Behavioral Healthcare Tomorrow articles from October 2003

Behavioral Healthcare Tomorrow archives from October 2003

Will the federal team get the support it needs?(Letter From The Editor)(Editorial)
October 1, 2003... With two impressive new hires fur its center directorships this year, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has assembled a management team that should set a new standard for innovation at the federal agency....

Correction.(Correction Notice)
October 1, 2003... Fairleigh Dickinson University's School of Psychology in Teaneck, N.J., awarded a Master of Science in Clinical Psychopharmacology degree to 10 psychologists in May; the university's Psychopharmacology Postdoctoral Training Program has been...

Leaders must act to avert crisis in older-adult services.(Advocacy)
October 1, 2003... The delivery of mental health services to the elderly is a vital societal challenge, especially in light of the enormous increase in the elderly population that is projected to occur during the first half of this century. The elderly...

Responding to an emergency for children's services: innovative program seeks cure for over-reliance on crisis care.
October 1, 2003... Across the country, children's mental health systems are reported to be in crisis. The most frequent symptoms are overcrowded hospitals and "stuck children" who remain hospitalized long after they could be returned to their communities, if...

Is all the evidence in? Range of popular treatments subsist despite lack of science base. Is that damaging?
October 1, 2003... Evidence-based treatment (EBT) can be defined as clinical decision-making that integrates both individual clinical expertise and the best external evidence, writes Francis Chesley, M.D., director of the Office of Research, Review, Education...

Professionals can lend support to clients' self-change process.(Special Report)
October 1, 2003... Lifestyle change is challenging, exhilarating, exhausting, inspiring, empowering and unavoidable. It is the core of what makes us dynamic human beings who are capable of adapting to new situations and expanding our life experiences. None of...

Lesson for providers: don't think about what you have, but what clients need; client-focused mindset accounts for readiness to change.(Special Report)
October 1, 2003... To many professionals and researchers in behavioral health, the matching of clients to treatment has often been too focused on the treatment and not focused enough on the client. These professionals say that instead of asking, "Which of...

Change principles applicable to variety of service settings; providers use tools to operationalize change theories.(Special Report)(The Change Companies)
October 1, 2003... Those who have theorized about how people change have also helped many behavioral health service providers focus on how they can change. For the social services programs in the Eastern territory of The Salvation Army, adopting a change...

Facilitating change in the non-voluntary client: programs embrace self-change tools for offender populations.(Special Report)
October 1, 2003... Change is an arduous process for anyone trying to break a pattern of undesired behaviors. When a person is not seeking help by choice, this challenge is magnified. For the criminal offender who arrives at a treatment setting under threat...

Differential diagnosis in MH settings: heed signs of substance abuse.(metropolitan hospital)
October 1, 2003... During the course of my M.S.W. degree program, I was engaged in an internship on the psychiatry units of a metropolitan hospital. It was in this setting that I had my first "awakening" to the problem of misdiagnosis in cases of substance...

Practice standards critical to minimizing risk associated with suicide.(Risk Management)
October 1, 2003... Every 18 minutes someone dies by suicide, and every 43 seconds someone attempts suicide. Although these statistics are only estimates based on the National Vital Statistics Report, they are fairly accurate. Suicide is the 11th leading cause...

Medication developments in treating mental illness.(Psychopharmacology)
October 1, 2003... Drugs Could Enhance Cognition in Patients with Bipolar Disorder A recent open-label trial investigating the effects of the medications rivastigmine (Exelon) and galantamine (Reminyl) on 24 patients with bipolar disorder with cognitive...

Group wants to shine spotlight on medical testimony.(Of Note)(Coalition and Center for Ethical Medical Testimony )(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... A grassroots organization known as The Coalition and Center for Ethical Medical Testimony has formed to empower physicians, attorneys and others to expose unethical medical expert witnesses who coalition members say falsify credentials and...

Website offers tools for end-of-life care.(Of Note)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... A new resource center is offering practical information to support and improve the delivery of palliative care. Providing emotional and spiritual support to patients and their families, palliative care treats the whole person--body, mind and...

Conference will bring together BPD patients, professionals.(Of Note)(borderline personality disorder)(Brief Article)(Calendar)
October 1, 2003... Next month, a professional conference and retreat program for people with borderline personality disorder (BPD) their families, and clinicians who treat BPD patients will occur in San Diego. Organized by Laura Paxton, a mental health...

Ohio director leaves at 'top of her game'.(Mover)(Luceille Fleming, Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services)
October 1, 2003... For every high-profile figure who retires at the peak of achievement, there usually are a few more for whom observers say, "Stayed in too long." We dwell on the crooner who left the stage long after the pipes did, or the sports star who looks...