Mental Health
New Psychosis Center Aims to Prevent Violence
Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, center, looks at a photo of Christina-Taylor Green. A man who may have been psychotic shot Giffords and 18 others in a Tucson mall parking lot in January 2011, killing six people, including 9-year-old Christina. Maryland recently opened a new center that aims to identify and treat people […]
‘Peers’ Seen Easing Mental Health Worker Shortage
Clyde Sims, center, a peer support specialist, talks with two men about their recoveries from substance abuse and mental illness in Grand Rapids, Mich. Many states plan to use peer specialists to help meet the surging demand for mental health services that is expected under the new federal health law. (AP) When he was 44, […]
States Tackle Mental Illness and Gun Ownership
The massacre of 20 children and seven adults in Newtown, Conn., has prompted much of the legislation in at least 23 states on gun ownership and the mentally ill. (AP) Little noticed in the tough gun control measures that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo drove through the General Assembly was a provision containing the most expansive […]
Health Care Cuts From Vaccinations to Research
A child receives vaccinations at a doctor’s office in Berlin, Vermont. Advocates say automatic spending cuts under sequestration will make it more difficult for low-income Americans to vaccinate their children. (AP) Sequestration spares Medicaid and almost all of Medicare, but automatic cuts to other federal health-care programs will make it more difficult for low-income Americans […]
States Tackle School Safety After Sandy Hook Shootings
A fourth-grade teacher aims a 40 cal. Sig Sauer during concealed-weapons training for the teachers in West Valley City, Utah. (AP) In recent weeks, the South Dakota legislature has been rattled over a bill that aims to make schools safer by introducing “school sentinels” — teachers, administrators, security guards or community volunteers who would carry guns […]
Parity for Behavioral Health Coverage Delayed by Lack of Federal Rules
Former first lady Rosalynn Carter, at podium, spoke during a 2008 rally on Capitol Hill in support of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act. (AP) This article was updated November 30 to include a statement from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Danielle Moles is anorexic, which in her case played out […]
Oklahoma Looks for Ways to Keep Mentally Ill Ex-offenders Out of Prison
(AP) McCLOUD, Oklahoma — Shawna Gordon isn’t alone in worrying what will happen on that day in the future when she ventures beyond the familiar barbed wire that circumscribes her existence now. “To think, one day they’re going to come in and say, ‘Pack your stuff,’ I don’t know how I’m going to react,” says […]
States Crack Down on Mental Health Prescriptions
In the past two years, Illinois has done just about everything it could to reduce the amount it spends on prescription drugs for mental health. It has placed restrictions on the availability of 17 medications used to treat depression, psychosis and attention-deficit disorder. Doctors now have to explain to Medicaid why the drugs are necessary […]
Mental Health Funding Decreases in Many States
South Carolina has slashed general fund appropriations for mental health programs by 39 percent over the last three years. During the same span, North Dakota increased its appropriations by 48 percent. The two states are at opposite ends of new 50-state study , released Thursday (November 11) by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, showing […]
Maine Republican Legislators Contemplate End to Labor Committee
With Republicans in charge of the legislature, Maine ‘s stand alone labor committee may be about to disappear, the Bangor Daily News reports . Republicans, who won control of both houses last month, plan to merge the 120-year-old Joint Labor Committee with the Business, Research and Economic Development Committee. What Republicans describe as a small move […]
As Economy Takes Toll, Mental Health Budgets Shrink
Photo courtesy Mississippi State Hospital Mississippi State Hospital, founded in 1855, has always been the state’s central psychiatric treatment facility. The hospital has closed 184 beds over the past three years. In the 1950s, more than 500,000 patients resided in state-run psychiatric hospitals. Today, the number is 50,000. Mental health policies in America have changed […]
Mass. Health Connector, Other Innovations Honored
(Updated 9:52 a.m. EDT, Sept. 15, 2009) As the Obama administration and Congress debate the details of a national health care plan, the state that paved the way for universal coverage was honored in Washington, D.C. (Sept. 14). The Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority – a key component of Massachusetts’ landmark universal health care program – […]