Demographics of heroin users change in past 50 years

http://goo.gl/shZhw6

Heroin users nowadays are predominantly white men and women in their late 20s living outside large urban areas who were first introduced to opioids through prescription drugs compared to the 1960s when heroin users tended to be young urban men whose opioid abuse started with heroin.

The authors analyzed data on nearly 2,800 patients from an ongoing study that used self-reported surveys from patients with a heroin use/dependence diagnosis entering treatment centers and also from patients who completed a more detailed interview (n=54).


Nearly 4 Million Seriously Mentally Ill Still Without Insurance

http://goo.gl/BkoF94

Thanks to the generosity of her church and family members, she receives some treatment for the depression and post-traumatic stress disorder she suffers as a result of the sexual assault she endured in 2012. But Troyer, 45, said her lack of health insurance and other uncovered medical costs, including a hospitalization and all her medications, has forced her into personal bankruptcy.

She lives in one of the 24 states that chose not to expand their Medicaid programs, offered under the Affordable Care Act. Those decisions have left about 3.7 million Americans with serious mental illness, psychological distress or a substance abuse disorder without health insurance, according to a recent report from the American Mental Health Counselors Association (AMHCA), a group that represents mental health professionals.


Scientists map mental illness' effects on life expectancy

http://goo.gl/s10jct
The new meta-study was based on a range of clinical studies which reported mortality risk for a whole range of diagnoses - mental health problems, substance and alcohol abuse, dementia, autistic spectrum disorders, learning disability, and childhood behavioral disorders. In total, the review examined over 1.7 million individuals and more than 250,000 deaths. The findings appear in the journal World Psychiatry.

Some of the findings included:

  • The average reduction in life expectancy in people with bipolar disorder was between 9 and 20 years.
  • For schizophrenia, the reduction was between 10 and 20 years.
  • A reduction of between 9 and 24 years for drug and alcohol abuse.
  • Around 7 to 11 years for recurrent depression.

The researchers note that the loss of years among heavy smokers is 8 to 10 years. "We found that many mental health diagnoses are associated with a drop in life expectancy as great as that associated with smoking 20 or more cigarettes a day," said researcher Dr Seena Fazel.


Depressed, but Not Ashamed

http://goo.gl/L5iAEc

ANN ARBOR, Mich. In the United States, for people between the ages of 10 and 24, suicide is the third leading cause of death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Untreated depression is one of the leading causes of suicide. According to the National Comorbidity Survey: Adolescent Supplement, 11 percent of adolescents have a depressive disorder by age 18.

We were not alone. We wondered why, with so many teenagers dealing with depression, it was still addressed in such impersonal ways.

As editors at our high school newspaper, we decided to fight against the stigma and proposed devoting a whole edition to personal stories from our peers who were suffering from mental illness. We wanted honesty with no anonymity.

We knew that discussing mental health in this way would be edgy, even for our progressive community in Michigan. But we were shocked when the school administration would not allow us to publish the articles.

Post-traumatic stress disorder: We need more awareness about events that trigger it

http://goo.gl/aHJMCd

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is more likely to be recognised in those suffering military combat trauma than in rape and accident victims, according to new research.

Dr Tharp says: "The association between PTSD and military combat experience is frequently portrayed in film and television, and the current research supports the pervasive 'traumatised veteran' stereotype.

"However, PTSD can arise from a variety of traumatic experiences, including road traffic accidents, physical or sexual assault, and natural disasters. Across the wider population, these non-military traumas are much more common.

Effects of alcohol in young binge drinkers predicts future alcoholism

http://goo.gl/iLMrwg

Heavy social drinkers who report greater stimulation and reward from alcohol are more likely to develop alcohol use disorder over time, report researchers from the University of Chicago, May 15 in the journal Biological Psychiatry. The findings run counter to existing hypotheses that innate tolerance to alcohol drives alcoholism.

In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, a team led by Andrea King, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioralneuroscience at the University of Chicago, analyzed the subjective response of 104 young adult heavy social drinkers to alcohol and tracked their long-term drinking habits.

"Heavy drinkers who felt alcohol's stimulant and pleasurable effects at the highest levels in their 20s were the ones with the riskiest drinking profiles in the future and most likely to go on and have alcohol problems in their 30s," King said, "In comparison, participants reporting fewer positive effects of alcohol were more likely to mature out of binge drinking as they aged."

Alcohol has both stimulant and sedative effects. Building up a tolerance to the sedative effects increases the experience of the stimulant effects and is a path to addiction.......

Peer Specialists in Federally Qualified Health Centers Enhance Access

Woo-Hoo!

http://goo.gl/NPq2u4

The Michigan Department of Community Health placed certified peer support specialists in two federally qualified health centers; these staff members offer support services to individuals with co-occurring medical and mental health diagnoses, including substance abuse disorders. The centers care for many patients with mental health conditions deemed to be mild or moderate in nature.  These individuals have not had services provided by a certified peer support specialist and do not meet the criteria in the traditional behavioral health system for community mental health provider support. After receiving referrals from health center providers, the peer specialists meet with individuals to discuss medical and behavioral health needs, develop wellness plans, provide educational information as health coaches and links to community services, offer emotional support, and facilitate the provision of medical care. Peer specialists also run support groups and may accompany individuals to support group meetings and medical appointments. They document services provided in an electronic medical record accessible to all providers. The program has enhanced access to support services and generated high levels of satisfaction among both individuals and peer specialists; several stories suggest the program has helped to improve the physical and mental health of some individuals.

Smartphone app detects mood swings in bipolar disorder via voice analysis

http://goo.gl/5VCS51

A smartphone app that monitors subtle qualities of a person's voice during everyday phone conversations shows promise for detecting early signs of mood changes in people with bipolar disorder, a University of Michigan team reports.

While the app still needs much testing before widespread use, early results from a small group of patients show its potential to monitor moods while protecting privacy.

The researchers hope the app will eventually give people with bipolar disorder and their health care teams an early warning of the changing moods that give the condition its name. The technology could also help people with other conditions.

Recovery from mild traumatic brain injuries could be aided by social workers

http://goo.gl/dMxCdl

More than a million people are treated for mild traumatic brain injuries in U.S. hospitals and emergency rooms each year. Yet few receive appropriate psychological and social follow-up care that can make the difference in whether or not they fully recover.

A University of Washington researcher has found that a 20-minute conversation with a social worker has the potential to significantly reduce the functional decline of those diagnosed with a mild traumatic brain injury.

The research was published in Brain Injury.

Megan Moore in the UW's School of Social Work is training social workers in emergency departments to provide education and resources to patients with mild traumatic brain injuries to help them deal with symptoms and the recovery process.

"Social workers are masters-level trained clinicians who are already embedded in emergency room treatment teams," 

Psychiatry's scientific reboot gets under way

Not sure what to think of this. On the one hand, any move toward a neuropsychology framework for psychiatry is probably a good thing. On the other, apparently the only point of the move is to make it easier to categorize drug research....

http://goo.gl/9eGfZE

The issue came to a head one year ago this month, with the latest edition ofpsychiatry's "bible", the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The US National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) said the DSM-5had so many problems we effectively need to tear it up and start again. The way forward, it said, is a new research programme to discover the brain problems that underlie mental illnesses.

That research is now taking off. The first milestone came earlier this year, when the NIMH published a list of 23 core brain functions and their associated neural circuitry, neurotransmitters and genes – and the behaviours and emotions that go with them (see "The mind's 23 building blocks"). Within weeks, the first drug trials conceived and funded through this new programme will begin.

While just a first draft, the list arguably represents the future of neuroscience-based mental healthcare. "This is the Rosetta stone for characterising human mental function," says Andrew Krystal at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.