babies, who may be placed in an incubator. In addition, the American Academy of Pediatrics specifically recommends against co-sleeping with an infant, due to its association with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS. ...

Judge Axes HIPAA Prosecution of Psychiatrist Accused of Revealing Medical Info for Spite - November 4, 2011
A psychiatrist accused of disclosing information about a patient who was a Virginia state trooper was on trial briefly this week in what could be the first prosecution of a physician for an alleged violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. But a federal judge in Norfolk this morning dismissed all charges against Dr. Richard Alan Kaye, saying that the government had failed to prove its case, reports the Virginian-Pilot. ...

How to Develop and Sharpen Concentration? - November 2, 2011
Man is said to be a social animal, due to his ability to think at higher levels that differentiates him from animals. However, the human mind is known to be the most impetuous organ in our body. In fact, with the ever growing hustle and bustle of life, keeping peace of mind has become a challenge. With so much to do at hand your mind could behave like a spoiled child who starts throwing tantrums at every fascinating thing he sees. I believe there would be very few people who could not only control their mind but master it! Otherwise many people, especially students in their age of adolescence would allow their minds to wander from one task to another in fraction of time....

'Truth effect' explains why misinformation is easily spread - November 2, 2011
"People come to believe certain things are true, even when they don't remember where they read them, even when they read it from an unreliable source, even when they don't remember reading it at all," says Linda Henkel, a professor of psychology at Fairfield University in Connecticut. "Being exposed to things repeatedly makes them become more familiar, which makes them come to mind easily - and that makes us think they're true."...

Ask a psychologist: Most causes of death boil down to lifestyle choices - November 2, 2011
How does psychology play a role? Well, since we know that lifestyle choices are central to health, the next step has been figuring out how to help our brains make healthy decisions. Psychology researchers have discovered that knowing what to do, how to do it, and preparing to do it, make a huge difference whatever "it" is, including making good decisions about our health, and then making them part of our day-to-day behavior....

100 Women Tune in to Suzanne Black's Portrait of How to Build a Future - November 2, 2011
"In these challenging times, we need to reflect on who we say we are, what we say we want and why we do what we do," said Black, who has held executive and leadership positions in banking, management, insurance and real estate and earned accolades, admiration, official and private sector recognition, including an honorary doctorate in letters and a medal during the country's Silver Jubilee. How, she asked the audience, "can I say the best is yet to come" when challenges seem greater than ever before?...

Dutch psychologist admits he made up research data - November 2, 2011
Diederik Stapel, a psychologist working at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, said he had "failed as a scientist" and was ashamed of what he had done, but had been driven to falsifying research by constant pressure to perform. The respected journal Science, which published some of Diederik Stapel's work earlier this year, issued an "expression of concern" editorial in which it said it now had serious concerns about the validity of Stapel's findings....

Autism coverage bill is law - November 2, 2011
Insurance companies will cover screening, diagnosis and treatment of autism disorders. Lawmakers, along with autism activists such as members of Autism Speaks, who attended the bill signing in the Capitol Red Room, had stories of their own about the disorder, which has become evermore prevalent and which have a range of symptoms and behaviors including problems with socialization and even speech as well as repetitive activities or movements. ...

30 Steps to a Life of Excellence - November 1, 2011
Be passionate. It gets no more excellent than this when your life is filled with love and the ability to live out your calling every day. In everything you do, there should be passion. Play hard. Work hard. Stop doing what you hate and start doing what you love. Tend to the fire in your soul and do what turns you on! Yes, it may mean you must quit your job and take a chance. It may mean you must leave security and take a huge risk. Take your passion and run with it. Discover and if necessary, create your niche in life. Be a pioneer if you must. ...

Coping with grief and loss - November 1, 2011
Barbara Okun, a psychologist and clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School, and psychologist Joseph Nowinski proposed recently a five-stage model crisis, unity, upheaval, proposed resolution, and renewal for what they call the "new grief." In the book Saying Goodbye: How Families Can Find Renewal Through Loss, which is co-published by Harvard Health Publications, Okun and Nowinski identify a pattern of grief commonly encountered by families who face the loss of a loved one to protracted and likely terminal illness....

Silly things we do for beauty - November 1, 2011
While living on an all girl's floor I have personally gotten sick of hearing "I am so fat! I mean look at this belly. Oh my gosh, I need to lose weight!!." It's time we put this kind of language to an end girls. As my mom always taught me that people come in all shapes and sizes and beauty is what is on the inside not the outside. As corny as this might sound these are the kinds of cathphrases I keep turning back to when I find myself slipping towards the "oh my gosh I am fat" kind of language. ...

Source found for immune system effects on learning, memory - October 31, 2011
In a study published in the Oct. 26 Journal of Neuroscience, Bilbo's team identifies the source of the learning difficulties and traces it back to the immune system itself....

How to deal with overly competitive people - October 31, 2011
You'll come across overly competitive people in all walks of life, from your weekly six-a-side touch match to the office or boardroom. They have to win at all costs, and those costs can include your own peace of mind. You can avoid them, of course, but that's not always possible. So here's how to identify the ultra-competitive among us, and deal with their antisocial behaviour....

Compassion must start with being tolerant of ourselves - October 31, 2011
We blame ourselves for falling short, for never being enough or living up to what we believe others want from us. We are intolerant of our perceived deficits and failures and we try to hide our resulting shame. Because we fear the discovery of our unsavory parts, we become guarded to protect our dark side....

Toughest Exam Question: What Is the Best Way to Study? - October 26, 2011
Chiefly, testing yourself repeatedly before an exam teaches the brain to retrieve and apply knowledge from memory. The method is more effective than re-reading a textbook, says Jeffrey Karpicke, an assistant professor of psychological sciences at Purdue University. If you are facing a test on the digestive system, he says, practice explaining how it works from start to finish, rather than studying a list of its parts. ...

Want lots of children? It's written all over your face: Women with feminine features more likely to have big brood - October 26, 2011
'We were surprised by the strength of the result between this maternal tendency and hormone levels, as so many social and cultural variables impact on how many children women will have, or will want to have. ...

Why do Halloween fears give thrills for some, chills for others? - October 26, 2011
Do you dread the dead or do you kill for the thrill? There is no purgatory for fear. Being frightened is heaven for some and hell for others....

The Importance of Sports in Kids' Lives - October 26, 2011
"We learned that being part of a sports team requires the three "Ps"… practice, patience, and persistence. The three "Ps" translate into important life lessons you will find useful throughout life. Sports were also a great way to spend time with my family growing up," said Hudak....

Gene variation predicts rate of age-related decline in mental performance, Stanford study - October 26, 2011
A tiny difference in the coding pattern of a single gene significantly affects the rate at which men's intellectual function drops with advancing age, investigators at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System have learned....

10 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Dreams - October 25, 2011
Yet for all our interest, there remains much about dreams and their underpinnings that we simply don't understand - and we're learning a lot more all the time. Here are ten things you probably didn't know about dreams....

Virtual reality helps treat social anxiety - October 25, 2011
They can practice many different situations, such as asking for directions and going on a blind date, 'safely' on the computer. The avatars (virtual people) they meet respond like real people. The University of Amsterdam's clinical psychology department will start using the system officially on Thursday, 27 October 2011....

Anxiety Disorders Are Sharply on the Rise - October 24, 2011
It's getting harder to feel good about life in America. According to data collected by the Census Bureau, the average income of Americans has fallen by almost 10 percent since the beginning of the recession of 2008. Some experts say the financial crisis has been as traumatic and anxiety-producing for millions of Americans as the events of 9/11/2001. While people back then were fearful of another terrorist attack, they are now experiencing profound existential angst about their future....

What Exactly is Stress? What Are Some Fast-Acting Tips to Counter Stress? - October 24, 2011
Stress is a term that has become part of daily language in the 21st century. While stress is not new, it is a term that is used so often that perhaps it might be time to take a closer look at its meaning....

How To Know If You Emotionally Exhaust Others - October 24, 2011
But inevitably, we've all got a bit of vampire in us, especially when we're stressed. So, give yourself a break. It's admirable to admit, "I think I'm draining my spouse. What can I do?" You can't begin to make changes in your life without this type of honesty. The solution is to own up to where you may be draining -- then change the behavior....

How our siblings make us who we are - October 24, 2011
Bruce, thank goodness, made it out alive, Mr. Kluger is keen to assure readers in the introduction of his new book The Sibling Effect: What the Bonds Among Brothers and Sisters Reveal About Us. The anecdote sets up the equal parts memoir and social science book that examines the bond between our sisters and brothers - the longest sustained relationships we have in our lives, whether we like it or not. The author's questionable 1960s act reveals how brothers and sisters will leap to protect their siblings, yet also draw them into the line of fire. It also shows that love and menace are not mutually exclusive - especially when it comes to our brothers and sisters....

For grieving parents, bill offers leave - October 21, 2011
"I want to give a voice to these parents and try to get someone in Washington to listen," said Kluger, who recently traveled to the nation's capital to lobby members of Congress to support a change in the law. He was joined by Kelly Farley, an Illinois father who has lost two babies. Most of the congressional offices they contacted, including several from Arizona, said they would at least consider supporting a bill, Kluger said. ...

Road map to mental illness is being redrawn, reshaping categories and research targets - October 21, 2011
But the American Psychiatry Association is now in the middle of a historic and controversial revision of its bible. The fifth and highly anticipated edition, DSM-5, has sparked dissension among psychiatrists and generated more than 8,000 public comments on topics ranging from sexual- and gender-identity issues and anxiety disorders to mind-body problems. ...

As Brain Changes, So Can IQ - October 20, 2011
"If the finding is true, it could signal environmental factors that are changing the brain and intelligence over a relatively short period," said psychologist Robert Plomin at Kings College in London, who studies the genetics of intelligence and wasn't involved in the research. "That is quite astounding."...

Laughter Delivers A Peace Of Mind To Mental Health Patients - October 19, 2011
Millions of Americans suffer from mental health disorders and problems. With varying degrees of severity, treatment varies from person to person. Some revert to medication immediately thinking this is the route to go. However, sometimes it can be something as simple as humor that can get the job done....

Kids Under 2 Should Not Watch TV, Experts Say - October 19, 2011
Kids under 2 years old should not be in front of the tube, instead they should be encouraged to talk and play, the American Academy of Pediatrics announced today....

This is your brain. This is your brain on gadgets. - October 19, 2011
Just last month, the University of Virginia released a study, published in the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, saying that fast-paced television programs can cause children to perform worse on executive function tasks. Executive function is a set of mental processes that helps connect past experience with present action used for planning, organizing, strategizing, paying attention to and remember details and managing time and space....

4 Adults With Disabilities Found in Squalor in Philadelphia - October 18, 2011
Horrific news out of Philadelphia: On Sunday, four developmentally disabled adults were found chained in the boiler room of an apartment house. The room was only 10 by 15 feet and they were lying in their own excrement. There were buckets in the room and a container of orange juice. ...

Families struggle to get help for mentally ill kids - October 18, 2011
But for parents who notice signs of mental illness in their children, the state of Illinois offers few options. The National Alliance on Mental Illness in 2009 gave Illinois a "D" for mental health services offered. And that was before budget cuts this year ravaged human service programs. ...

Pediatricians Issue Dangerous New Treatment Guidelines For Attention Deficit Disorder - October 18, 2011
The AAP guidelines do take the useful precaution of recommending a first line trial of behavioral interventions in preschool children with stimulants to be used later only for those with moderate to severe symptoms which have not improved after behavior therapy. But experience suggests that these cautions will be widely ignored in busy everyday practice, especially because behavioral approaches are usually unavailable and medication is so highly promoted and readily available....

A Little Knowledge is a Dangerous Thing - October 17, 2011
Back in the days before the Internet, it was rare to know what someone paid for a home, what their income was, what they paid in taxes, or how much they spent on their Christmas shopping. Finances were generally a private concern, discussed only amongst immediate family, if then. People who discussed money were considered uncouth or braggarts....

Parents Behaving Badly - October 17, 2011
Does your heart beat faster when a mom screams at a child in the shopping mall? Or when a dad backseat coaches at a sports practice – or curses or yells instructions during a game? Mine does. But should you and I take action – or, as the old childhood saying goes, should we mind our own beeswax? ...

Poorer Children Turn To Emergency Departments For Psychiatric Care - October 17, 2011
It has now been found that pediatric patients, primarily those who are underinsured (either without insurance or receiving Medicaid), are increasingly receiving psychiatric care in US emergency departments, according to an abstract presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition in Boston. ...

Trapped Chilean miners escaped darkness, but spotlight has faded - October 17, 2011
''This is very similar to how Vietnam veterans suffered,'' said Rodrigo Gillibrand, the psychiatrist treating the 10 men on sick leave covered by labour insurance. ''They have post-traumatic symptoms that could be chronic.'' ...

Insurance Companies Fight Against Covering Eating Disorders - October 17, 2011
An estimated 11 million Americans (mostly young women) suffer from anorexia, bulimia nervosa (binge eating followed by purging) and other eating disorders. But with the economic downturn, and changes in health insurance, those with eating disorders are finding it difficult to get coverage in residential facilities, which offer the most comprehensive treatment of such illnesses, especially anorexia. ...

Early Detection of Autism May Lead to Better Interventions - October 14, 2011
New research is finding symptoms of autism spectrum disorders in babies as young as 12 months, raising the possibility that earlier intervention may even stop them from developing the disorder, according to an autism researcher at Michigan State University. ...

America's commutes start earlier and last longer - October 12, 2011
Working in the city and living on one's own land far out in the countryside has always been a goal for many Americans. The recession has turned hours of commuting to and from work into a reality that's hard to escape. ...

World Mental Health Day creates awareness - October 12, 2011
The World Mental Health Day aimed to encourage communities to elevate understanding of the impact of mental health disorders, in order to support prevention, eradicate stigma, and ensure the proper management and protection of patients worldwide. ...

Hope springs eternal, scientists say - October 11, 2011
A new British study has found human beings are hard-wired to be optimistic, even in the face of a darker reality. Scientists led by Tali Sharot at the University College London studied a group of people who were told they were likely to experience something bad. The results found most people stayed highly optimistic. And the researchers say the study shows why people are often foolhardy, naive or overly ambitious....

Colorado Voices: The kids are all right - every last one of them - October 11, 2011
"A little distress forces kids to grow and change. True self-esteem comes from experiencing accomplishment, not receiving empty praise," says veteran Cherry Creek Schools psychologist Victoria Temple. "We should never rob kids of the chance to experience bumps in the road, and solve their own problems." Parental support is important, but should be just that, support, not rescuing. Teaching personal accountability is crucial, she emphasizes. So where did all this rescuing come from? Our inability to set our egos aside and admit our kids aren't perfect might be part of the problem, and so is cowardice. Some have been reluctant to buck up and do the hard work of parenting. Tough love and discipline aren't fun, but a necessary part of the job, and our children reap the rewards. ...

Words over bubbles - October 11, 2011
How many students really know what's going on in their classroom? How much of a professor's content is actually being processed and committed to memory? The answer to these two questions is found in the most traditional and uniform way, dating back to the beginning stages of evaluating or assessing any sort of knowledge, procedure, or module: test it. Tests are performed to determine the success of a course, which will in turn hopefully provide a result trusted to be accurate and truthful to the subject at hand. But if the test itself is inaccurate, as will the results....

Phila. becomes hotbed of autism research [The Philadelphia Inquirer] - October 11, 2011
Five years ago, Philadelphia was not on the map when it came to researching one of the most mysterious and expensive childhood medical conditions of our time. Now it is among the top cities in the nation, with expertise in nearly all the key fields -- genetics, environmental exposure, brain imaging, behavioral interventions -- that are critical for finding causes and developing treatments. Most of the local talent is at the Center for Autism Research at Children's Hospital, which in less than four years has grown into a powerhouse with more than 100 researchers and staff running two dozen studies....

BHM Healthcare Solutions to feature two speakers at upcoming NC TIDE Conference - October 6, 2011
BHM Healthcare Solutions, commonly recognized as one of the nation's best behavioral health consulting firms, is proud to announce that two organizational members will be featured speakers at the upcoming NC TIDE Conference in Asheville, NC occurring November 13th through the 16th 2011. NC TIDE, which stands for training, instruction, development, and education, is a bi-annual conference that includes staff from all aspects of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services field. This year's fall conference will be held in Asheville, NC and is expected to draw more than 400 participants from LMEs, provider organizations, and state offices. NC TIDE hopes to provide information that the Sate, LMEs and providers need to improve performance in all areas and at all levels....

Easily embarrassed? You're probably trustworthy, study finds - October 6, 2011
Are you easily embarrassed? Your red face may be a good thing. A new study out of the University of California, Berkeley, found that individuals who are easily embarrassed are also more trustworthy, generous and monogamous than those who aren't....

Triangle families among those battling obscure PANDAS illness - October 6, 2011
Patients who have been diagnosed with PANDAS and doctors who are knowledgeable about it are spread so thinly that it takes the Internet to stitch them together through web sites such as the PANDAS Support Network, and the Facebook page for PANDAS parents. That support is crucial, parents and doctors say, because the condition is as tricky to manage as it is to diagnose. PANDAS was first identified in the late-1990s. The question of whether it actually existed was controversial; but recent research, including a 2009 study at Columbia University, has bolstered the case for PANDAS, and the National Institute of Mental Health formally recognizes it. ...

How The Brain Responds To Stress - October 6, 2011
In general, stress is related to both external and internal factors. External factors include the physical environment, including job, relationships with others, and all the situations, challenges, difficulties, and expectations a person is confronted with on a daily basis. Internal factors determine the body's ability of a person to respond to, and deal with, the external stress-inducing factors. Some of these internal factors which can influence a person's ability to handle stress include his nutritional status, overall health and fitness levels, emotional well-being, and the amount of sleep and rest you get....

Is 50 Really the New 15? - October 3, 2011
As someone well into my fifties, the popular aphorism "50 is the new 15" makes me laugh. As a therapist who writes about the psychology of aging, it baffles me. Who are we kidding? Sure, being 50 today means something different than it did for our parents or grandparents -- more of us are fit, active and expect to remain that way well into our 80s and 90s -- but 50 to me, well, is simply the "new 50!" ...

Medicare Payments At Risk For Psychologists - October 3, 2011
All psychologists needs to take action NOW to encourage your legislators to stand up and talk to their colleagues on the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to protect psychologist payments from steep Medicare cuts. Take Action! Included in this report are specific instructions on how you can take action....

Tar Heel of the Week: She guides families of dying children - October 3, 2011
She takes no salary as director of the nonprofit group, and in recent months she has donated a percentage of her salary to the cause from her job as a vendor manager at Railinc, a railroad information service. But she says she has been rewarded with the peace that comes from knowing that her daughter's death has resulted in something good. "I'm doing what I've always supposed to have been doing," she says. "I found that inner happiness." ...

What To Do If a Loved One with Bipolar Disorder Is Arrested - October 3, 2011
If a loved one with mental illness or suspected mental illness is arrested, the goal is to transition the person as quickly as possible from the legal system to the healthcare system. The Los Angeles NAMI Criminal Justice Committee has posted a very thorough seven-step guide to help families navigate the criminal justice system in Los Angeles County when a family member who suffers from a brain disorder (mental illness) is arrested. ...

Mindfulness' program aims to reduce stress - September 29, 2011
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction is an established and medically endorsed practice which helps individuals reduce stress and its repercussions in their every day lives. The practice of mindfulness includes training in meditation and yoga, introducing a kind of body awareness that ultimately works to quiet the restless mind....

The middle-aged, too, can be stricken - September 28, 2011
Murray has Alzheimer's disease, specifically the less common form of younger-onset Alzheimer's. She's only 59, but for much of the past decade, she has lived with symptoms of the disease, and they have worsened over time....

As Minds Get Quicker, Teenagers Get Smarter - September 27, 2011
Adolescents become smarter because they become mentally quicker....

Emergency Rule Cuts Off Autism Treatment in W.Va. - September 27, 2011
The West Virginia Board of Examiners of Psychologists passed a rule in May that was enacted in July, requiring all behavior analysts to be supervised by a licensed psychologist at all times....

New book explores the mysteries of southpaws - September 26, 2011
There's no definitive reason why one person is a rightie and another is a leftie, argues Smits in his book. There are several theories, though, and plenty of left-handed lore....

Children's book helps kids love their own skin - September 26, 2011
As a child, Diggs faced a lot of questions and jokes because he didn't look like the other kids with his radiant dark skin, wide nose and bright smile. It took some encouragement from his mother to help him love his features. In college, he wrote a poem about his experience called "Chocolate Me" for a project Evans did on blackness. ...

Back to School Stressors -- Invisible Indicators in the Lives of College Students - September 26, 2011
I want to share information; facts and ideas about three interrelated college student 'injuries' seen in emergency departments across the nation with alarming frequency in recent years. Not only are students themselves patients, but also the collateral damage of parents, grandparents, and friends whose lives are often destroyed by the impact of these problems....

Chiropractor who sexually assaulted patients to be sentenced today - September 23, 2011
A 61-year-old Coachella Valley chiropractor is scheduled to be sentenced today for sexually assaulting female patients while pretending to be conducting legitimate examinations. ...

Imposter syndrome: the flip side of success for women - September 23, 2011
This fear of failure, or of not living up to expectations, was first described in the late 1970s by two American psychologists at Georgia State University in Atlanta. They dubbed it "imposter syndrome." And three decades later, it's still a factor in the workplace....

Volunteers shine light on suicide awareness, prevention - September 23, 2011
Organizers hope to shine a light on suicide at the region's first "Out of the Darkness" community walk on Saturday. The event, co-hosted by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, will raise money for research, prevention and education. More importantly, though, it's a chance to begin erasing the stigma that historically has surrounded suicide and start talking openly about it, say the volunteers who are planning the Saturday morning walk in Willmar....

$5 Million Payment to End Suits Over Death of 13-Year-Old Boy in State Care - September 22, 2011
The boy, Jonathan Carey, was 13 when he died in 2007. He was slowly crushed to death in the back of a van by a state worker who was restraining him, while another worker, driving the van, failed to intervene. Depositions of state officials and caregivers have highlighted startling lapses in care at the Office for People With Developmental Disabilities, the state agency that runs more than 1,000 group homes and institutions....

Phoenix art class gives Alzheimer's patients 'a spark of life' - September 22, 2011
Family members who've seen their loved ones experience Alzheimer's regard it as one of the cruelest diseases because it progresses and takes away someone's personality, the ability to comprehend things and the ability to communicate and socialize. Although common dementia is a decline that affects everyday life and activities, Alzheimer's first appears in the portion of the brain that records recent memories. ...

Bad in black: New study finds ties between NHL uniforms and aggression - September 21, 2011
In a study published last week in Social Psychological and Personality Science, researchers found that NHL players clad in black or coloured jerseys chalk up more penalty minutes than those wearing white. Similarly, players bedecked in black are sent to the box more than those wearing colours....

$205M Medicare fraudster gets longest sentence ever - September 20, 2011
In the longest fraud sentence ever issued, American Therapeutic Corporation owner Lawrence Duran of the largest community mental health center chain was sentenced to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to $205 million in Medicare fraud, officials announced on Friday. ...

In a Married World, Singles Struggle for Attention - September 20, 2011
"There is this push for marriage in the straight community and in the gay community, essentially assuming that if you don't get married there is something wrong with you," says Naomi Gerstel, a sociologist at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst who has published a number of papers comparing the married and unmarried. ...

Pediatric Psychologist Releases Social Skills App for Aspergers Syndrome - September 20, 2011
Sōsh™ is the new word in social skills development. It is also a mobile application designed to help 'tweens, teens and young adults improve social skills. Sōsh is especially developed to be used by individuals with Asperger's Syndrome. Dr. Mark Bowers, a pediatric psychologist, in conjunction with a counseling psychologist, developed the social skills app – moving social skills training into the high tech, mobile app world. ...

Therapy: You Get What You Pay For - September 20, 2011
Last week Chuck wrote a blog about what questions you should consider asking your therapist. He was talking about the importance of feeling mutual trust within the therapeutic relationship. Today, I want to continue a discussion of the therapeutic relationship. ...

Mental illness often a byproduct of concussions - September 20, 2011
Depression, a form of mental illness, frequently occurs beyond the common hockey injuries of stitches and bruises, Shree Bhalerao said. "But no one's talking about it because there's a stigma attached to it."...

Music practice delays the sounds of silence, study finds - September 19, 2011
Scientists have found regular music practice can slow changes to the brain regions that process sound, adding to research that shows staying mentally active can prevent or delay cognitive decline as people age. ...

Study finds bidirectional relationship between schizophrenia and epilepsy - September 19, 2011
Prior clinical studies have shown a prevalence of psychosis among epilepsy patients and studies of psychiatric illness have found a strong relationship between schizophrenia and epilepsy, suggesting a shared susceptibility between the diseases that may be a result of genetic, environmental or neurobiological causes. While a number of studies have established a bidirectional relationship between depression, mood disorder and epilepsy, the current study is the first to investigate this type of relation between schizophrenia and epilepsy. ...

Local psychologist writes owner's manual for the mind - September 19, 2011
If you're interested in staying mentally healthy, Dr. Daniel A. Bochner's new book, "The Emotional Toolbox: A Manual for Mental Health" might be just what you're looking for....

Two-tiered mental-health system - September 16, 2011
"This isn't what we voted for," said Martin McCrea, a Sacramento father, whose daughter committed suicide on November 30, after two years in the Sacramento County Mental Health Services system. She was not receiving Prop. 63-funded services because new services had to go to "previously unserved" people....

Facial Expressions Develop Before Birth say researchers - September 13, 2011
For the first time a group of researchers were able to show that recognisable facial expressions develop before birth and that, as the pregnancy progresses from 24 to 36 weeks gestation, fetal facial movements become more complex. ...

Insulin Inhalation May Slow Alzheimer's: Study - September 13, 2011
Inhalation of insulin through the nose twice a day appears to slow and in certain cases turn around symptoms of memory loss in people with early signs of Alzheimer's disease as per a new pilot study....

Psychiatric services can't be all things to all people, every time - September 13, 2011
Psychiatry has made significant progress over the past 50 years. Long-term institutionalisation of people with psychiatric illness is thankfully consigned to history. No longer are relatives spirited away and forgotten. Indeed, many people are treated in their homes and it is only the most acutely unwell who are hospitalised and, even then, average inpatient admission is usually less than two weeks. ...

Could infant behaviour predict future anxiety disorders? - September 12, 2011
The study claims an association between infant reactions and adult anxiety is due to temperament rather than shaped by the environment....

Many self-harm patients don't get psych evaluation - September 12, 2011
Doctors in the emergency room often don't evaluate the mental health of patients who've cut or otherwise hurt themselves before sending them home, a new study shows. As many as half of patients who aren't admitted to the hospital leave without a psychiatric checkup, and an equal proportion of them don't get follow-up therapy in the next month, researchers found....

Half of U.S. population will experience mental illness: Experts - September 7, 2011
Mental illnesses account for a larger proportion of disability in developed countries than any other group of illnesses, including cancer and heart disease. An estimated 25% of adults in the United States reported having a mental illness in the previous year. ...

Proven Working Memory Training Program Launches for U.S. Schools - September 7, 2011
To help schools ensure that all students are successful, Pearson today launched Cogmed Working Memory Training for K-12 students in U.S. schools. Successfully used in schools in Sweden since 2003, Cogmed training is an evidence-based, computer training program that strengthens students' working memory and learning abilities. Delivered to students via computer at school or at home, Cogmed Working Memory Training consists of 25 sessions of 30 to 40 minutes each over a five-week period....

Psychic Wounds Last for Those Touched by 9/11 - September 7, 2011
Psychologists expect renewed emotional turmoil as 'anniversary reactions' take hold....

Autism expert to deliver seminar - September 7, 2011
Renowned autism expert Tony Attwood will deliver an educational seminar via Skype at Hebbville Academy later this month. "All funds raised will be used towards resources for our families and community," said South Shore Regional School Board autism consultant Catherine Rahey. "But more importantly, this educational seminar is open to the public and promises to provide valuable insight and practical strategies and approaches to dealing with anger, self-regulation, etc."...

Children & Mental Health: The Silent Crisis - September 7, 2011
Approximately 12 million children in the United States suffer from a diagnosable mental illness such as depression, attention deficit disorder, bipolar disorder or anxiety, according to the Department of Health & Human Services. Yet just 20 percent of those kids receive treatment and of those, again just 20 percent see a specialist trained in child mental health-not surprising, considering only about 7,500 child and adolescent psychiatrists are in practice nationwide, based on statistics from the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Society (AACAP). ...

Patient focus may convince more doctors to wash their hands - September 6, 2011
Fewer than half of doctors and nurses at some hospitals wash their hands after using the bathroom, but putting the focus back on patients may convince them to do better....

New DSM-5 Category May Curb Youth Bipolar Overdiagnosis - September 6, 2011
Many psychiatrists have overdiagnosed bipolar disorder in children and adolescents over the past decade, which has led to overly aggressive treatment with second-generation antipsychotic drugs, Dr. David Cohen said at a press briefing at the annual congress of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology....

Parents prepare for questions about 9/11 - September 6, 2011
The conversation is coming, and parents must be ready. Elementary and middle-school-age children will have questions about the Sept. 11 attacks, and the discussion - what to include, what to leave out - can get tricky. Mostly, these kids need reassurance. But before talking to a child, parents must honestly assess their anxiety level....

In science, doctor's guidance, family finds hope - September 6, 2011
"People need to understand that no one chooses this for themselves or for their child," says Dr. Norman Spack, a pediatric endocrinologist and one of the few physicians in New England who is using a puberty suppression protocol to treat transgender children....

How to Talk with Families About Genetics and Psychiatric Illness - September 6, 2011
Patients who suffer with psychiatric illness often have questions about how the illness developed and the risks for other family members becoming affected. How to Talk with Families About Genetics and Psychiatric Illness responds to the increasing need for mental health clinicians to help families deal with these common questions, often based upon concepts from genetic medicine. ...

Climate change linked to mental health problems - September 2, 2011
A report out today draws a direct link between inaction on climate change and long-term social and mental health problems....

Mixed Health Findings Reported in 9/11 Rescuers - September 2, 2011
Three large cohort studies examining health issues in World Trade Center rescuers paint a mixed picture, with disturbingly high rates of physical and mental disorders but a paradoxically low all-cause mortality rate thus far, compared with the general New York City population....

15-minute stress busters - September 1, 2011
Serenity here you come with our top 5 stress busters. ...

How do you tell a child to lose weight? - September 1, 2011
Children's author Paul Kramer has recently come under fire for his latest book, Maggie Goes on a Diet, with child health experts slamming his approach to the issue. Child psychiatrist Dr Sloan Madden criticised the book for portraying the message that being overweight equates to being unpopular. ...

Games that Kill - September 1, 2011
Experts and activists are calling for the reinstatement of the ban on casinos in Mexico, saying they foment not only problem gambling but also links to organised crime. The debate was revived after at least 52 people were killed in a fire set by armed men in the Casino Royale in Monterrey....

Psychiatrist wins medal for fighting stress - August 24, 2011
A Charlotte psychiatrist who is board certified in pediatrics, psychiatry and child psychiatry, Tomsyck had a successful practice in the Arboretum area, where her home is, but wanted something more. ...

Modelling emotions: A potential new therapy for disturbed teenagers - August 24, 2011
Researchers at The University of Nottingham are to investigate whether the therapeutic effects of clay modelling could help disturbed teenagers deal with their feelings of anger, anxiety and depression. Academics are teaming up with professionals in the NHS, Nottingham Contemporary art gallery and local artists for the innovative project that will look at the potential benefits that clay could offer to young people struggling with mental health problems. ...

Off to Hollywood: Local mental health advocate to receive award - August 23, 2011
Risser volunteers locally at Lifeworx! Peer Recovery Center and the Mental Health and Recovery Board of Ashland County. He also serves on mental health boards at the state and national level -- including the state Mental Health Planning Council, commissioner with Ohio Legal Rights Service, the state protection and advocacy organization and National Advisory Council for the Federal Center for Mental Health Services. He said he's been an "outspoken advocate," who addresses issues relating to public mental health, trauma and the abuse and neglect of mental health patients. ...

So, you shouldn't help your kids with their homework? Why family psychologist thinks this way - August 23, 2011
In the process of all this involvement, kids fail to learn basic study skills, are deprived of the inestimable benefits of trial-and-error, and become increasingly dependent on parental help as parents, now heavily invested, become increasingly anxious about grades and take them as a sign of their own competence. That is called co-dependency. Meanwhile, teachers become increasingly dependent on parents to help them teach. I know of no other professional group that expects other people to help them with their job and not be paid for it. ...

DA agrees doctor incompetent - August 23, 2011
San Mateo County prosecutors have abandoned efforts to prove a former prominent child psychiatrist is mentally fit to stand trial a second time on accusations he molested several male patients, sending him to a state mental hospital and essentially ending a prolonged legal battle over the fate of the 79-year-old man. ...

Love at first sight? It's for men - August 22, 2011
A new survey claims that man are more likely to fall in love at first sight, while women take a more balanced approach to get into a relationship. What are the other interesting facts? Read on...

How to Re-program Your Memory to Become More Self-Reliant - August 22, 2011
Modern conveniences like smartphones and the internet provide us with access to more information than we could ever hope to remember. The problem is, we often fail to differentiate between the important information we ought to keep in our memory and the less-important data that's better stored elsewhere....

More Companies Are Encouraging Daytime Naps To Boost Productivity - August 22, 2011
"Without a question, [naps] improve productivity," Yarde says. "It's funny how these things go. It went from being totally ridiculous to being cutting edge now." ...

Mental illness cases increase in tough economy - August 22, 2011
Area hospital ERs are seeing an influx of patients with mental health illnesses, an issue experts say is exacerbated by the economy and resulting in more uncompensated care....

County's jails still falling short on health care, audit finds - August 22, 2011
Despite spending millions of dollars trying to rectify long-recognized problems, Maricopa County still falls short of its constitutionally mandated obligation to provide adequate health care to jail inmates, a court-appointed expert says....

Health activists launch campaigns of abuse against scientists with whom they disagree - August 22, 2011
Health activism has taken a truly disturbing trend in recent years. Some activists, furious at scientists whose research findings don't fit their own beliefs about a particular illness's causes and cures, have launched campaigns of abuse and even violence against those scientists....

Unpleasant Reoccurring Dreams Serve a Purpose - August 17, 2011
Reoccurring dreams, such as a sensation of falling are common, but dream experts insist that for those who often experience anxiety, dreams serve a function ...

Positive Thinking Depression Remedy Raises Controversy - August 17, 2011
However, other experts are skeptical of the findings, saying they neglect to take the complexity of depression into account. The researchers developed positive activity interactions by looking at the types of thoughts distinguish happy people from people with depression....

Blood Test to diagnose schizophrenia and depression - August 17, 2011
It is not a genetic test but an automated test that uses a single serum sample to identify 51 protein biomarkers. It's design is to help mental health professions reach a diagnosis....

Long-term unemployment wreaks mental toll on jobless - August 16, 2011
Statistics show that 14 million unemployed Americans still suffer the effects of the recession. Of the jobless, more than 44 percent have been out of work for 27 weeks or more, a time frame the Bureau of Labor Statistics considers long-term. ...

Stop Fighting Mom and Dad! You're Altering My DNA, Says Fetus - August 16, 2011
As Adam Wolfberg from the Huffington Post reports, your stress could permanently alter your child's brain and lead her to respond inappropriately to stressful situations forever....

Depression Can Lead to Heart Risk in Women: Study - August 15, 2011
The researchers revealed that the women who become the victim of depression were more likely to be overweight, active smokers, less physically active and single, as compared to the women who were not depressed. Also, they were more prone to have diabetes, hypertension or heart disease. ...

Grumpy folk warned: Cheer up or you could face physical illness - August 15, 2011
Professor Carsten Wrosch said yesterday: "Persistent bitterness may result in global feelings of anger and hostility that, when strong enough, could affect a person's physical health."...

Retirement Can Be Happy If You Stay Busy - August 15, 2011
Of course for youth-minded baby boomers, retirement may seem like a long way away, but as the first wave begins turning 65 this year it's a reality that isn't so far off. A recent study assessed the physical and mental effects of retirement on thousands of employees and found there are numerous health benefits to retiring. In particular, retirement seems to help with mental health. The research suggests that people who voluntarily retire are more likely to have healthy and happy post-retirement lives whereas most of the people who retired early for health reasons went on to have continued physical and mental decline....

Latimer: The mentally ill more likely to die from physical illness - August 15, 2011
Many times, people with major mental illness die up to 25 years earlier than their peers without mental illness. In a review paper examining the scale of this problem, researchers learned that the highest death risk is among patients with severe mental illness and that 72 per cent of the excess deaths occur in patients who have only ever attended general practice for their psychiatric care....

Interact with your baby–the best way to get your tot to eat - August 10, 2011
Philips Avent just came out with a new mealtime range for babies, designed with renowned child psychologist Dr. Gillian Harris. According to Harris' studies, children learn to like foods they are given as a child or they imitate the eating behavior of those around them. Initially, all infants prefer sweet flavors, which is why breast milk is perfect. In general, babies dislike bitter tastes, and most green vegetables have a bitter taste....

New Procedure Zaps Depression - August 10, 2011
A curved device connected to a computer program delivers magnetic stimulation directly to a golf-ball-sized section of the brain known to stimulate mood. Dr. Mahipal Chaudhri says the treatment targets neuron-transmitters in the brain that are under active in people who are depressed....

Widener professor suspended for retaliation against students - August 10, 2011
And after 26 years of teaching, what once may have seemed hypothetical to him became reality when he was suspended for a year without pay. The suspension is for allegedly retaliating against students who accused him of making violent, racist and sexist statements. ...

Cardiff University on brain chemistry and aggression - August 10, 2011
Aggressive and impulsive behaviour in men could be linked to a deficiency of a particular type of neurotransmitter in the brain, a new study by Cardiff University scientists claims....

10 Years and a Diagnosis Later, 9/11 Demons Haunt Thousands - August 10, 2011
In the safety of her therapist's office in late 2001, Dr. Margaret Dessau made a tape reliving what it was like to look out her living room window after she heard the boom of a hijacked plane eight blocks away....

Study: Patients Delaying Care in Bad Economy - August 9, 2011
While Americans might be skipping doctor's visits, it's not because they don't need care. In times of economic downturn and high unemployment, the need for psychiatric care is highest, according to Dr. Lee H. Beecher, a psychiatrist who practices in St. Louis Park, Minn. He added that high premiums rates for private insurance plans and low reimbursement rates for Medicare and Medicaid payments are decreasing patient access to care....

Confusing Medical Ailments With Mental Illness - August 9, 2011
Studies have suggested that medical conditions may cause mental-health issues in as many as 25% of psychiatric patients and contribute to them in more than 75%. ...

While Stress May Be Unavoidable, You Can Prevent Getting Stressed Out - August 8, 2011
"Stress compromises your immune system," said O'Brien. "When you feel stress, your system releases adrenalin for fight or flight. This, in turn, is going to compromise your immune system. Your immune system shuts down when adrenalin is present."...

Banned in Boston: Access to psychiatric care - August 8, 2011
We posed as patients insured by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts PPO, the largest insurer in the state. We called every BCBS in-network mental health facility within a 10-mile radius of downtown Boston, reporting that we had been evaluated in an emergency department for depression and discharged with instruction to obtain a psychiatric appointment within two weeks....

New Orleans drum circle serves as form of therapy - August 8, 2011
The drum circle is put on weekly by Project Rising Sun, a nonprofit founded by Tulane University psychiatrist Jan Johnson and her sister, Diane, an international relief and development expert, after Hurricane Katrina to build community relationships and help residents deal with stress through drumming....

N.J. mental health system struggles - August 8, 2011
New Jersey has one of the best mental health systems in the country, advocates say. There are many community programs and agencies for the mentally ill, and state funding for such services has remained relatively stable during Gov. Chris Christie's wave of budget cuts. ...

Psychiatrists protest criticism from well-known physician - August 8, 2011
The debate was set off when Angell, whose training is in internal medicine and pathology, wrote two book reviews in the New York Review of Books on June 23 and July 14. She reviewed several books that are critical of various aspects of psychiatric diagnosis and treatment and also evaluated work on the rewriting of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders that is schedule for publication in 2013....

Another day, another theory of dyslexia. This one's whizzing balls - August 4, 2011
"There is a huge stigma attached to low intelligence. After years of working with parents, I have seen how they don't want their child to be considered lazy, thick or stupid. If they get called this medically diagnosed term, dyslexic, then it is a signal to all that it's not to do with intelligence."...

Norway gunman wants Japanese psychiatrist - August 4, 2011
The man behind the twin attacks in Norway on July 22 wants a Japanese psychiatrist to carry out his evaluation, his lawyer has said. And a Norwegian newspaper claims the gunman made one phone call to police during the shootings, saying ''mission accomplished''. ...

Police: Kensington psychiatrist commits suicide after shooting, killing her son, 13 - August 4, 2011
James Lee Barnhard was supposed to spend the next week with his son, Benjamin H. Barnhard, 13, an agreement the Bethesda man made Saturday with his ex-wife, Margaret Ferne Jensvold. Instead Barnhard is mourning the death of Benjamin after police say Jensvold shot and killed the boy before turning the gun on herself in her Kensington home....

Medicaid enforcement could push out thousands of mentally ill - August 4, 2011
As many as 1,200 mentally ill adults could be forced out of assisted-living facilities as the state tries to enforce a Medicaid rule concerning mental health care centers....

Moms Talk: Are We Raising a Generation of Narcissists? - August 3, 2011
Are children caught up in a culture that supports entitlement, narcissism and a lack of self-control? A Royal Oak psychotherapist thinks so....

Video Games: The Hidden Benefits Of Playing With Your Kids - August 3, 2011
"Parents should not feel bad about having game systems in their home," said Cheryl Olson, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and co-author of "Grand Theft Childhood" a book about the effects video games have on kids that was inspired by a study of 1200 twelve to fourteen year-olds she conducted with her husband, Dr. Lawrence Kutner....

Stanford psychologists find that jokes help us cope with horrifying images - August 2, 2011
People faced with negative or frightening scenes are often advised to "reappraise" them – to reinterpret the situations in a way that makes them positive. Two new Stanford studies demonstrate that the most effective form of cognitive reappraisal is good-natured comedy....

2 Oneida area doctors arrested - August 2, 2011
Police say one bilked the system for $58,000 and another wrote phony prescriptions, but both Oneida area doctors are now facing charges following months-long investigations. ...

Texting improves kid's literacy skills - August 2, 2011
Scientists have claimed that children who are fluent at text messaging have better literacy skills than youngsters who do not use mobile phones. ...

Expert Calls Blaming Video Games On Tragic Massacres Like Oslo And Columbine Racist - August 1, 2011
The recent massacre in Oslo, Norway that left 76 dead has once again opened up an international debate centering on violent video games. The terror suspect, Anders Behring Breivik, who is now in custody, wrote about how he used Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and World of Warcraft to help train for the attacks....

Study could provide new insight into panic attacks - August 1, 2011
A new study could give medical insurance customers new insight into panic attacks by helping to work out when they will occur....

The end of evolution? Scientists say human brain may have reached full capacity - August 1, 2011
We've invented penicillin, space shuttles, computers and even artificial hearts, among many other wonders. So where will human intelligence go from here? The answer, if certain scientists are correct, is nowhere. ...

Coaches Can Play Big Role in How Kids Feel About Sports - July 28, 2011
The study found that several factors were associated with a positive experience, including when kids felt they were part of a team; when coaches kept the focus on personal skill development regardless of how the child measured up to others on the team; and when coaches and peers encouraged each player to do their best and to reach for challenging, but attainable, goals....

The 6 Skills You Can't Live Without - July 27, 2011
Despite all the classes we take, degrees we get, documentaries we watch, most of us never get the word about a remedy as key to health and happiness as watching cholesterol or eating the right food. It's the invisible cure for a host of our problems, from stress to obesity to loneliness....

What if every toy was educational? - July 27, 2011
Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Reader in Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London explains that rules, and learning, are an important part of playtime. "Play is essential," he says. "It fosters kids' creativity and it also enables them to understand the rules (of the game, of society, of life). In addition, play lets children experience strong emotions; it is a naive or innocent replication of life and prepares kids for adult life....

Children's Health: Parents' behavior can leave emotional scars - July 27, 2011
Children are resilient, yes, but the emotional impact of growing up in a home where the parents make poor choices - where they drink, use drugs, yell as a primary way of communication or have a steady stream of boyfriends or girlfriends spend the night - is strongly negative, experts say. ...

Transcendental Meditation Lessens Kids' ADHD Symptoms - July 27, 2011
A new study suggests practicing transcendental meditation (TM) improves brain function and reduces symptoms among students diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). ...

Can you laugh at yourself? Scientists put humor to the test - July 26, 2011
"Laughing at oneself is really seen as this core component of a sense of humor," says Ursula Beermann, a psychology post-doc at the University of California, Berkeley. But, wondered Beermann, "does it really exist?"...

Therapist's sentencing held up - July 26, 2011
Sentencing for Steven Feldman, a therapist hired by Saratoga County to evaluate parents and children in Family Court, was adjourned Monday. ...

Scheduling 'worry time' may help you fret less - July 26, 2011
For those concerned with shedding some of their anxieties, it seems planning a certain time every day to worry may help stop the stress-out cycle....

Brain-injury expert blazed trail for women - July 26, 2011
While she was working as a neuropsychologist at the Austin and St Vincent's hospitals, as well as in the Commonwealth Rehabilitation Centre at Glen Waverley, Molloy set up a company to provide rehabilitation for people suffering brain injuries from transport and workplace accidents. Ultimately, her practice specialised in the diagnosis and measurement of acquired brain injury and she came to be recognised as one of Australia's leading private practitioners in the field. ...

More grandparents taking on a second round of parenting - July 26, 2011
The Bairds' experience is like so many grandparents today. Although it's a family dynamic filled with complexities, more grandparents than ever are finding themselves in the throes of parenthood yet again. Census data released last month found that 3.1 million children in the USA were living without a parent present in the household in 2009. Of those, 59% lived with grandparents....

Sleepy People Blame Others for Everything - July 25, 2011
A new study shows that when people, in this case college students, are sleepy they are more likely to think about how events could have turned out differently and ponder how situations could have been better. Depending on the outcome, they may blame others and even seek revenge. Researchers call this sleepy thinking 'counterfactual.'...

Psychologist praises power and effectiveness of subliminal therapy - July 25, 2011
Subliminal therapy, Yager posits, is a technique that permits the patient guided by a therapist to tap into mental abilities that the patient probably doesn't even know that he or she has [the 'unconscious' or 'higher self'] and then use those abilities to halt the problems that the patient is experiencing as symptoms....

Suicide Claims the Life of 1 San Diegan a Day - July 25, 2011
"We hope this campaign will help people recognize the warning signs of suicide and encourage them to get help for themselves or a loved one," said Chairman Bill Horn, County Board of Supervisors. "The County's suicide prevention campaign is one of the first to be launched in the state."...

Stirring memoir tells story of local doctor's struggles during World War II - July 25, 2011
"My mom was still in practice as a psychiatrist when she started to write the book," says her son Greg Bokota. "I would be home for a visit and I would hear her downstairs dictating. Sometimes she would sigh and occasionally she would cry. The manuscript sat around for a long time and we would say, you ought to publish it. She'd say no." ...

Going into battle may be worst option - July 22, 2011
The teen years can be a battleground - the tricky part is figuring out which battles are worth fighting and which ones to avoid. One of the first rules of thumb is to trim the rules right back....

Eight steps to happiness - July 22, 2011
As I stated in my article "Recession's end will not bring lasting happiness," getting married, having a baby, getting the promotion - even winning the lottery - will not make us lastingly happier. It is not the big-ticket items that make the biggest impact but the little things we do every day....

More women than men seek help with personal debt, credit counselors find - July 22, 2011
From single mothers and divorcées to those who became family breadwinners when their husbands lost their jobs in the recession, women have outnumbered men in the credit-counseling line for much of the past decade, the agencies say....

New Data Wave Begins, a Gene Study in One Disease Discovers Mutations in an Unrelated Disease - July 21, 2011
Often enough, in science as in life, unexpected knowledge has a personal impact. Researchers seeking rare gene variants in just a few individuals with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) discovered that one patient had a novel combination of two mutations. Those mutations caused a different disease, unrelated to ADHD -- a blood disorder called idiopathic hemolytic anemia....

Marc Hauser Resigns from Harvard - July 20, 2011
Marc Hauser, a well-known Harvard psychology professor who has been on leave since an internal investigation found him guilty of eight counts of scientific misconduct, is leaving the university....

Tough Love Can Improve Self-Esteem - July 19, 2011
The issue, he argues, lies therein the fact that for the past 40 years, we've spent so much time stepping around everyone's feelings that we've fostered a culture who has high self-esteem based on zero merit....

Excess baggage: Women pack 44 items to go on holiday... but only end up using half - July 19, 2011
Women really do pack twice as many clothes as they need when they take a summer holiday. ...

Canberra Doctor Still Practicing Despite Highest Number of Complaints - July 19, 2011
The Canberra Times reported last week reported that that the psychiatrist accused of gross misconduct was still allowed to practice, which is serious risk to public safety....

Part II: Just When You Think You Understand Your Kids…They Change! - July 18, 2011
Each new stage of a child's development is accompanied by changes that, though they may challenge parents, are actually positive proclamations: the child is growing! Each stage requires a particular parental approach. Armed with a little knowledge about those stages, parents can nurture the child appropriately, while anticipating and preparing for upcoming changes. ...

Part I: Just When You Think You Understand Your Kids…They Change! - July 18, 2011
It is not uncommon for a parent to neglect his/her own needs while focusing on those of the child. As it has often been said, parenting is the most important, most wonderful, and most difficult job ever. ...

Summer holidays can throw sleep schedules - July 18, 2011
Allowing kids to abuse their sleep schedule during the school holidays can lead to all sorts of problems, so parents are urged to stand their ground....

Bugs, filth, hazards plague nearly half of N.J. boarding homes - July 18, 2011
Nearly half the boarding homes that house some of New Jersey's most vulnerable residents - including the elderly and the mentally ill - were cited for being insect-infested, dirty or unsafe over the past two years, a Star-Ledger review of state inspection records has found....

New Autism Twin Study Demolishes Decades-Long Belief in Genetic Causation - July 15, 2011
It's hard to overstate the importance of the CATS findings. They mean that everything leading "autism experts" have been saying for decades is wrong. And everything leading autism parent advocates have been saying for years is right. ...

Make time to invest in friendships - July 15, 2011
Nonetheless, we are biologically driven to have friends, says Gail Saltz, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. "Humans are hard-wired to attach in a non-romantic way. There are evolutionary advantages for women to bond: to take care of each other, to provide a community and share responsibilities that increase the likelihood of survival," Saltz says in a recent USA Today article....

Early action against 'complaint-prone - July 15, 2011
The aim was to try to understand whether complaints are just "luck of the draw" or whether certain groups of doctors are more complaint-prone than others. We found that complaints clearly cluster around certain doctors. While most doctors appear to be at minimal risk of multiple complaints, a small group account for a disproportionate number....

Is meditation a religion? - July 15, 2011
Experts say the major change in how meditation is viewed in this country in the last two decades is that it's been detached from its religious roots. The streams of new people coming to meditate are doing it as part of their K-12 class in public school or for treatment of chronic pain; no mention of the hereafter or Buddhism to be found. Even people who come to spiritually-minded places like the Insight Meditation Community, which states as a goal to awaken "hearts and minds through the direct experience of the Buddhist path," are often using purely secular language to pursue purely secular goals. At the classes, people talk about things like quitting smoking or caffeine as much as becoming more compassionate. ...

Blue Shield to pay for autism behavioral therapy - July 14, 2011
The announcement that Blue Shield will pay for behavioral therapies for autism treatment - a step that other providers may soon follow - was made Wednesday during a hearing at the Capitol. ...

The American Psyche and the American Debt - July 14, 2011
Very little has been written about the psychological effects of the American population living under a mountain of debt, but those effects are very substantial. Chief among them is a sense of being disempowered and anxiety-ridden-both individually and collectively-and, therefore, unable to assert our values here at home, let alone abroad. ...

Penn Psychiatrist Accuses Five Colleagues of Plagiarism - July 14, 2011
A University of Pennsylvania researcher has accused five colleagues of scientific misconduct for allegedly allowing a drug company to put their names on a paper that they did not write. But although federal officials have said "ghostwriting" may be a form of plagiarism, which is prohibited, it's not clear that the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) would act on this particular case. ...

Why out-of-body experiences could be all in the mind - July 13, 2011
Those who talk of having an out-of-body experience often find their claims of a spiritual experience are much mocked. And now scientists have joined the sceptics, saying such events are nothing more than vivid hallucinations – and some of us are predisposed to them. ...

Monitoring Symptoms of Major Depression Improves Outcomes - July 13, 2011
Patients with major depressive disorder who provided their primary care physician with monthly ratings of their symptoms were more likely to respond to antidepressant treatment and to achieve remission compared with a usual care group, findings of a prospective, observational cohort study have shown. ...

Arrested Orange jail doctor won't face fraud charges - July 13, 2011
Prosecutors have decided not to pursue charges against a former Orange County Jail psychiatrist accused last year of defrauding an insurance company, citing a lack of evidence. Records show the state officially declined prosecution late last month, closing a felony fraud and theft case against 53-year-old Dr. Arturo Hernandez-Pena....

Decline of single-sex classrooms in London leads to decline in boys learning, says London headmaster - July 12, 2011
"We believe that there's a problem across the English-speaking world with boys' academic underachievement," Levin told The Telegraph. "The education system is not giving them a good deal. We need some serious research into the pedagogical differences between teaching boys and girls to raise awareness of the fact that boys respond differently."...

Magnets easing pain. Healing vibes curing cancer. The Moon affecting your health...The medical mumbo-jumbo that's actually all TRUE - July 12, 2011
No matter how many high-tech cures modern medicine brings us, alternative evangelists will always argue loudly that the true secrets of well-being lie in esoteric notions such as 'healing frequencies', magnets and astrological alignments. ...

Hospital visits more deadly in July, study finds - July 12, 2011
Patients admitted to teaching hospitals in July are more likely to die, or experience prolonged hospital stays during the year-end changeover -- known as the July effect -- compared with other months of the year, according to researchers who reviewed data from 39 studies. ...

Nameless and homeless: Affordable housing -- if not now, when? - July 12, 2011
Here's the grim context. Today, it's widely acknowledged that the "deinstitutionalization" of psychiatric survivors has been a total failure and fraud; it was from the very start. Why? Because of government incompetence and negligence, poor urban planning, and public indifference to "discharged" psychiatric survivors and other poor, marginalized and stigmatized people in our communities....

Achieving Happiness: A pen and paper for your thoughts - July 11, 2011
You can choose whether you'll be one of those people who remain stuck right where they are or whether you'll be like those motivated individuals who are able to move on and reach their goals. There are a number of factors that go into making changes, but being sure that you have the proper mind-set is always the place to start....

Mental health professionals:Emotional storm brewing - July 11, 2011
When 30 percent of a town is blown away, something is bound to give....

Allstate's latest N.Y. suit seeks $1 million for alleged insurance fraud - July 11, 2011
Allstate, the Hauppauge, N.Y.-based insurance company, sued 10 New York people to recover more than $1 million, alleging that laypersons illegally owned and operated four professional service corporations....

How making your child happy can land them in therapy - July 8, 2011
Like most five year olds my son hates to lose. Whether it be a board game or a sporting contest, if he's not winning he's not happy. For this reason, and I'm guessing like most parents, most of the time we let him win so the experience stays enjoyable for everyone. After all, if you can't be the king of your domain at five when can you be? ...

Webinar: Addiction, Mental Health, and Health Care Integration and Prevention - July 8, 2011
Addiction, Mental Health, and Health Care Integration and Prevention How the Affordable Care Act and state-based efforts can lead to comprehensive and coordinated health services for people with mental health and addiction disorders. ...

Therapists Online: A New Norm? - July 8, 2011
Therapists, psychologists and even psychiatrists are dotting the online landscape with websites, blogs and even with their activity on social networking sites! Has a new norm in our field been established?...

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens - July 7, 2011
There's a relatively new trend in psychology called bibliotherapy. According to Wikipedia, the concept behind bibliotherapy is that "reading is a healing experience. It was applied to both general practice and medical care, especially after WWII, because the soldiers had a lot of time on their hands while recuperating."...

Distinct Brain Activity When Recalling Face of Another Race - July 7, 2011
The brain seems to work differently when memorizing the face of a person from one's own race than when memorizing a face from another race, according to researchers from Northwestern University. ...

Technology Not Causing Collapse of Family Life - July 7, 2011
Despite many claims that home life was being disrupted by video games, the pernicious effects of social media, or excessive texting by obsessed teenagers, overall the report painted a broadly positive picture of family life managing technology well. ...

America Still Needs a Hero - July 7, 2011
The noted psychologist Carl Jung believes hero worship stems from our collective consciousness and ends up in the annals of anthropomorphic mythology absent of individual determination. Simply put, we all need someone we can believe in and relate to, someone who will make it better and protect us. ...

Popular autism therapy a bit closer to insurance coverage - July 7, 2011
Two recent events come as good news for parents of children with autism - some of whom have struggled to pay for an expensive therapy not now covered by state-funded insurance plans....

Tearful scene at deportation - July 5, 2011
Dozens of friends, loved ones and classmates of 13-year-old Sebastian Martinez cried and comforted each other with prayer as the teenager and his family prepared to be deported to Colombia....

Video games can be healthy - July 5, 2011
No one ever seriously proposed a ban on "Bugs Bunny'' or "Ben 10.'' Still, it's easy to understand why parents and lawmakers cringe at "Modern Warfare,'' the top-selling video game last year, which allows kids to shoot innocent people, torture enemies, and leave behind a trail of realistic-looking gore. Indeed, much of the debate over video games has focused on whether they make children more aggressive. Research on this is inconclusive at best, and in many ways unconvincing. ...

Retired Far Hills psychiatrist, 80, to swim around Manhattan - July 5, 2011
When Dr. Paul Kiell participates in a swim relay around Manhattan on July 16, he probably will get a lot of quizzical looks because of his age. But the 80-year-old Far Hills resident is used to it, having participated in various swimming events around the country....

Children of soldiers serving in Afghanistan 'more likely to suffer mental health problems the longer their fathers spend in warzone' - July 5, 2011
Soldiers who served long deployments in Afghanistan or Iraq are more likely to have children with behavioural problems new research has found. A study, conducted at the University of North Carolina, analysed the medical records of 307,520 children aged 5 to 17 years old whose parents have seen active duty in the army. ...

Understanding Bipolar: You Don't Know the Half of It - July 1, 2011
I imagine many people would expect this article to be a rant on how people without bipolar disorder have no idea how bad we have it. I am sorry. It is not. It is for those who already know how bad it can be. They may not know the half of it, either. ...

Weight Loss Psychology: Why Your Brain Might be Holding You Back - July 1, 2011
Given the inability of the majority of us to manage our weight, are we all just weak-willed slackers? Or are other factors operating to make failure the most likely outcome?...

Movie Ratings: Helpful or Lame? - July 1, 2011
Do parents need more than guidelines to decide if 'Transformers' and other flicks are age appropriate?...

Emotional scars left by tornadoes could linger; American Red Cross providing counseling to victims - June 30, 2011
Since the tornadoes struck one month ago, American Red Cross mental-health workers have provided well over 1,500 consultations, both in the field and to those living in shelters, according to Rick Lee, director of the Pioneer Valley Red Cross chapter. ...

South Florida psychiatrist to plead guilty to massive Medicare fraud - June 30, 2011
A South Florida psychiatrist is scheduled to plead guilty Thursday to Medicare fraud for his role in the nation's largest mental-health clinic racket, totaling $200 million in bogus bills submitted by a Miami-based clinic chain to the government program, according to the Justice Department. ...

New York City Synagogue Bomb Plotters Are Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison - June 30, 2011
U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in Manhattan handed down punishments today against James Cromitie, 45, Onta Williams, 35, and David Williams, 30, who were found guilty in October of crimes including conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction against the U.S. A fourth defendant, Laguerre Payen, had his sentencing postponed pending a psychiatric evaluation....

Strangulation suspect escapes Maine psychiatric hospital; police catch him in neighboring city - June 30, 2011
A murder suspect who escaped from a psychiatric hospital by climbing over a fence apparently swam across a river before being arrested hours later in a neighboring city, police said Wednesday....

Don't read a text message, listen to it - June 29, 2011
A study conducted by the Department of Psychology at the University of Utah found that when drivers were talking on either a hand-held or hands-free cell-phone, their reactions were sluggish and they attempted to compensate by driving slower and increasing the following distance from the vehicle immediately in front of the -- traffic hazards by virtue of affecting the flow of cars around them....

Colombian family facing deportation Saturday fear death from FARC - June 29, 2011
Claudia Londono believes that if Canada deports her family to Colombia they will be abducted and killed by members of a guerrilla organization that has threatened her life....

Legacy of Mental Health Problems from Iraq and Afghanistan Wars Will Be Long-Lived - June 28, 2011
Some of the key psychological issues affecting the approximately two million American troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001 have been traumatic brain injury (TBI), depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-and the diagnoses often overlap....

SUPREME COURT ON VIDEOGAME VIOLENCE: IT'S NOT JUST A FREE-SPEECH PROBLEM, IT'S A BAD-RESEARCH PROBLEM - June 28, 2011
Sounding like the increasingly vocal skeptics in academia, Justice Antonin Scalia's opinion for the majority said the state's evidence for harm from games "is not compelling." (This passage begins on page 14 of the opinion.) Explaining why, it beat up psychology's leading advocate of this position. "California relies primarily on the research of the research of Dr. Craig Anderson and a few other research psychologists whose studies purport to show a connection between exposure to violent video games and harmful effects on children," Scalia writes. "These studies have been rejected by every court to consider them, and with good reason: They do not prove that violent videogames cause minors to act aggressively (which would at least be a beginning). ...

Shamed Birmingham medic copied material from Wikipedia to gain qualification - June 27, 2011
Shamed medic Aliveni Ramanujam was suspended after being caught out TWICE while doing a distance learning course at the University of Gloucestershire....

Program is a horse of a different color - June 27, 2011
"We are trying to work with adolescents who are experiencing some kind of challenges in their life, whether it's emotional, social, financial, academic or mental health," said program founder Ellen Healey, who owns the farm. "I was fortunate enough to be raised in a lifestyle where I could see the benefits of being around horses."...

We trust too much, warns psychologist - June 27, 2011
Trusting others is as much a failing as it is a strength of human nature, and that's why a leading psychologist says no matter how implausible the story, there are always people who will inevitably become the victim of a scammer....

A long road to a safe place: Children in state-licensed residential programs still face risk of injury - June 27, 2011
But 361 incident reports obtained by the Post-Gazette show that children in residential facilities continue to face danger at the hands of staff members and peers, as well as their own. According to these reports, there were at least 264 injuries to children living in Western Pennsylvania programs between January 2005 and December 2010, including 17 bone fractures, four broken bones and 18 lacerations deep enough to need stitches. Most of these injuries were related to restraints. Recent reports show that some staff members still restrain youth for offenses like "aggressive posturing," despite repeated state bulletins reminding providers that restraint is "an emergency measure of last resort." ...

Pair of Doctors Plead Guilty to Work Comp Fraud in Ohio - June 27, 2011
A pair of Illinois brothers who traveled to Columbus, Ohio, to practice psychiatry were sentenced for workers' compensation fraud after an investigation showed they were conducting inadequate examinations of injured workers and submitting false bills to the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC), the BWC reported. ...

A doggone good way to beat the blues - June 24, 2011
THEY are already helping the blind, deaf and elderly, and now they are healing the mentally ill. ...

Allstate files $1M fraud lawsuit in New York - June 24, 2011
Allstate Corp. said Thursday that it has filed an insurance fraud lawsuit in New York seeking to recover more than $1 million in paid personal injury benefits....

How comfort foods work like Prozac - June 24, 2011
The psychology behind why we turn to fatty staples like French fries and fried chicken when life gets rough....

Laughter: a cure for what ails you - June 23, 2011
Provine, who documented hundreds of candid social interactions in restaurants and malls and other public places, decided that the traditional idea of laughter as being an individual's response to something funny - the stand-up comedian model - didn't hold up in practice. Rather, he found, laughter most often functioned as a social bond, an innate and instinctive form of communication....

Brothers convicted of workers' comp fraud - June 23, 2011
Muhammed S. Choudhry pleaded no contest to a felony charge and his brother, Naseem M. Chaudhry, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor in Franklin County Common Pleas Court. The pleas were entered this month and were announced by the state agency yesterday....

U.S. Army Harbors Death-Obsessed Ghoul - June 23, 2011
On November 5, 2009, a lone gunman shot and killed 12 soldiers, one of whom was pregnant, and an Army civilian employee at Ft. Hood, Texas-the world's most populous U.S. military installation. Thirty others were wounded in the incident....

New 9/11 Fund May Not Pay to Treat Mental Illnesses - June 22, 2011
The rules, published Tuesday, are subject to a public comment period and could be altered, but they offer an important indication of the direction sought by the $2.8 billion fund's newly-appointed special master, Sheila Birnbaum. The new fund, created by Congress last year, puts off a decision on whether to compensate cancers until later in the process....

Depressive Symptoms: Like Father, Like Child - June 22, 2011
These study data identify paternal mental health problems as a previously unrecognized threat to children's mental health, David G. Rosenthal declared in presenting the results at the meeting....

How to Relieve Stress and Keep Calm Anywhere - June 22, 2011
Could you find tranquility and peace in the middle of one of the busiest, loudest, and most hectic places in America? Today, to kick off the first day of summer and celebrate the summer solstice, yoga enthusiasts in New York City are challenging themselves to find transcendence in the most unusual place, Times Square. From 7:30 am to 7:30 pm, the heart of Times Square is blanketed with yoga mats and transformed into a place of peace, comfort, and immaculate focus....

Bipolar label soars among kids - June 22, 2011
The number of American children diagnosed with bipolar disorder increased 40-fold in a recent 10-year span, one study found. In Minnesota, spending on powerful antipsychotic drugs to treat bipolar and other disorders in children has risen 17-fold since 2000 and exceeds $6 million annually -- just in one state-funded health program....

Brain power to ward off dementia may be a matter of walking - June 22, 2011
Even Majid Fotuhi, M.D., Ph.D., head of LifeBridge Health, Brain, and Spine Institute recommends walking. He is the author of "Crosswords to Keep Your Brain Young: A 6-Step Age-Defying Program" with Will Shortz, the New York Times crossword puzzle guru. ...

Dr. Jeremy A. Lazarus Of Denver Elected New President Of American Medical Association - June 21, 2011
A Denver private practitioner of psychiatry has been named the new president-elect of the American Medical Association today. Jeremy A. Lazarus, M.D., will assume his year-long term as president-elect of the nation's largest and most influential physician organization in June 2012. ...

Arkansas State Hospital administrator Charles Smith forced to resign - June 21, 2011
Amidst a federal review, two Arkansas State Hospital officials have chosen to step down. The announcement came early Friday as the Department of Human Services accepted resignations from hospital administrator Charles Smith and behavioral health director David Laffoon....

Chadbourn counselor faces murder charge - June 21, 2011
A Chadbourn counselor accused of shooting a man to death will be charged with first-degree murder as well as new charges of Medicaid fraud and arson....

Essentia director charged in Cloquet peeping incident - June 20, 2011
The director of Behavior Services for Essentia Health in Duluth is accused of wearing a black ski mask and a gun on his hip while peeking into the bedroom of a Cloquet girl near his home....

Whittier psychologist charged with bilking nearly $1 million from government - June 20, 2011
A Whittier psychologist was arrested by federal agents Tuesday morning for allegedly bilking the government of nearly $1 million, including fees for treatment sessions that supposedly took place while he was out of the country....

Peer-led mental health program celebrates success of first year - June 20, 2011
"The main message we'd like to get out to the community is that we're people like everyone else," said Belli, diagnosed with major depression. "If people can work around a physical problem, people can work around a mental or emotional problem and be successful." ...

Scientists Turn to Software to Help Treat Brain Injuries - June 17, 2011
Study will test whether "brain fitness" program can help veterans with traumatic brain injuries ...

Want Talk Therapy? Some are skipping the Psychiatrist - June 16, 2011
These days, going to a psychiatrist can be like going to a primary care doctor. A brief consultation followed by a prescription. A patient can be in and out in a few minutes....

Whitby man accused of faking doctorate pleads not guilty to fraud - June 14, 2011
A Whitby psychological associate accused of faking his credentials while testifying in family court cases has pleaded not guilty to fraud. ...

Little Girls in Beauty Pageants: Television Meets Bad Parenting - June 14, 2011
Shows like "Toddlers & Tiaras" and "Little Miss Perfect" really tick me off. The parents on that show are all control freaks that spend their child's college funds on sparkly tutus and force their kids to practice routines and speeches for hours....

Scientists search for cause, treatment for hoarding - June 14, 2011
Samuels, an associate professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University's School of Medicine, is the go-to guy nationwide for researchers seeking to understand the biological basis of hoarding - an intense, irrational drive to collect items in vast quantities, coupled with an inability to discard even objects that are worthless or broken. ...

New Orleans' mental health court helps those who can't help themselves - June 13, 2011
Welcome to mental health court, a program that was launched in New Orleans nearly a decade ago but faltered after Hurricane Katrina and lay dormant over the past few years for lack of funding until Herman revived it last month with a $100,000 federal grant. The idea: devote "wraparound" resources -- housing, transportation, health care, treatment, counseling -- to mentally ill, nonviolent probationers instead of jail....

Check stress before work kills you - June 13, 2011
Companies should conduct a "stress audit" on their staff at least once a year to find out how their workers are really coping with the demands of their jobs. But it takes good communication and willingness to explore problems, says an expert in workplace stress....

State should act quickly with questionable counselor, officials say - June 13, 2011
Colorado regulators should take quick action to stop local licensed professional counselor Edwin Shockney from practicing, the former longtime director of the regulatory board said Thursday. ...

Chandler mom disgusted by fast-food play areas starts crusade - June 13, 2011
A visit to a Tempe McDonald's PlayPlace with her children so disgusted Chandler mom Erin Carr Jordan that she crawled inside colorful tunnels to film the grime, then posted her experience on YouTube. Her outrage launched a personal crusade against unsanitary play areas and a push for tougher health regulations. ...

Canadian researchers question autism screening - June 13, 2011
A report from Canadian researchers published Monday says there is not enough sound evidence to support routine screening of children for autism, but several autism experts are questioning the paper's conclusions....

Do You Ever Feel Like You're Going Crazy? - June 13, 2011
Do you ever feel like you're going crazy? Does your heart suddenly beat rapidly? Do you get the sweats waiting for a bus or the train? Do you feel impending doom when nothing is wrong? ...

Senior Power: World Elder Abuse Awareness Day… - June 10, 2011
… will be observed on Wednesday, June 15, 2011. This week's column is the first of two on the subject of elder abuse, or, as it's referenced in libraries, Older people Abuse of. Older than what, I wonder....

California inmates will be shifted to local jails - June 10, 2011
Brown administration responds to Supreme Court's order to slash the state prison population...

Madison Center misdeeds hurt kids - June 10, 2011
Earlier this year, Madison Center was deeply in debt and legally dissolved, but the mental health provider's problems actually started some eight years prior as two former employees became whistle blowers. ...

Doctor Billed the Feds Millions for Treating Dead Patients - June 8, 2011
A Georgia physician who submitted tens of thousands of bogus Medicare and Medicaid claims for counseling sessions with dead patients pleaded guilty Monday in federal district court to two counts of health care fraud. ...

Teen sentenced to 22 years for killing stepfather, 6 years for killing mother - June 8, 2011
District Judge Martin Gonzales sentenced Rio Grande teen John Caudle, 16, to 22 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections for the death of his stepfather and six years for the death of his mother yesterday. The two sentences are to be served concurrently and are to be followed by five years of parole....

Interest Grows in New Drug-Free Treatment for Depression - June 8, 2011
A new drug-free treatment for depression is gaining momentum in the U.S. Transcranial magnentic stimulation, or TMS, works by sending electrical impulses into part of the brain. Therapists using the treatment are hailing it as a successful, non-invasive way of helping patients suffering from depression. Some in the psychiatric community however are more cautious about TMS....

'Streeting' - June 7, 2011
Without a proper place to house some of Virginia's mentally ill and disabled, some hospitals have simply turned the patients away ...

Color Red Increases the Speed and Strength of Reactions - June 6, 2011
What links speed, power, and the color red? Hint: it's not a sports car. It's your muscles. ...

Leo Rangell, a Stalwart of Freudian Talk Therapy, Dies at 97 - June 6, 2011
Dr. Leo Rangell, a leading psychoanalyst during the heyday of classical Freudian talk therapy in the 1960s and '70s, and a relentless advocate for the slow approach to treating emotional distress even as antidepressants and managed care made short-term treatment the norm, died on May 28 in Los Angeles. He was 97....

Hanford doctor's license yanked - June 6, 2011
The California Medical Board has suspended the license of a Hanford doctor after investigating an extensive rap sheet that includes drunken driving, check fraud and shoplifting and after a psychiatrist pronounced him mentally unfit to practice medicine....

Renowned Autism Expert Dr. Catherine Lord to Lead New Comprehensive Autism Treatment Institute - June 3, 2011
Institute for Brain Development Will Offer Evaluation, Treatment and Research for Autism Spectrum Disorders in Children and Adults...

Veterans show a 50 percent reduction in PTSD symptoms after 8 weeks of Transcendental Meditation - June 3, 2011
The study found that Transcendental Meditation produced significant reductions in stress and depression, and marked improvements in relationships and overall quality of life. Furthermore, the authors reported that the technique was easy to perform and was well accepted by the veterans....

Physicians call for new approach to address national 'epidemic of mass incarceration' - June 3, 2011
"More than half of all inmates have a history of substance use and dependence or mental illness, yet they are often released to the community without health insurance or access to appropriate medical care and treatment," says Josiah D. Rich, M.D., M.P.H., director of the Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights, which is based at The Miriam Hospital. "Sadly, without these linkages to transitional care in the community, the majority of these individuals will re-enter the revolving door of the criminal justice system, which already costs our county $50 billion annually," he adds....

New services available for post-9/11 vets and caregivers - June 1, 2011
Kaptur said the Department of Veteran Affairs is now accepting applications for caregiver services, which include a stipend, mental health services and access to health care insurance if they are not already entitled to care or services under a health plan....

Why the Combating Autism Re-authorization Act Falls Short - June 1, 2011
The Combating Autism Act (CAA) was passed in 2006 and called on all 50 states to provide screening, surveillance and early intervention for autism. The bill also authorized an estimated $108.5 million for autism research to be funded by the National Institutes of Health and earmarked an additional million dollars from the National Institute of Mental Health to implement the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC), to oversee federal agencies and efforts about autism research and programs. ...

Men Are From Mars, Women Are (Also) From Mars - June 1, 2011
But with my lady lens on I couldn't help but be struck by the tenth bullet point on the list-the one that takes on the differences in the brains of men and women....

Key diagnostic deadline draws near for psychiatrists and 'new' DSM conditions - June 1, 2011
Don't let the cheery Hawaiian shirts fool you - the nation's psychiatrists aren't feeling all that ku'u aku (relaxed) as the deadline nears for the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-5....

Don't blame Dr. Drew, supporters say - May 31, 2011
Two deaths in three months. That's become the legacy of the VH1 reality television program "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew," after two of its alumni, Mike Starr and Jeff Conaway, passed away after appearing on the program. ...

Conservation Psychology Institute Set for July 25-29 at Antioch University New England (AUNE) - May 31, 2011
A new institute focusing on the emerging field of conservation psychology will be held July 25 through 29 at Antioch University New England (AUNE) in Keene, New Hampshire. The intensive week-long Conservation Psychology Institute brings together students, scholars and faculty to explore how the tools of psychology can be used in conservation and sustainability practices....

Study: Autism leaves molecular marks on brains - May 31, 2011
Autism has confounded researchers for decades, ScienceDaily reports, because the neurological disease appears to develop without leaving any physical traces and seems to have as many causes as there are autistic people -- but now a UCLA research team claims they have shed new light into the ways genes and proteins glitch up within brain cells as autism develops, altering the mind. ...

Rutgers to Host New Jersey Anti-Bullying Conference - May 31, 2011
As New Jersey's 604 school districts scramble to comply with the state's new anti-bullying law, Rutgers will host a daylong conference aimed at translating theory into practice....

Swear off those darn curse words - May 31, 2011
This growing tolerance of public vulgarity may be one of the ways in which the barrier between private and public behaviour is being increasingly blurred in our society. There are more offensive words on more offensive television programmes, movies, tweets and popular songs than ever. ...

Psychologists Weigh in on Genderless Baby - May 31, 2011
Psychologist Michale Bradley weighed in on the matter with ABC News, stating "I applaud their overall goals here. But you know this child is not asking to be this thing, and the parents are imposing this role on the child, which is an imposition of identity. This kid is being drafted into a war that may hurt him or her terribly."...

Doctor: Balance Can Be Key to Reducing Teen Anxiety - May 31, 2011
The doctor pointed out that students today believe getting the highest possible grades, doing well on the SATs or ACTs, playing multiple sports and volunteering within their communities should equal the perfect pedigree to get into "the good school," which in turn should lead to happiness and success. In the process of attempting to keep all these balls in the air, many students are suffering physically, mentally and emotionally. With so much focus on grades and "building a resume," students lose sight of important developmental needs such as sleep and socialization....

What's secret to twins' sports success? - May 31, 2011
When you look at the science, it makes sense that identical twins would be good -- almost equally good -- at whatever sport they choose. After all, it's in their DNA. Literally. They share the same genes, 100 percent down the line. "Genetic factors underlie so much of our mental abilities, our personality styles, the kinds of things that we like, how our bodies are put together," said Dr. Nancy L. Segal, professor of psychology at California State University Fullerton and author of "Entwined Lives: Twins and What They Tell Us About Human Behavior."...

Doc arrested in Argentina was in trouble in Colo. - May 27, 2011
A psychiatrist arrested in Argentina on charges of falsely billing $1 million in health insurance claims in Hawaii was involved in similar fraud some 30 years ago in Colorado, according to documents obtained Wednesday. Dr. Carlos Warter was arrested in Argentina on Monday and is expected to be extradited to Honolulu. A federal grand jury indictment accuses the psychiatrist of knowingly sending about $1 million in inflated bills to Medicaid, the Hawaii Medical Service Association and TRICARE, a federally funded program that provides care to military personnel. In 1982, Warter was convicted of falsifying reports in Denver, according to a copy of the notice Washington state's Medical Quality Assurance Commission sent to Warter in denying his application to practice medicine. "The conviction was based on your stipulation that you overcharged the state of Colorado, through the Medicaid system, in the sum of $44,500," the 2009 notice said. The conviction suspended his ability to participate in Medicare and Medicaid programs. Washington state's denial was also based on Warter not disclosing that the Florida Board of Medicine had also denied his application to practice there in 1999. The Washington denial is attached to the Hawaii Medical Board's settlement agreement in which Warter voluntarily surrendered his license to practice medicine effective in February. According to the agreement, the Hawaii Medical Board learned Warter had been denied a license in Washington, which he didn't disclose on his application to renew his Hawaii license. His license was issued on May 14, 2004, and would have expired in 2012. Warter waived his right to a hearing and signed the agreement in August 2010 from Washington, where he was living. The federal indictment was unsealed in December 2010 and a warrant was later issued for his arrest. Printable Version Email This Share 0 Comments Add Your Comment New to the site? To use commenting, you need to sign up. Already a member? (Forgot Password?) Please log in. Email Password Remember Me Get Greenwich Time delivered ...

Christian 'gay cure' therapist guilty of malpractice - May 27, 2011
A Christian therapist who tried to turn a gay undercover journalist straight has been found guilty of professional malpractice....

Federal court revives Idaho lawsuit over children's mental health care - May 27, 2011
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has revived a lawsuit against Idaho over substandard children's mental health care....

Fast Food Causes Depression, Studies Say - May 27, 2011
The current number of depression sufferers in the world is around 150 million, and this number has increased in recent years. Scientists from the Spanish study have pointed to the increased popularity for mass produced fast food over the past 30 years as a reason for the surge. There is concern for those who live in areas where there are large concentrations of fast food restaurants or who are out of reach of fresh food....

Getting Back To Normal - May 27, 2011
"There is no right or normal way to think, feel or behave in this situation," Erica Weseman clinical director of Mountain Lakes Behavioral Healthcare said. "Some individuals who have seemingly coped well might experience difficulty weeks or months later....

The brain fixes itself, doctor concludes Neuroplasticity opens door to new treatment - May 27, 2011
The idea that the brain is malleable, changeable, modifiable - plastic, in other words - and has the potential to reconfigure itself after stroke and injury, and rewire itself out of learning disorders or even mental illnesses, helped put it on the bestseller list two years ago, and counting. ...

How you can help storm victims - May 25, 2011
Just hours after the deadly tornado touched down in Joplin, MO, the American Red Cross was on the ground, setting up a shelter and helping the homeless. ...

Las Vegas Judge to Replace Nancy Grace - May 25, 2011
Judge Jackie Glass will replace Nancy Grace on CBS Television Distribution's Swift Justice. According to Glass' court clerk, she submitted her resignation to Governor Brian Sandoval and her last day will be June 10....

Conservation Psychology Institute Set for July 25-29 - May 25, 2011
A new institute focusing on the emerging field of conservation psychology will be held July 25 through 29 at Antioch University New England (AUNE) in Keene, New Hampshire. The intensive week-long Conservation Psychology Institute brings together students, scholars and faculty to explore how the tools of psychology can be used in conservation and sustainability practices....

Argentina: Hawaii doctor nabbed for billing fraud - May 25, 2011
A psychiatrist who has spent a lifetime traveling the world, meeting famous people and giving spiritual awareness lectures has been arrested in Argentina on charges of falsely billing $1 million in health insurance claims in Hawaii, authorities said Tuesday....

Las Vegas police to pay $1 million to settle lawsuit in man's death - May 24, 2011
The Metropolitan Police Department will pay $1 million to the family of a mentally ill man killed two years ago in a confrontation with officers....

How To Dig Yourself Out From Being Down In The Dumps - May 24, 2011
We have endless scientific studies that tell us how thought patterns influence our health and well-being. We even know that negative thinking suppresses the immune system and often leads to illness. Studies published by the American Medical Association confirm that the majority of patient complaints and symptoms are stress-related. Wow! ...

Behavior modification treatment for criminals unethical: Profs - May 24, 2011
It is standard practice in mental-health centres and prisons countrywide, but two leading Canadian academics say using behavior modification – rewards or punishment designed to encourage good behavior – on killers, pedophiles and other mentally ill offenders is both unethical and ineffective....

Supreme Court Rules California Must Free Tens of Thousands of Inmates - May 23, 2011
A sharply divided Supreme Court Monday affirmed a controversial prisoner reduction plan forced on California prison administrators that requires the state to reduce its inmate population by tens-of-thousands to ease overcrowding. ...

Health Net Sponsors the 25th National Veterans Golden Age Games in Honolulu - May 23, 2011
Games help showcase preventive and therapeutic value of sports, fitness and recreation for seniors ...

Lawsuit: Only white workers at Wash. hospital ward - May 23, 2011
Nine Western State Hospital workers who said their bosses illegally accommodated a patient's request for white caregivers have filed a federal lawsuit saying the practice is not only discriminatory, but dangerous. ...

Excel Academy pays $175,000 for false Medicare billing - May 20, 2011
Excel Academy paid $175,000 to the state of Ohio in March in connection with claims of improper Medicaid billing in 2007 and 2008. ...

Meditate Your Way to A More Creative Mind - May 20, 2011
"A decade ago, we thought you got what you were given at birth and that was pretty much it," says Joshua Aronson, a psychologist at New York University who studies intellectual performance. "But now we know the number of brain cells can increase throughout your life through neurogenesis. There's great evidence that shows if you really work on a skill, the part of the brain associated with that skill grows. The mind is like a muscle. If you don't keep exercising it, it will atrophy."...

Teens addicted to the internet 'more likely to be depressed, angry and use drugs' - May 20, 2011
One in every 25 teens is seriously addicted to the internet and risks depression and drug addiction, a study claims. In findings that will worry parents across America, researchers said going online was such a compulsion for some High School students that withdrawing could cause serious medical and psychological consequences. ...

Should McDonald's Retire Ronald and (Gasp) Do Away With Happy Meals? - May 20, 2011
Ronald McDonald could be headed for retirement if 550 health professionals and organizations have their way. ...

Habits that make you happier - May 18, 2011
Why are some people happier than others? Is it money? Possibly. Their personality? Their outlook on life? All good theories, but although man has been searching for the key to happiness for centuries, no one's really thought to leave the search to science -- at least not until very recently. ...

Meditation: don't leave home without it - May 18, 2011
It's not just anger management and lower cholesterol. A daily dose of meditation is a route to spiritual joy and mental health...

Forget 'Cuckoo's Nest' - Safer shock therapy helping treat depression - May 18, 2011
Today an estimated 100,000 Americans - two-thirds of them women - undergo the treatment for major depression and other severe mental illnesses each year. That's about triple the number of procedures at ECT's lowest point, in 1980, when an onslaught of new anti-psychotic drugs as well as public stigma toward the treatment - driven in significant part by movies like "Cuckoo's Nest" - led to a dramatic drop in its usage. But the therapy has been making a quiet comeback in recent years. ...

Walking prescribed for patients with depression - May 17, 2011
It is estimated that 19 million Americans are living with depression, and three-quarters of patients with severe depression first seek help through their primary care clinic. The average person waits nearly a decade before seeking treatment for mental illnesses....

Economic Distress, Suicide Rates in Japan Could Be Harbinger for U.S. - May 17, 2011
Economic crisis in the United States could lead to an increase in suicides if U.S. trends follow the pattern in Japan during that country's economic downturn a decade ago, according to Dr. William R. Yates and his colleagues....

Inpatient Psychiatric Prospective Payment Final Rule Issued - May 17, 2011
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the final rule related to payment updates for inpatient psychiatric facilities (IPF) for Rate Year (RY) 2012 on May 5, 2011. The final rule includes a 15-month update period beginning July 1, 2011, to transition the RYs to coincide with the federal fiscal year, similar to inpatient acute and rehabilitation hospital updates. ...

Autism Takes an Economic Toll on Mom's Job, Income: Study - May 16, 2011
Autism takes a grim economic toll on families, resulting in substantial underemployment and lost income among mothers, University of Pennsylvania researchers find....

Teenager gets sent home because of a bully, bully stays in school. - May 16, 2011
When a child is bullied, it is normal they will feel feelings of withdraw, frustration, fatigue, "not wanting to live" - being the worse feeling because they are called names, victimized by the bully or bullies that include labeling their target (the victim) resulting in the victim not wanting to be seen in school or in public. This is a sad and terrible way for a child to live and enjoy their youth – all because of being bullied. Worse – the school was notified of the master bully and his behavior more than once by more than one parent starting from middle school into high school. ...

A memorial to Seth Jordan - May 16, 2011
Now, in Seth Jordan's memory, his family is helping to fund a new position at Shalom House: a case manager who is dedicated to helping people with mental illness transition from Spring Harbor's psychiatric hospital to outpatient treatment and other support systems....

Psychiatric Association coming to Honolulu - May 13, 2011
Hawaii better get ready for the 10,000 psychiatrists and researchers who will be in Honolulu this weekend for the American Psychiatric Association's 164th Annual Meeting at the Hawaii Convention Center. ...

Head of Vermont State Hospital resigns - May 13, 2011
Terry Rowe, executive director of the Vermont State Hospital, announced her resignation Thursday. She has served as head of the state facility for severely mentally ill patients for seven years. ...

Texas' Wild Tea Party - May 13, 2011
On the muggy afternoon of Tax Day, state Representative Mike Villarreal hurried into his House Ways and Means Committee meeting, running late. One of the few rising stars in the Texas Democratic Party, which was swamped in November by a Tea Party tsunami, the 39-year-old from San Antonio is known as that rarest of beasts at the Capitol: a thoughtful, progressive policy wonk....

Families to benefit from Federal Budget's mental health revamp - May 12, 2011
MT Druitt families are expected to benefit from the Federal Budget's $2.2 billion mental health program....

State High Court Says Mentally Ill Have Medical Privacy Rights - May 12, 2011
A new ruling by the state's high court will safeguard mental health patients' privacy rights....

New book claims all women want to be 'daddy's girl' - May 11, 2011
Dr. Peggy Drexler, an assistant professor of psychology at Cornell University's Weill Medical College, has just released her new book, "Our Fathers, Ourselves," which attests that father-daughter relationships remain a crucial part of development for girls. ...

Oregon Senate Votes to Stop Sale of "Suicide Kits," Hoods - May 11, 2011
Assisted suicide is perfectly fine in Oregon, the first state to legalize the grisly practice, but the sale of so-called "suicide kits" - hoods or other items people can use to kill themselves - has been prohibited....

Swan 'proud' of $1.5b boost for mental health - May 10, 2011
The Treasurer has announced an extra $1.5 billion for mental health services, with Wayne Swan saying he is proud the Federal Government has been able to find the money in a tight budget....

National Women's Health Week: May 8th-14th - May 10, 2011
This week is National Women's Health Week....

VA taking requests for family caregiver program - May 10, 2011
Home caregivers of post-9/11 veterans can apply for a stipend, mental health services and access to health care insurance, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced Thursday....

Happy disposition? New study claims it could be in your genes - May 10, 2011
It has long been suspected that this gene plays a role in mental health but this is the first study to show that it is instrumental in shaping our individual happiness levels…this finding helps to explain why we each have a unique baseline level of happiness and why some people tend to be naturally happier than others, and that's in no small part due to our individual genetic make-up', said behavioural economist Jan-Emmanuel De Neve of the London School of Economics, who led the study....

American Red Cross volunteer helps tornado victims - May 10, 2011
An American Red Cross volunteer from York County describes the devastation from the twisters in Tennessee as "unimaginable." Dr. Kathy Jansen, a psychologist with York Hospital, has been working in rural Greene County, where three tornadoes touched down last month. She will be there for two weeks. ...

Significant Decline in Home Help Services for Dementia Patients - May 10, 2011
A conference in Galway will be drafted to highlight the delicate social issue about the significant decline in home help services, particularly for patients suffering from dementia although, offering care to such persons can impart extreme stress on the care giver....

Schizophrenic Simulation: Computer Acts Out Human Disease - May 9, 2011
A computer that claims responsibility for a terrorist bombing might typically be cause for alarm, but one particular computer's delusional tale delighted researchers at the University of Texas at Austin. ...

Psychiatry 'bible' structure overhauled - May 9, 2011
Reflecting a new understanding of many mental illnesses, the proposed organization for the newest edition of the "bible" of psychiatry is now open for public comment at dsm5.org....

Sen. Codey calls for closing of Newark boarding home after mentally-ill resident attacked - May 6, 2011
Citing a brutal attack on a 64-year-old female resident in the yard of the Hills Boarding Home in Newark Monday night and what he described as the state-subsidized facility's history of poor conditions, Sen. Richard J. Codey Wednesday called for the boarding home to be shut down and for 25 mentally-troubled residents to be transferred to other facilities....

American Red Cross calls for health, mental health volunteers in aftermath of recent storms - May 6, 2011
The American Red Cross Twin Cities Area Chapter is calling for licensed health and mental health volunteers to help those in need after the recent tornadoes, floods and storms. ...

Rabbi Bronstein Speaks Interfaith Mental Illness Conference - May 6, 2011
In recognition of May as Mental Health Month, the Interfaith Network on Mental Illness (INMI), in collaboration with Congregation Har HaShem and other groups in Boulder, is sponsoring a four-day conference about "Spirituality and Mental Illness." As a founding member of the Board of INMI, Rabbi Deborah Bronstein will speak during the four-day event....

Judge deems accused killer competent to stand trial - May 4, 2011
A Vernal woman accused of gunning down her estranged husband nearly 7 years ago is competent to stand trial, a judge ruled Tuesday. Eighth District Judge A. Lynn Payne deemed Evelyn Christine Johnson, 74, capable of aiding in her own defense and found that she understands the nature of the charge against her. The judge's ruling was based on a recently completed report prepared by a psychiatrist at the Utah State Hospital....

Study: Rate Of Autism Equal For Children, Adults - May 4, 2011
Autism is just as common among adults as it is in children, a new study suggests, calling into question claims of an autism epidemic....

A new trend in motherhood: ambivalance - May 4, 2011
The dirty secret is leaking out, through blogs, message boards, and even books. Mothers saying in words loaded with guilt, "I'm not enjoying this. This isn't like I thought it would be. I'm not fulfilled. And I feel really, really bad about that."...

Doctor Focuses on the Minds of the Elderly - May 2, 2011
The guest of honor and her two friends were beaming when Dr. Marc E. Agronin, a geriatric psychiatrist and the director of mental health, arrived with a hug for everyone long after what would be normal office hours. ...

Town of Onondaga woman pleads guilty in cancer-scam fundraiser - May 2, 2011
Corcoran admitted she faked having cancer when she held a fundraiser last July to raise money that was supposed to help pay her medical bills. Instead, she told authorities she didn't have cancer and used some of the money to pay for repairs on her car....

Yale Study Vindicates Childhood Obesity Pioneer's Findings - April 29, 2011
A team of researchers at Yale University recently released a study showing that people can become addicted to junk food. Dr. Robert Pretlow, a Seattle pediatrician, has been saying that for years. Preview his 10-year study involving 29,000 overweight kids....

Nursing homes face $4 billion Medicare cut in 2012 - April 29, 2011
The agency that governs Medicare is considering adjusting its payment rates to take back nearly $4 billion in unexpected payments to nursing homes....

Music Lessons in Youth Boost Mental Health for Seniors - April 27, 2011
All those hours of tedious piano practice as a child pay off in later years, a new study has found. ...

Helping the Mentally Ill to Quit Smoking - April 27, 2011
A pilot program in New York City is challenging a long-held belief about cigarette smoking-that people with mental-health problems aren't interested in quitting....

New Apple iPhone App Helps Military Personnel Cope with Stress Disorder - April 27, 2011
The VA and Defense Department have launched an app to help military personnel, their friends and families manage post-traumatic stress disorder following deployment....

Experts say sleep is critical for every aspect of daily life - April 27, 2011
Freshmen gain new freedoms and responsibilities as they enter college and exit the routine of high school. But among these freedoms and responsibilities lies one commonly overlooked factor that has the ability to hinder their health and productivity: sleep....

Art therapy for offenders helps them to 'heal' - April 27, 2011
At first glance, they could be A-level art exam entries, or the outcome of an evening class. But the creative minds behind these works of art have a history of violence, even murder. The works are the fruit of pioneering art psychotherapy, which aims to understand and heal some of society's most dangerous minds. ...

Mental health mandate hits jails - April 26, 2011
•Law sets standards some sheriffs say they can't meet...

Conn. court orders new trial in suicide case - April 26, 2011
The Connecticut Appellate Court on Monday ordered a new trial in the case of a prominent psychiatric hospital, saying the trial judge failed to ask jurors if they were influenced by a newspaper story in finding that the hospital was not liable for a patient's suicide in 2002. ...

Trying to predict criminal behaviour is a bit psychotic - April 26, 2011
Imagine having the violent deaths of six innocent people on your conscience. You're indicted on 49 criminal charges and if convicted, you could face the death penalty. Would you smile?...

Group says prescription changes could hurt prisoners, bottom line - April 22, 2011
A group says the Michigan Department of Corrections is taking mentally ill prisoners off drugs that stabilize their conditions in favor of cheaper drugs that may not work as well, endangering safety and ultimately driving up costs....

HIPAA Update: New Civil Penalties Place Professionals in Peril - April 22, 2011
A new era dawned on HIPAA this year, as the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that the first-ever civil money penalty would be awarded as a result of a violation of the newly amended Privacy Rule....

Why Are We Throwing Traumatized Vets in Jail for Calling 911? - April 22, 2011
On March 4, 2011, the Honorable J. Thomas Kirkman, addressed the defendant in Barnstable Massachusetts' Second District Court: "Mr. Bangert, I see that you served your country honorably. It's time to do that again. I'm asking you to serve your country honorably again by (spending) nine months in the house of correction." And the gavel came down. ...

Five top tips on staying happy at work - April 22, 2011
All of us cynical, sardonic, too-smart-for-our-own-and-everyone-else's-good IT professionals who think we can get ahead in our careers based purely on our blazing intellects will surely question the following stat: Only 25 percent of job success stems from intelligence and technical skills, according to research conducted in the field of emotional intelligence....

Does video game violence harm teens? New study weighs the evidence - April 22, 2011
How much scientific evidence is there for and against the assertion that exposure to video game violence can harm teens? Three researchers have developed a novel method to consider that question: they analyzed the research output of experts who filed a brief in a U.S. Supreme Court case involving violent video games and teens. Their conclusion? Experts who say violent video games are harmful to teens have published much more evidence supporting their claims than have experts on the other side of the debate....

Special-ed boy, 7, 'traumatised' after cops HANDCUFF him as he's sent to hospital by school - April 22, 2011
A special-needs pupil is so traumatised by what happened that he's wetting himself, throwing up and screaming when he hears ambulance sirens, his mother says. ...

County Defends RFP Decision - April 20, 2011
The Civil Service Employees Association, the union representing the majority of Madison County workers, issued a press release Thursday, "…trying to calm some concerns over confusing reports that the Madison County Mental Health Department presented the Madison County Treasurer with a 'surprise' bill of more than $1 million dollars in State Medicaid overpayments."...

American Therapeutic Corporation Caught In $100-$200 Million Medicare Fraud - April 20, 2011
Acevedo admitted that as marketing director, her job was to orchestrate the payment of kickbacks and bribes used to recruit Medicare beneficiaries to attend ATC and a related company, American Sleep Institute (ASI). Acevedo admitted that the Medicare beneficiaries recruited by ATC and ASI, were not eligible to receive the PHP and sleep study services that ATC and ASI billed to Medicare, and that the services were not medically necessary....

Defense argues teen shooting suspect was 'victim of his circumstances' - April 20, 2011
A hearing for the teenager accusing of shooting a former classmate at a Martinsville middle school resumed Tuesday for the second day of testimony. Once again, the juvenile courtroom was packed. The hearing is about whether or not to charge the suspect, Michael Phelps, as an adult or whether the case should stay in the juvenile court system....

Oil Spill Victim Threatens To Kill Everyone Inside BP Claims Office - April 20, 2011
Police detain an oil spill victim who threatened to kill everyone inside a local Gulf Coast Claims Facility Office, then take his own life....

15 Ways To Support a Loved One with Serious Mental Illness - April 19, 2011
Supporting a loved one with mental illness presents many challenges. But one of them isn't blame. It's important for families "to learn that they didn't cause [their loved one's disorder] and they can't cure it," according to Harriet Lefley, Ph.D, professor at the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine who's worked with families for 25 years....

Manic depression has been rebranded as bipolar... But are so many of us really mentally ill? - April 19, 2011
When Lucy Johnstone began working in mental health nearly 20 years ago, bipolar disorder - or manic depression as it was known then - made up a small fraction of her workload. ...

Mentally Ill Languish In Hospital Emergency Rooms - April 19, 2011
As he lay on a gurney in the emergency department of Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island, Erik grew increasingly upset. He had called the police to report a theft from his apartment, but wound up being taken to the hospital....

Waterlow verdict: victims of a system powerless to protect - April 19, 2011
THE families of people with psychiatric illnesses are powerless to protect themselves from violent behavior and the mental health system needs an urgent overhaul, the partner of the slain Sydney art curator Nicholas Waterlow says. ...

First Miami defendant in nation's biggest health fraud case pleads guilty - April 19, 2011
The first Miami defendant in the nation's largest mental healthcare fraud case pleaded guilty to paying millions of dollars in kickbacks in exchange for Medicare patients who didn't need the costly therapy. ...

Virginia Tech tragedy prompts positive changes - April 19, 2011
On March 13, 2007, a Virginia Tech student walked into a Roanoke gun store, armed with a credit card. A short time later, Seung-Hui Cho walked out of Roanoke Firearms, armed with a Glock 9 mm pistol....

I-Team: Court Program for Mentally Ill Could End - April 19, 2011
Unless something changes, on July 1, Clark County's mental health court will cease to exist. The program which has been in place since 2003 helps those with a mental illness to stay out of jail....

Perry South academy to undergo curriculum, discipline changes - April 19, 2011
Curriculum changes and a new approach to discipline are in store for at-risk youths attending Clayton Academy. ...

RED CROSS RESPONDS TO DISASTER - April 19, 2011
The American Red Cross of Mississippi has provided food or shelter to nearly 5,000 people across the state in the wake of a deadly tornado and other severe weather....

Mental health system is at tremendous risk - April 16, 2011
Rep. Tom Keane's April 12 Monitor column, "Those eligible for help will still be served," gives me grave concern that legislators may have a misperception of what community mental health centers are required to provide as private, nonprofit organizations designated by the state....

Doctors Behavioral Health Center under state probe - April 11, 2011
The California Department of Public Health confirmed this week it has an open investigation into Doctors Behavioral Health Center in Modesto....

Child Psychiatrist Arrested After Allegedly Trying to Abduct 2 Children - April 11, 2011
Authorities in Florida have arrested a child psychiatrist from Wisconsin who allegedly attempted to abduct two children at a North Naples beach after attacking them and a sibling....

Pending mental health legislation should pass - April 8, 2011
When people with mental health issues receive needed treatment, everyone benefits. The pressing question is under what circumstances can, or should, a person with a mental illness be forced to take medication or receive treatment that he/she may not want....

Netsmart Technologies Offers Meaningful Use Readiness Assessment Service to Help Providers Prepare for ARRA EHR Incentive Funds - April 8, 2011
Netsmart Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of enterprise-wide software and services for health and human services organizations, today announced that it is offering Meaningful Use readiness assessment services to help its customers prepare their organizations to meet the criteria and receive Medicaid and Medicare incentive funds for the Meaningful Use of an Electronic Health Record (EHR) under provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009....

APA Protests Insurers' Discrimination in Paying for E/M Services - April 3, 2011
Insurance companies' denial of reimbursement for E/M-coded services submitted by psychiatrists is a violation of the federal parity law, APA's medical director tells insurance commissioners in all 50 states. ...

Second guilty plea from area 'pill mill' - March 29, 2011
A 53-year-old Columbus woman with a criminal history admitted yesterday that she helped run a North Side "pill mill" that sold oxycodone prescriptions to people from Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia....

Bills aim to close mental health coverage gap - March 28, 2011
Private insurance plans in Texas aren't required to cover all emotional disorders for children, and families pay the price....

GoodTherapy.org Releases Syndicated Therapy Advice Column - March 27, 2011
GoodTherapy.org recently launched its new, syndicated bi-weekly column "Dear GoodTherapy.org"; aimed at answering real questions for real peoples' problems about psychotherapy, marriage counseling and mental health issues. ...

Massachusetts mental health care funding cutbacks worry counselors - March 27, 2011
Across Massachusetts, mental health agencies are feeling the strain of cutbacks that have ripped nearly $85 million from the state's Department of Mental Health budget since 2009....

EMR Resource EMRapproved.com Launches New Online Research Tools and Directories - March 23, 2011
Comprehensive EMR research, consulting and vending website EMRapproved.com launches new online tools, resources and directories amid increased demand for EMR consulting services....

Culture and Stigma Affect Mental Health Care for Latinos - March 22, 2011
Latinos benefit from antidepressants like everybody else - only they do not use them nearly as often. The trick is getting past some cultural barriers....

Why is US mental health so fragile? - March 20, 2011
A recent international survey conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health found that the incidence of bipolar disorder - aka, manic depression - is nearly twice as high in the U.S. as elsewhere in the world....

Bill Would Add Mental Health To EHR Incentives - March 18, 2011
Licensed psychologists, clinical social workers, and behavioral health facilities would have access to federal electronic health record stimulus funding under the proposed Senate legislation. ...

Online Messaging Provides Effective Follow-Up Care For Depression - March 18, 2011
Online messaging has been shown to be effective in providing follow-up care to patients suffering from depression, U.S. researchers say....

Netsmart Technologies' CMHC/MIS Behavioral Health Software Passes ARRA Certification Tests - March 17, 2011
Netsmart was the first behavioral healthcare software provider to offer a Complete ARRA-certified EHR when it achieved certification for its Avatar™ 2011 enterprise software in December 2010. In addition to CMHC/MIS 4.2 software, Netsmart is also preparing its Insight™ public health software product for ARRA certification in 2011....

Cuts at state mental hospital put pressure on local Va. officials - March 17, 2011
The fiscally strapped state psychiatric hospital serving Northern Virginia is cutting beds for people in crisis, forcing local mental health officials to scramble to come up with alternatives....

Norfolk doctor put on indefinite probation - March 17, 2011
In a 30-day period in 2009, a patient filled prescriptions for 70 narcotic patches from eight different doctors, according to state medical records. In the span of one year, the patient received prescriptions from 40 doctors....

Bill Would Extend EHR Incentive Pay to Behavioral Health Care - March 16, 2011
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) has introduced a bill (S 539) that would make health IT incentive payments available to mental health care, behavioral health care and substance misuse treatment professionals and facilities....

OptumHealth and MultiCare Health System Introduce Mobile Medical Clinic for People with Mental Health Challenges - March 16, 2011
OptumHealth and MultiCare Health System have teamed up to provide a mobile medical clinic to help community mental health agencies deliver primary care services to people with mental health challenges....

Specialists On Call Launches Emergency Telepsychiatry Service in Florida - March 16, 2011
Nation’s Leading Provider of Clinical Telemedicine Services Helps Florida Hospital Zephyrhills with its Emergency Psychiatric Patients...

Despite rising need, mental health takes back seat - March 14, 2011
Advocates say that in extreme cases like Loughner's, it's possible the public system may not have been able to do much to stop him. But mental health leaders are worried that soon, they may not be able to do much of anything at all. ...

Miss. AG hopes settlement will fund mental health - March 12, 2011
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood said Thursday he hopes that lawmakers will use $20.2 million that the state received from settling its lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies to fund mental health programs next year....

Phony Burlco psychiatrist -- 'Sigmund Fraud' -- gets 6 years for duping investors - March 12, 2011
A convicted con man whom a headline writer once dubbed "Sigmund Fraud'' was sentenced Thursday to almost six years in federal prison for ripping off duped investors for $1.5 million....

Doctor claims Marworth prescribed wrong medication - March 10, 2011
Bad management decisions and the wrong medication prescribed at Marworth led to the death of a New Jersey man who died in the woods days after wandering away from the drug and alcohol rehab center in Waverly....

Psychiatry has devolved from personalized therapy to shameless drug dealing - March 9, 2011
Back in the day, psychiatrists used to actually consult intimately with their patients and provide some type of personalized, talk-based therapy as part of their practice. The modern-day approach to psychiatry, however, has become more like a series of drug dealing sessions in which psychiatrists will briefly consult with their patients and prescribe them drugs for their problems....

Qualifacts EHR Selected by Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services - March 9, 2011
Qualifacts Systems, Inc., announced today that Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services in Grand Rapids, Mich., has selected the CareLogic Enterprise electronic health record (EHR) as the best solution to meet its needs. ...

Jersey City physiatrist pays $2.25M for double-billing U.S. health care programs - March 8, 2011
A Hudson County physiatrist paid $2.25 million yesterday under an agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office to settle allegations she double-billed federal health care programs....

Talk Doesn't Pay, So Psychiatry Turns Instead to Drug Therapy - March 6, 2011
Like many of the nation's 48,000 psychiatrists, Dr. Levin, in large part because of changes in how much insurance will pay, no longer provides talk therapy, the form of psychiatry popularized by Sigmund Freud that dominated the profession for decades....

Cambridge Memorial confident in disciplined psychiatrist's care - March 2, 2011
Cambridge Memorial Hospital defends the hiring of a psychiatrist disciplined for professional misconduct after having a romantic relationship with a patient....

"Olmsted bill" gets no objection, passes to Senate fast track - March 2, 2011
It's informally known as the Olmsted bill, named for Dallas child psychiatrist William Olmsted - who was allowed to continue his practice for several years after he molested a 10-year-old neighbor. ...

Emerging Market Leader in Web-Based Electronic Medical Records (EMR) Recognized By Financial Tech Community - February 27, 2011
Dr. David Lischner has first-hand experience of how administrative burdens affect a health care practitioner's ability to focus on patient care. He created Vālant's 100% Web-based EMR and Practice Management System for psychiatrists and other mental health professionals primarily to improve his own efficiencies. ...

3 doctors, 18 others charged in Fla. Medicare scam - February 16, 2011
Three doctors and 18 other people were charged Tuesday with billing Medicare for roughly $200 million in bogus mental health services for patients suffering from Alzheimer's and severe dementia....

Identifying the violent mentally ill is a challenge, experts say - January 11, 2011
Shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner showed signs of apparent mental illness, professionals say, but it's not always possible to predict if someone will become violent. And in Arizona, budget cuts have severely taxed mental health services....

In Arizona, anyone concerned can report odd behavior to mental-health experts - January 11, 2011
Under Arizona law, any one of Jared Lee Loughner's classmates or teachers at Pima Community College so concerned about his increasingly bizarre behavior could have contacted local officials and asked that he be evaluated for mental illness and potentially committed for psychiatric treatment. ...

North Carolina rolls out latest mental health program - January 11, 2011
Under the new program, critical mental health services are provided to patients by a single organization with increased medical oversight....

More young people are winding up in nursing homes - January 11, 2011
The number of under-65 nursing home residents has risen about 22 percent in the past eight years to about 203,000, according to an analysis of statistics from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services....

Blue Cross retreats on preapproval for mental health services - January 11, 2011
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois has dropped a plan to require subscribers to get prior approval to access a broad range of outpatient mental health services....

CAMFT Launches CounselingCalifornia.com to Help Californians Connect With Therapists - January 11, 2011
The free service created by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) addresses a significant hurdle for Californians looking for counselors and therapists. ...

Budget proposal boosts mental health funds - December 21, 2010
Gov. Bob McDonnell's proposed budget gives an overdue boost to mental health services in Hampton Roads, one community services board executive said Friday. ...

Survey: ER Patients at Significant Risk Due to Lack of Specialists - December 21, 2010
Almost three quarters of hospital emergency department administrators nationwide report that lack of medical specialists at their facilities poses a risk to ER patients – in some cases a very significant risk. ...

Many Americans grew up in troubled homes: CDC study - December 21, 2010
Almost 60 percent of Americans surveyed say they suffered at least one form of physical or emotional abuse or other adversity in their childhoods, raising the risk of later health problems and early death....

Sheriffs Worry Over Proposed Mental Health Cuts - December 21, 2010
As the number of beds shrinks, treatment waiting lists expand. That means treatment delays for both law-abiding Texans and criminal offenders with mental illness....

Netsmart Technologies to Host Valuable Meaningful Use Web Seminars - December 20, 2010
Netsmart Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of software and services for health and human services organizations, will host two upcoming Web seminars to help existing and potential new Netsmart customers learn how they can take immediate action to qualify for valuable Meaningful Use incentive dollars....

TherapySites.com Announces Partnership with the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy to Offer Website and Online Marketing Solutions f - December 20, 2010
New Partnership with the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) Expands Offerings and Gives Therapists Greater Options in Developing an Effective Online Presence....

State fines Pratt Street mental health clinic over doctor's hiring - December 15, 2010
State health regulators disclosed Thursday that they have fined Baltimore Behavioral Health Inc. $90,000 for employing a psychiatrist who had been convicted several years earlier of Medicaid fraud....

SSI Encourages Families to Label Healthy Children with ADHD as Disabled - December 15, 2010

Fake Branchburg psychoanalyst, Veterans Affairs employee sentenced to prison for health care fraud - December 15, 2010
A Branchburg man and a Neshanic Station woman were sentenced to prison today for their roles in a scheme in which he impersonated a licensed psychoanalyst – treating over 20 patients and defrauding several health insurance companies....

Advanced Practice Clinicians / Providers: NP jobs Nurse ... - December 9, 2010

Netsmart Technologies is First Behavioral Healthcare Software Provider to Attain Complete ARRA-Certified Electronic Health Record - December 9, 2010
Successful Completion of ARRA ONC-ATCB Certification Tests Finalizes ARRA Certification for Avatar™ 2011 EHR for both Eligible Professionals and Hospitals...

CBHCare offers free mental health screening - December 9, 2010
Comprehensive Behavioral Healthcare, Inc. of Lyndhurst are offering a free, anonymous online mental health self-assessment....

Repair mental health system - December 6, 2010
No one would argue that North Carolina's decade-long effort to reform and rebuild its mental health services delivery system has gone well. ...

Series explores drug-maker payments to doctors - December 6, 2010
Medications save lives and bring comfort to the sick. But they're also a big business. The nonprofit investigative newsroom ProPublica has been pulling back the curtain on pharmaceutical giants that lavish money on physicians who promote their products....

Center for Practice Innovations at Columbia Psychiatry and Allen Communication Win the Gold at Brandon Hall Awards - December 3, 2010
CPI and its partners are being recognized for their exciting new Focus on Integrated Treatment (FIT) training courses. The FIT courses are for mental health and substance use disorder professionals who treat people coping with Co-Occurring mental health and substance use Disorders (COD)....

Pediatric Mental Health Program Increases Access in Massachusetts - November 30, 2010
A state-funded initiative to offer free mental health consultations to pediatric primary care physicians increased the proportion of pediatricians who said they were able to meet the needs of their psychiatric patients from 8% to 63% in 3.5 years....

Announcing TherapyNotes.com: Practice Management System for Mental Health Professionals - November 30, 2010
After years of planning, development, and testing, TherapyNotes, LLC is excited to announce the release of TherapyNotes. It is designed to help mental health professionals spend less time managing their practice and more time helping their clients. Since the program is intuitive, professionals can start using it right away. This online practice management system includes robust notes, scheduling, and billing features....

Atlanta Car Accident Doctors Help Injured People Without Out-of-Pocket Expenses - November 27, 2010
Regional Medical Group in Atlanta, Ga now provides medical care for injured patients on a lien basis, meaning patients don't pay any money out-of-pocket, the clinic gets paid for their services when the patient's case is settled....

State agencies propose closing hospitals, mental health cuts - November 25, 2010
Two state mental hospitals and as many as eight correctional facilities would close under state officials' proposals to meet Gov. Robert F. McDonnell's request for budget-cutting ideas....

State network for behavioral health info captures attention - November 25, 2010
The nation's behavioral health community is taking notice of a state electronic records network expected to go live early next year....

Rehab hospitals' margins rise - November 25, 2010
Operating margins rose in Pennsylvania's rehabilitation and psychiatric hospitals during fiscal 2009, according to a report released Tuesday by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council....

Mandating insurers to cover autism would be a costly mistake - November 24, 2010
The Michigan Information and Research Service reports that there is an effort in the state Senate to negotiate some sort of agreement on an autism mandate package that has already passed the House....

State health chief pledges to safeguard public mental health dollars - November 24, 2010
Maryland's top health official said Monday that his agency would do all it can to ensure that scarce mental health resources are spent properly after a Baltimore Sun investigation into Baltimore Behavioral Health Inc. uncovered the nonprofit clinic's large Medicaid billings and other concerns....

BBH employed doctor convicted of Medicaid fraud - November 23, 2010
Baltimore Behavioral Health Inc. is under investigation by the state's health inspector general for employing a psychiatrist who had been convicted several years earlier of Medicaid fraud....

Universal Health Services Completes Acquisition of Psychiatric Solutions - November 22, 2010
Universal Health Services, Inc. ("UHS") announced today that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of Psychiatric Solutions, Inc. ("PSI"). ...

Legislature will close loopholes for pill mills - November 22, 2010
Prescription drug abuse and the continuing threat caused by pill mills continue to be a top priority of mine....

Affordable Care Act Bolsters the Primary Care Workforce in Medically Underserved Communities - November 22, 2010
$290 Million in new funding for the National Health Service Corps will help primary care clinicians repay student loans while serving communities....

Reaching the remote: Telemedicine gains ground - November 22, 2010
Services that provide specialists to patients in underserved areas are likely to expand as demands on the health care system increase....

Psychiatrists dominate doc-payment database - November 21, 2010
The big doctor-payment database launched last week has coughed up an interesting statistic: There are more psychiatrists collecting payments from the pharma industry than any other type of specialist....

Doctor cries foul over unpaid Mainecare bills - November 21, 2010
A third of his patients have Mainecare, the state's version of Medicaid. Kazalski says under the program, the state reimburses his practice at a lower rate than regular insurance, about 25 percent of the original bill. ...

New Website To Help Service Members Obtain Mental Health Treatment - November 21, 2010
A new not-for-profit organization, Honor Vet, is aiming to link veterans and active-duty service members with mental health professionals online through social networking technology....

Jamie Gianna, CIO, COMHAR Behavioral Healthcare announces successful implementation of EHR - November 20, 2010
Jamie Gianna, CIO leads the successful completion of an Electronic Health Records system which allows COMHAR growth, expansion and increased revenue....

Reform Law Ends Most Bias Against Mental Health Care - November 20, 2010
Parity for and integration of mental health treatment with general medical care are operating principles of the new health care reform law, with a few crucial provisions for treating individuals with severe and persistent mental illness. ...

U.S. Children's Psychiatric Hospitalizations Nearly Doubled from 1996-2007 - November 20, 2010
The reasons behind these changes and their implications for the quality of care American psychiatric patients receive remain unclear, however, the shifts in hospitalization rates – especially the larger such shifts among children and adolescents – raise concerns that demand further analysis....

Federal Report: 1 in 5 Americans Had Mental Illness Last Year - November 20, 2010
About 20 percent of the adult population in the United States, or more than 45 million Americans, had some kind of mental illness last year, the government said this week....

N.J. doctor Amgad Hessein charged with $52M in health care insurance fraud - November 18, 2010
On Wednesday, law enforcement agencies arrested a Union County doctor and charged him with submitting nearly $52 million in fraudulent Medicare and private insurance health care claims, said Prosecutor Theodore J. Romankow....

VA will deploy mental health EHR module - November 18, 2010
The Veterans Affairs Department awarded a contract to DSS Inc., a healthcare software developer and integrator, to deploy a mental health module for the department's VistA electronic medical record system....

Grand jury reviews deaths at Colo. mental hospital - November 17, 2010
A Pueblo grand jury is investigating recent deaths at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo....

Living With Schizophrenia: San Diego Mental Health Advocates, Experts to Address Challenges, Unmet Needs - November 17, 2010
Living with schizophrenia is the topic of an upcoming public forum, including perspectives of people with schizophrenia, caregivers, experts and advocates....

2010 Latino/a Behavioral Health Conference Empowers Mental Health Providers and the Latino Community - November 17, 2010
What began as a grass-roots campaign in 1992 has become an annual event, led by a planning committee of mental health practitioners, social service professionals, and educators who have sought to develop leadership and a culturally competent knowledge base among Illinois mental and behavioral health professionals....

CME LLC's 23rd Annual U.S. Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress 2010 Conference and Exhibition Opens on Thursday, November 18th, 2010 in Orlando - November 16, 2010
2010 Psych Congress features four days of intensive learning for mental healthcare clinicians including nearly 60 individual conference sessions, eighty-five sponsors and exhibitors in the Exhibit Hall, eighty poster presentations, six promotional presentations in the Education Annex, and multiple interactive workshops. ...

Join BHM and Discover Essential Organizational Strategies at The U.S. Psychiatric Congress - November 16, 2010
The Experts of BHM will be presenting two talks at the upcoming US Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress Conference and Exhibition....

Mental health courts gaining attention - November 14, 2010
Untreated mental illness and its effect on the criminal justice system, the community and families is getting more attention in McLean County and across the state....

Mental facility's size costs taxpayers millions - November 14, 2010
Milwaukee County's repeated failure to conform to federal mental health standards is costing its taxpayers millions of dollars a year, a Journal Sentinel analysis has found - and officials risk perpetuating the problem as they move to replace the current facility....

Fresno County mental-health cuts boost ER risks - November 13, 2010
The September attack is an example of a problem that has been growing since Fresno County closed its psychiatric crisis center in July 2009: Mental-health patients with nowhere else to go are flooding ERs. And some of them are violent....

Veterans Day: The Misunderstood Mental Health Consequences of War - November 13, 2010
Unfortunately, the stigma associated with seeking mental health care -- in addition to our cultural reluctance to admit mental health concerns -- prevent many of the brave men and women in our armed forces from obtaining proper treatment. ...

Md. lawmakers to examine Baltimore mental health clinic - November 13, 2010
Maryland lawmakers plan to examine the operations of a Baltimore mental health clinic in the wake of an investigation by The Baltimore Sun that revealed high Medicaid billings, and a state regulator said six family members on the nonprofit's board must relinquish voting authority to comply with state law....

Consensus on TBI and PTSD will accelerate future research and improve patient care - November 12, 2010
The November 2010 issue of the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Official Journal of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, has published a set of 9 articles on traumatic brain injury (TBI) that will accelerate future research in the field by establishing common language for the degree of injury, how it is measured and classified, treatment and potential outcomes....

Increased coverage means more mental health care - November 12, 2010
Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, mental health care will be considered an essential benefit that must be offered - as is physical health care - by all insurers when the individual insurance mandate takes effect in 2014....

Department of Veterans Affairs Signs National Contract for DSS, Inc.'s Mental Health Suite - November 10, 2010
DSS, Inc., a leading provider of software development, integration, project management, implementation and support of VistA and vxVistA, today announced a national contract with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for the use of DSS' Mental Health Suite (MHS) product....

Hyper-Texting Associated with Health Risks for Teens - November 10, 2010
Teens who spend excessive amounts of time texting and networking are associated with greater risk for unhealthy behaviors or mental health problems, according to a Case Western Reserve School of Medicine study....

Prescription Drugs: Why It's So Hard to Find Legit Psychiatric Medications - November 10, 2010
Many well-intentioned, very well-educated, highly experienced and dedicated psychiatrists face medication dilemmas in many ways and many times each day. Where is the properly researched, scientifically based drug information?...

Health Care Law May Reduce MH Benefits in Medicaid - November 10, 2010
Despite federal parity protections, regulators or Congress will need to take additional steps to expand the anticipated limited Medicaid coverage for mental illness that is part of the new national health care law. ...

Parent's Deployment Linked to Child's Mental Health Visits - November 8, 2010
Children of military personnel appear to have an increase in outpatient visits for mental and behavioral health issues while a parent is deployed, according to research published online Nov. 8 in Pediatrics....

HealthyPlace.com, the Largest Consumer Mental Health Site on the Internet, Wins 3 Prestigious Web Health Awards - November 8, 2010
HealthyPlace.com: America's Mental Health Channel Wins 3 Prestigious Web Health Awards from the Health Information Resource Center. ...

Technology lets soldiers track mood from pocket - November 7, 2010
A question like "how do you feel?" can sound a little touchy-feely to a battle-hardened soldier. But ask the same question on a smart phone application that a soldier can stash in his fatigues? That just might get a straight answer....

Integrated NextGen Healthcare Platform Selected by ACT Health Management Services - November 2, 2010
NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Quality Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: QSII) and leading provider of healthcare information systems and connectivity solutions, today announced it has executed an agreement with ACT Health Management Services (HMS) to deploy NextGen® Ambulatory EHR and NextGen® Practice Management. ...

Uninsured in R.I. sometimes wait days to get mental health care at hospitals, doctors say - October 11, 2010
People in need of inpatient psychiatric care routinely wait days for a bed, they say, and the problem is most severe for people without insurance. ...

Hospital chiefs share concerns with health care reform - September 25, 2010
Chief executive officers of area hospitals are concerned critical federal funding sources for their facilities will be siphoned away to finance a universal health care plan being debated in Congress....

Taming The Paper Dragon In Healthcare - September 18, 2010
Last month, I moderated a panel discussion at AIIM Expo 2010 (a leading information management trade show) on the value of electronic document management in the healthcare industry. Document imaging and management technologies are relatively mature, but many healthcare facilities are still largely paper-based....

eMedischedule.com to Provide Customized Online Scheduling, Automated Virtual Call Center for Frederick County (Maryland) Health Department - September 5, 2010
eMedischedule.com, a provider of online clinic scheduling and medical scheduling technology, has been selected by the Frederick County Health Department in Frederick, Md., to provide customized online scheduling and automated virtual call center technology to support its clinic and office scheduling needs. ...

HHS and DOJ Team Up on Fraud Prevention - September 3, 2010
Secretary of Health & Human Services (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius and Attorney General Eric Holder said on May 13 that provisions in the recently passed Affordable Care Act law will bolster current fraud-fighting efforts being carried out jointly by HHS and the Department of Justice (DOJ)....

Firms put limits on mental therapy - September 3, 2010
Spiraling medical costs have driven many employers to place new limits on coverage for mental health care, raising concerns that the rules may violate federal regulations intended to make it as easy for patients to see therapists as other doctors....

Evidence-Based Medicine: Visual Analytics Tool Aids Quest to Improve Patient Care - August 31, 2010
That's the foundation of a RENCI project to build an easy-to-use data analysis and visual dashboard to help doctors quickly determine the best treatment options for their patients....

County mental health facility audit to focus on patient safety - August 31, 2010
An audit launched this week of Milwaukee County's Mental Health Complex will focus on patient safety and include a review of policies on patient sexual contact and whether they are being followed, County Auditor Jerome Heer said Tuesday....

Owner of New Jersey counseling center charged with Medicaid fraud - August 31, 2010
The owner of a now closed Newark, N.J., mental health and substance abuse counseling center is facing three counts of fraud, accused of collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars through improper Medicaid claims....

Mental Health Complex racks up $204,000 in lawyer fees - August 31, 2010
A private attorney hired by Milwaukee County has cost taxpayers nearly $204,000 over the past three years to defend the county against possible lawsuits or criminal charges over shoddy care at the Mental Health Complex....

Protect mental-health parity, but scrutiny is inevitable - August 30, 2010
IN THE abstract, everyone who feels the sting of rising health care premiums understands the need to hold down costs. In practice, such efforts may look to medical providers like unwelcome outside interference. The state's Group Insurance Commission, which provides health care for many state employees, has moved to tighten the reins on out-of-network therapists....

CMS Will Attempt Recovery of $1.7 Million Overpaid in Psychiatric Patient Miscoding - August 29, 2010
Hundreds of acute care hospitals with psychiatric inpatient units may face federal review to recover an estimated $1.7 million the facilities were overpaid because of incorrect coding....

St. Luke's of Minnesota Selects eClinicalWorks Comprehensive EHR Solution - August 29, 2010
eClinicalWorks®, a market leader in ambulatory clinical systems, today announced that Duluth, Minn.-based St. Luke's, a health care system with hospitals and clinics, has chosen eClinicalWorks comprehensive electronic health record (EHR) solution for its approximately 200 employed physicians and two affiliated practices....

Research Roundup: Managing Nursing Home Patients, Streamlining Medical Billing, Financial Disclosures - August 29, 2010
Saving Billions Of Dollars--And Physicians' Time--By Streamlining Billing Practices – "The U.S. system of billing third parties for health care services is complex, expensive, and inefficient," write the authors, who analyzed Massachusetts General Physicians Organization staffing and cost data in fiscal year 2006....

Fight Erupts Over Rules Issued for 'Mental Health Parity' Insurance Law - August 27, 2010
A huge fight has erupted over rules issued by the Obama administration to enforce a 2008 law that requires equal insurance coverage for the treatment of mental and physical illnesses. ...

Mental Health Doctors Cross the Digital Divide - August 25, 2010
Free Electronic Medical Record system - Practice Fusion - releases a psychiatric module for mental health professionals in advance of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Annual Meeting in New Orleans....

eMedischedule.com Releases Automated Call Center That Provides Real-Time Synchronization with Online Clinic Scheduling and Medical Appointment Schedul - August 22, 2010
eMedischedule.com, a provider of online clinic scheduling and medical scheduling technology, announced today a new automated call center that enables patients to make and alter the status of online clinic and medical appointments over the phone. ...

Va. Senate passes mandated autism coverage - March 2, 2010
Legislation that would compel insurers to pay for expensive but effective treatments for children with autism won overwhelming passage Tuesday in the state Senate despite opposition from mighty insurance and business lobbies....

New dialysis plan will prevent ER overcrowding - January 19, 2010
Three healthcare institutions agreed to help Jackson's dialysis patients on Friday because the $100,000 move could save lives while saving costs in their own emergency rooms....

HAPPYneuron Launches the First Online Professional Destination for Clinical Cognitive Training - January 18, 2010
The HAPPYneuron PRO platform enables effective online cognitive rehabilitation programs for a variety of impairment conditions, including: Alzheimer's disease, Traumatic Brain Injury, Schizophrenia and more. ...

Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center Swiftly Expands Use of Eclipsys Solutions to Create Nearly 100 Percent Electronic Environment - January 17, 2010
Eclipsys Corporation® (NASDAQ:ECLP), The Outcomes Company®, announced today that Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center (Bronx Lebanon), the largest voluntary, not-for-profit healthcare system in south and central Bronx, NY, has quickly expanded its use of integrated clinical components of Eclipsys Sunrise Enterprise™ suite of solutions....

Making Medicaid work - January 6, 2010
Our view: To fight the rising costs of health care insurance for the poor, Maryland needs broader authority to go after providers who commit fraud....

Patient Photos Help Reduce Hospital's Medication Errors - December 25, 2009
After a medication error occurred on the adult inpatient unit resulting from the misidentification of a patient, Mason and the committee reviewed other patient identification practices on various units within the hospital's psychiatry department....

Ascension Health Hospital Awards Streamline Health Contract to Ensure OSHA Compliance - December 10, 2009
Document Workflow Solution Will Optimize Voluntary Protection Program Compliance Process & Promote Worksite-based Safety....

Choosing the Right Rehab Service for Your Family - December 6, 2009
If you or a loved one has suffered a stroke, brain injury, spinal cord injury or other musculoskeletal orthopedic injury, it's important to know that not all rehabilitation services are created equal....

University Research Concludes Real Time Location Systems Can Transform Hospitals - December 2, 2009
Results from the first multidisciplinary university study examining the impact of a Real Time Location System (RTLS) deployed throughout a hospital show that the technology for tracking mobile medical equipment is driving increased operational efficiency and saving hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, while also enabling nurses to spend more time with patients and improve staff morale. ...

DCH Regional Medical Center Finds Innovative Uses for Interbit Data's Information Distribution Software, Maximizing Its Time and Cost Savings - December 2, 2009
The Versatility of NetDelivery Offers "Limitless" Range of Applications for Hospital Departments Distributing Data and Reports to Multiple Recipients....

Harvard-Affiliated McLean Hospital Launches First Institute of Coaching - December 2, 2009
With an extraordinary $2 million gift from the Harnisch Foundation, McLean Hospital, the largest psychiatric affiliate of Harvard Medical School, recently launched the Institute of Coaching (www.instituteofcoaching.org), the first-of-its-kind for coaching-related research, practice and education....

Hospitals owe state $2.5 million for overcharges - December 2, 2009
Six hospitals owe the state more than $2.5 million as the result of overcharges to the State Health Plan, according to preliminary audit results that the plan released today....

Nursing home doctor's prescription record questioned - November 28, 2009
Neither state nor federal officials appear to have ever assembled a complete picture of Reinstein's thriving practice, built in part within Illinois' poorly regulated system of nursing homes serving the mentally ill. But an investigation by ProPublica and the Tribune found that Reinstein has compiled a worrisome record, providing assembly-line care with a highly risky drug....

Medicare and Medicaid make easy marks for fraud - November 1, 2009
Although Barack Obama might be shooting high with his estimate, even conservative estimates peg Medicare and Medicaid fraud at $60 billion a year....

Richmond-based AT Home Care making a difference - October 21, 2009
The company has grown from two offices to seven across Virginia. Since 2006, its annual patient load has increased from 256 people to 364. Company revenue has grown an average of 17 percent each year....

Facility Transfers - October 2, 2009
Patient care provided in the acute setting might not always end with discharge to the patient's home. Pay extra-close attention when admission responsibility changes....

Hospitals Should Utilize Their In-House Data to Fight Auditors' Fire With Fire - September 30, 2009
As recovery audit contractors (RACs) and other program-integrity contractors bear down, it's becoming increasingly important for hospitals to analyze claims before and after they're prepared for submission to determine what edits their claims are hitting repeatedly and what systemic changes would improve claims accuracy....

Patient-driven rehab business aims to heal whole person - September 30, 2009
Sterling MedCare Home Health has announced that Rehab Dynamix of Sterling will be providing the physical and occupational therapy for their clients....

Wisconsin Community Health Center Turns to HealthPort for Three Key Technology Solutions - September 22, 2009
HealthPort Continues to Support Community Health Centers with a Wide Range of Technology and Support Services....

ICA Announces Certified Integration Program For Quick, Standardized Implementation of Community-wide EHRs - September 18, 2009
Ulrich Medical Concepts Becomes First Certified Partner, Reaps Low Price and Ability to Predict Ownership Costs....

Ex-high school athlete helps people with disabilities keep eyes on prize - September 10, 2009
Brian Sheridan did not let a failed backflip stop him from competing in sports, earning a college degree, becoming a registered occupational therapist and starting a number of nonprofit and for-profit businesses that help people with disabilities....

Physicians Face Prospect of Large Medicare Payment Cuts - September 5, 2009
The agency that oversees Medicare is also proposing to stop payment for consultation codes typically used by specialist physicians....

Awarepoint Expands Its Real-Time Location Solution (RTLS) at Jackson Health System - August 28, 2009
RTLS Network Coverage Grows to 4,459,000 Square Feet, Securing It as the Largest RTLS Installation in U.S. Healthcare...

LiveWell Rehab helps Southern Miss professor get back on to his feet - August 19, 2009
Jon Beedle, a professor in the University of Southern Mississippi's Education and Psychology Department, is back on his feet and enjoying life after a two year-long journey through rehabilitation at Forrest General's LiveWell Center....

Can Information Technology Cut Healthcare Costs? - June 30, 2009
As U.S. President Barack Obama refocuses efforts on universal healthcare, the burdensome question of how to fund it all returns. But without a handle on the rising costs in the current healthcare system, the possibility for new coverage seems a pipedream....

Nonprofit Outpatient Clinics and Social Service Agencies Outsource Billing to Increase Profits - June 20, 2009
Millin Associates (www.millinmedical.com), a medical billing and consulting leader for 27 years, provides expanded services and next-generation software empowering organizations to better receive payments and minimize denied claims....

Health care jobs projected to grow - June 3, 2009
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of nursing, psychiatric and home health aides is projected to grow 28 percent from 2006 to 2016. Employment of registered nurses is expected to grow 23 percent, and licensed practical nurses 14 percent....

California Community Clinics File Lawsuit Against State Over Budget Cuts to Critical Medi-Cal Benefits - May 30, 2009
The California Primary Care Association today announced that it is filing a lawsuit against the state of California to prevent the elimination of certain critical Medi-Cal benefits currently being provided by California's Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Rural Health Centers (RHCs). ...

Miracle-Like Testimonials and Case Studies of Advanced Therapies from BiomagScience - January 10, 2009
In its continuing program of increasing public awareness about the benefits and the huge difference between scientifically advanced therapies and commercially common magnetic bracelets and patches, BiomagScience is presenting Part 1 of a 3 part series about how its alternative energy protocols have specifically helped individuals....

Medical Billing Software .com Announces Release of Medisoft Medical Billing Software Version 14 Service Pack 1 - December 23, 2008
The service pack addresses over 75 fixes and enhancements designed to improve the popular medisoft billing software version 14 released earlier this year....

Millin Associates Creates Cutting-Edge Software for Hospitals and Outpatient Clinics to Combat Medical Claim Denials - November 29, 2008
Millin Associates created an innovative, easy-to-use practice management billing system for Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC), primary care centers (Article 28), ambulatory surgery centers, mental health facilities (Article 31), substance abuse facilities (822), OMRDD facilities, and foster care agencies. ...

nTelagent, Inc. Signs Healthcare Customers LifePoint Hospitals, Psychiatric Solutions, Iasis Healthcare, NES Healthcare, The Schumacher Group, e+Healt - April 14, 2008
Several of the nation's leading health care providers and outsourced partners have recently selected nTelagent, Inc.'s Self-Pay Management System to improve the handling of financial accounts for both the healthcare providers and their patients....

VA finds new ways to treat this generation of injured U.S. veterans - March 30, 2008
In treating veterans of all wars, the center's staff sees about 500 outpatients a day in Saginaw and at clinics in Gaylord, Oscoda and Traverse City. The center opened in 1950 was named in 1990 to honor Lt. Aleda E. Lutz, a U.S. Army flight nurse from Freeland who died in 1944 when a hospital plane evacuating wounded soldiers from Italy crashed. She earned six battle stars and was the first military woman to die in a combat zone in World War II. The center is the first VA facility named for a military woman....

Life Policies Bill OK'd
Autism-Therapy Plan Also Advances - March 13, 2008
A Connecticut legislative panel approved bills Tuesday meant to crack down on a life insurance scam and require health insurers to pay for therapies for people with autism disorders. Group or individual health insurance policies would have to cover physical, speech and occupational therapy for treatment of autism, to the extent the policy covers those services for other diseases and conditions....

Sunset passes retest from state health dept., has new administrator - March 11, 2008
Problems with paperwork led to the health department revisiting the local facility recently, and that visit went well, McGaugh said. "There were compliance issues," said Deb McGaugh, the new head of the Brush nursing home. "Care was never compromised."...

Maryland Attorney General: Bell Pleads Guilty to Felony Medicaid Fraud Company Received More Than $4,000,000 for Services Never Rendered - March 3, 2008
BALTIMORE, MD -- Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced today that Guy Anthony Bell, 44, of the 2700 block of Tallow Tree Road in Woodstock, pled guilty in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City to two counts of felony Medicaid Fraud for his role in billing the Medicaid program for more than $4,000,000 for services that were never performed. In all, Mr. Bell knowingly directed his employees to submit over 20,000 false statements to the Medicaid Program. As a result of the plea agreement, Bell will receive a jail sentence of between 24 and 30 months and will be required to make restitution payments. Sentencing is set for November 15, 2007....

Man pleads guilty to felony Medicaid fraud - March 3, 2008
A Howard County man pleaded guilty Thursday in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City to two counts of Medicaid fraud for his role in a $4 million billing scheme....

MARYLAND ATTORNEY GENERAL: Baltimore County Woman Charged with Medicaid Fraud - March 3, 2008
Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced today that Siddi Jon, 48, of the 8900 block of Greens Lane in Randallstown was indicted by a Baltimore County grand jury with 18 counts of felony Medicaid fraud and felony theft....

Psychiatry's Diagnostic Manual Exposed For Its Links To Pharmaceutical Industry's $76 Billion A Year - March 3, 2008
USPRwire, Mon May 22 2006 The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a psychiatric watchdog group, said that a study published in this month's journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics revealing the incestuous financial relationship between the pharmaceutical industry and the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) "billing bible," The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), is a vindication. For over a decade the group has called on governments to eliminate the DSM as a valid diagnostic manual for insurance reimbursement or for the basis of any legislation or court testimony. "It is an unreliable, pseudoscientific document with enormous power to damage lives, while being used to rake in $76 billion a year in international psychiatric drug sales," CCHR's national U.S. president Bruce Wiseman stated....

Mental health reform goals unclear, some say - December 29, 2007
HIGH POINT - Six years into North Carolina's effort to remake its mental health safety net, the system still struggles to fix the problems that came with the overhaul....

Texas Medical Board Disciplines Doctors - December 29, 2007
At its November 29-30 meeting, the Texas Medical Board took disciplinary action against 63 licensed physicians....

Oswego Hospital Goes Live with Web-Based Clinical Suite from IntraNexus
Community Hospital is an Early Adopter for Highly Versatile Sapphire(TM) - December 29, 2007
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 28, 2006--IntraNexus Inc., an innovator in healthcare information systems, announced today that Oswego Hospital in Oswego, NY, has successfully launched Sapphire, their Web-based, comprehensive healthcare information system. Sapphire provides clinicians with an all-inclusive electronic medical record (EMR), including CPOE, results reporting, and a clinical data repository. Sapphire also enables clinicians to remotely access secure, any-time/anywhere patient information using any device with Web access....

Baltimore County Woman Charged with Medicaid Fraud - December 29, 2007
Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced today that Siddi Jon, 48, of the 8900 block of Greens Lane in Randallstown was indicted by a Baltimore County grand jury with 18 counts of felony Medicaid fraud and felony theft....

Bell Pleads Guilty to Felony Medicaid Fraud
Company Received More Than $4,000,000 for Services Never Rendered - December 29, 2007
BALTIMORE, MD (September 20, 2007) - Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced today that Guy Anthony Bell, 44, of the 2700 block of Tallow Tree Road in Woodstock, pled guilty in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City to two counts of felony Medicaid Fraud for his role in billing the Medicaid program for more than $4,000,000 for services that were never performed. In all, Mr. Bell knowingly directed his employees to submit over 20,000 false statements to the Medicaid Program. As a result of the plea agreement, Bell will receive a jail sentence of between 24 and 30 months and will be required to make restitution payments. Sentencing is set for November 15, 2007....

American Consumer Council Criticizes Cigna and Healthcare System in Death of Teenager - December 29, 2007
The American Consumer Council criticized health insurance giant Cigna Corp for denying approval for a liver transplant operation that led to the death of 17-year old Nataline Sarkisyan....

Medsphere's OpenVista EHR Goes Live at State Hospital in West Virginia First Site in Seven-Facility Contract Designed to Improve State Healthcare Prot - December 27, 2007
ALISO VIEJO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Medsphere Systems Corporation today announced the successful deployment of its OpenVista® electronic health record (EHR) platform at William R. Sharpe Jr. Hospital, the first of seven state-operated hospitals in West Virginia that will be equipped with the system under a contract signed last year. More than 280 physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dietitians and other staff at Sharpe Hospital, a 150-bed acute care psychiatric facility in the city of Weston, are now using OpenVista to record and retrieve patient information electronically....

American Consumer Council Criticizes Cigna and Healthcare System in Death of Teenager - December 24, 2007
The American Consumer Council criticized health insurance giant Cigna Corp for denying approval for a liver transplant operation that led to the death of 17-year old Nataline Sarkisyan. Thomas Hinton, president of the 82,000 member non-profit American Consumer Council (ACC), said, “Health insurance companies like Cigna continue to put their financial interest ahead of patient survival and urgent treatment when medical procedures such as liver transplants are deemed too costly. Ms. Sarkisyan and her family suffered needlessly because of Cigna’s flip-flopping and delay tactics.�...