August, 2010
State Department Employees Discouraged from Seeking Mental Health Treatment Due to Stigmatization
A new internal report for the State Department suggests that more needs to be done to desensitize the stigma surrounding mental health treatment for State employees.
Intervention Program Highly Effective in Treating Abused Children in Foster Care
The Fostering Healthy Futures program, a mentoring and skills training program for abused children placed in foster care, has the potential to reduce mental health disorders and associated problems in children with a history of maltreatment, according to a new study.
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Methamphetamine Use during Pregnancy Dramatically Increases Risk to Baby
Methamphetamine abuse has become the most common reason for women to seek drug counseling or treatment while pregnant. A recent study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) found that not only had treatment facilities across the U.S. seen the highest number of pregnant teenage admissions in a decade, but the largest shift in the type of substance abuse being treated was caused by methamphetamine use. Pregnant teenage admissions for methamphetamine abuse had more than quadrupled from 4.3% of admissions in 1992 to 18.8% in 2007. Despite the higher percentage of pregnant meth abusers in rehabilitation, an even greater number of female meth abusers do not seek treatment. Unfortunately, some maintain their habit even after becoming pregnant.
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Trauma’s Effects on the Brain: Notes from a Presentation by Dr. Linda Chamberlain
When a wolf catches her foot in a trap, she experiences trauma. If she is able to get free in time to save her life, whether through her own devices or help from another being, she will have learned about the dangers of traps. But her brain will also have absorbed a pattern of responding to severe stress; and the experience may sear her memory with a track composed of hormones cascading into physiological response to fear and pain. This shortcut to high stress response may affect her behavior in other ways. Of course, if she is not freed from the trap in time, she will die. But the unmitigated stress response itself can become a negative adaptation, and cause the wolf version of post traumatic stress disorder. She experiences the fear of being caught in the trap over and over again, when even minor events trigger the response pattern of high levels of physiological fight or flight reactions that the brain has learned from the traumatic event.
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Motivational Interviews in Emergency Rooms can Prevent Alcohol Problems, Violence in Teens
A new study has found that a one-on-one talk with a therapist can help reduce violence and drinking problems among teenagers. For three years, researchers from the University of Michigan Health System offered to talk to adolescents at the Hurley Medical Center Emergency Department in Flint, Michigan, who reported aggressive behavior or having consumed alcohol at least two or three times in the past year.
Internet Addiction Linked to Depression in Teens
Excessive use of the Internet is unhealthy for adolescents, even if they have never experienced psychological problems. A new study has found that addictive Internet use by teenagers can lead to depression and other behavioral problems, or can exacerbate preexisting conditions.
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Animal Planet Sheds Light on Animal Hoarding in New Series
While recent breakthrough shows such as Hoarders on A&E and Hoarding: Buried Alive on TLC have made the obsessive-compulsive behavior of hoarding gain national attention, Animal Planet focuses the lens on the problem even further in a new television series.
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