Hogg Foundation for Mental Health News and Grants
Hogg Foundation for Mental Health
May, 2011
HOGG FOUNDATION
Martinez: Investing in a Stronger Mental Health Workforce
Hogg Foundation for Mental Health
May 20th, 2011
May is mental health month and many state and national agencies and organizations are highlighting important mental health topics. In my opinion, among the most critical mental health issues facing Texas today is a mental health workforce shortage that affects both public and private mental health systems.
http://blogs.utexas.edu/hogg/2011/05/20/investing-in-a-stronger-mental-health-workforce/
82nd LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Battle to hammer out budget is hitting home; Texas lawmakers work on the details of compromise
Houston Chronicle
May 21, 2011
AUSTIN - ... Community mental health services for adults would be cut 4 percent and for children by 2 percent. Community mental health crisis services wouldn't be cut from current spending levels. Community mental health funding is seen as crucial, including for people who may otherwise wind up in jail. The Harris County Jail already is the largest public mental health facility in Texas, a situation advocates have called wrong and costly.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7575645.html
No Clear Signals on Budget, UT/TT Poll Finds
Texas Tribune
May 23, 2011
... According to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll, registered voters still want lawmakers to cut the budget, but they still oppose the major cuts in education and health and human services that cutting the budget requires.
http://www.texastribune.org/texas-taxes/budget/no-clear-signals-on-budget-new-uttt-poll-finds/
Lawmakers in lockstep on juvenile-justice bills; Left and right embrace the policy of rehabilitation over incarceration
Houston Chronicle
May 21, 2011
AUSTIN - ... Handicapped by rural settings, TYC is challenged to hire well-trained personnel and provide the mental health treatment most youth offenders need, he said. In many cases, therapy is provided via teleconference with a psychiatrist at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, he said. Now, county probation departments will receive money from the state to provide mental health services if the offender is kept in the community, Whitmire said.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7575646.html
School paddling case reflects state's division over corporal punishment
Austin American-Statesman
May 22, 2011
... A bill pending in the Legislature, sponsored by Rep. Alma Allen, D-Houston, would require districts to obtain written permission from parents before using corporal punishment on their children. Supporters say the law would safeguard parental rights; opponents insist it would remove a crucial element of local control of public schools.
http://www.statesman.com/news/local/school-paddling-case-reflects-states-division-over-corporal-1491590.html
TEXAS NEWS
On-campus living has soared in Bexar
San Antonio Express News
May 23, 2011
... Though the entire group-quarters segment of the population represents only 2.45 percent of the county's 1.7 million residents, it showed a 22 percent increase since 2000. The biggest decrease - 56 percent - was in the number of people in mental hospitals and psychiatric units, military treatment centers and hospice and residential schools for people with disabilities.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/On-campus-living-has-soared-in-Bexar-1391153.php
With help, Dallas area hoarders can beat a full house
Dallas Morning News
May 22, 2011
... Organizers hope the conference will result in a Dallas-area task force on hoarding. One objective will be setting up a support group for hoarders, said Valencia Hooper, a social worker with the Dallas police Crisis Intervention Unit. Some hoarders suffer from major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and attention deficit disorder.
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local-news/20110522-with-help-dallas-area-hoarders-can-beat-a-full-house.ece?action=reregister
Death-penalty trial to begin for man accused of killing Dallas officer
Dallas Morning News
May 22, 2011
... While awaiting trial, Payne was found not competent, meaning he could not assist his lawyers with his defense or understand the proceedings, according to court records. But doctors have since restored him to competency. It's not clear what mental issues led to him being incompetent.
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/headlines/20110522-death-penalty-trial-to-begin-for-man-accused-of-killing-dallas-officer.ece
Escobar sentenced to death for slaying of 17-year-old
Austin American-Statesman
May 20, 2011
... Brittain repeated the opinion of a defense expert, forensic psychologist Matthew Ferrara, who said that Escobar suffers from a mental illness - borderline personality disorder. Ferrara also suggested that Escobar was having a psychotic episode brought on by the illness, by his use of cocaine and alcohol and by stress in his life. A forensic psychiatrist testifying for prosecutors said Escobar is a probably a sexual sadist who took pleasure in Maldonado's pain.
http://www.statesman.com/news/local/escobar-sentenced-to-death-for-slaying-of-17-1488754.html
NATIONAL NEWS
Disability Judge Spurs Benefits Investigation
Wall Street Journal
May 20, 2011
... Millions of Americans who are unable to work because of mental or physical health issues depend on disability benefits. Critics have said the process for determining who qualifies is subjective and loosely monitored. The Social Security Administration has also been pressuring judges to speed up their processing to reduce a 730,000-case backlog.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704816604576333682478147922.html?KEYWORDS=mental
High court backs cuts in Calif. prison population
San Antonio Express News
May 23, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court on Monday endorsed a court order requiring California to cut its prison population by thousands of inmates to improve health care for those who remain behind bars. ...The case revolves around inadequate mental and physical health care in a state prison system that in 2009 averaged nearly a death a week that might have been prevented or delayed with better medical care.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/High-court-backs-cuts-in-Calif-prison-population-1391561.php
State says it's meeting mental health timeline
Georgia Health News
May 21, 2011
Georgia is on track in delivering promised changes for people with mental illness and developmental disabilities, a state official said Friday. The state promised to revitalize community services as part of a landmark 2010 settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over problems in Georgia's mental health system.
http://www.georgiahealthnews.com/2011/05/21/state-meeting-timeline-mental-health/
SEIU: mental health a broken system; Oversight commission proposed
WWLP (Mass.)
May 20, 2011
BOSTON, Mass. - Calling on lawmakers to create an oversight commission, the Service Employees International Union ("SEIU") told the legislature's Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse that they're underfunded, overworked and their clients are being neglected.
http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/news/politics/SEIU%3A-mental-health-a-broken-system
Cuts to training could lead to doctor shortage in rural Minn.
Minnesota Public Radio
May 20, 2011
St. Paul, Minn. - Proposed cuts to state funding for medical training could lead to a long-term shortage of primary care physicians in rural Minnesota, educators and hospital officials said this week.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/05/20/rural-minnesota-doctors-cuts-shortage/
Mother battles Michigan over daughter's medication
Houston Chronicle
May 22, 2011
DETROIT (AP) - ... Godboldo now is locked in a bitter battle with Michigan's Department of Human Services over her right to determine whether the girl should continue taking the anti-psychotic drug Risperdal and the government's responsibility to look after the child's welfare.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/7576439.html
Need Therapy? A Good Man Is Hard to Find
The New York Times
May 21, 2011
... Men earn only one in five of all master's degrees awarded in psychology, down from half in the 1970s. They account for less than 10 percent of social workers under the age of 34, according to a recent survey. And their numbers have dwindled among professional counselors - to 10 percent of the American Counseling Association's membership today from 30 percent in 1982 - and appear to be declining among marriage and family therapists.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/health/22therapists.html?_r=1&ref=health
Healthcare Jobs on the Rise: Doctors of all kinds are in short supply, as is almost everybody delivering care
U.S. News and World Report
May 19, 2011
... The call for psychiatrists spiked 47 percent during the year ending March 31, 2010. The sudden demand stems from the fact that "more than 50 percent of psychiatrists are 50 or older" and many are at or nearing the point of retirement, says Salka. This at a time when improved diagnosis and treatment, and better health coverage for mental and behavioral problems, are bringing more people in for help.
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/articles/2011/05/19/healthcare-jobs-on-the-rise
A key diagnostic deadline draws near
Los Angeles Times
May 22, 2011
... The first revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in almost 20 years will roll off the presses in 2013. Since the 1994 edition, research has exposed pieces of the biological framework underlying disorders like schizophrenia, anorexia and depression. But molecular tests and brain scans based on those discoveries aren't yet ready for diagnostic use, and that leaves the authors of the upcoming book with the same problem that vexed their predecessors: how to distinguish a mental illness from the rainbow of normal human behavior.
http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-psychiatry-dsm5-20110522,0,233329.story
'Hypersexual disorder' might make DSM-5
Los Angeles Times
May 23, 2011
...The growing prominence of sexual behavior problems has prompted psychiatrists to consider creating a new type of mental disorder - "hypersexual disorder" - characterized by excessive and risky sexual behavior. It's being considered for inclusion in the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, called DSM-5, due out in 2013.
http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-psychiatry-roundup-20110523,0,4198997.story
Community project gets dozens of Hollywood's homeless off the streets
Los Angeles Times
May 22, 2011
...At a time when governments are stretched, homeless advocates say the Hollywood effort exemplifies what communities can achieve when they pool resources and prioritize those in greatest need. Similar initiatives in Santa Monica, Venice, West Hollywood, Glendale, Van Nuys, Long Beach and downtown's skid row have put permanent roofs over the heads of more than 600 of Los Angeles County's most hard-core homeless, according to figures collected by the New York-based nonprofit Common Ground.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-hollywood-homeless-20110522,0,5391348.story
Recovery homes reach out to Latinos
Chicago Tribune
May 18, 2011
... Oxford House, a nationwide network of addiction recovery homes, opened its first residences in Illinois specifically for Latinos - a population that has been difficult to reach with traditional treatment strategies.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/ct-x-latino-recovery-0518-20110518,0,4090741.story
Lawsuit contends mentally ill are wrongly detained
San Antonio Express News
May 21, 2011
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A lawsuit alleges that two Alaskans were jailed and two others warehoused in a general hospital because the state psychiatric hospital was full.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Lawsuit-contends-mentally-ill-are-wrongly-detained-1388755.php
Lawsuit: Only white workers at Wash. hospital ward
San Antonio Express News
May 21, 2011
SEATTLE (AP) - 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. After a mentally ill patient with a history of attacking hospital workers requested only white caregivers, managers agreed, and hospital executives declined to investigate when the workers complained about the policy, the workers said in the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court on Thursday.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Lawsuit-Only-white-workers-at-Wash-hospital-ward-1388835.php
Jared Loughner May Be Too Deranged to Stand Trial
The Wall Street Journal
May 20, 2011
... Earlier this week, federal court filings in the Loughner case strongly suggest that mental health professionals have determined that the defendant is not competent to stand trial, WSJ reports.
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2011/05/20/jared-loughner-may-be-too-deranged-to-stand-trial/?KEYWORDS=mental
Lawyer: Mentally ill US soldier to plead guilty in death of detainee in Afghanistan
The Washington Post
May 22, 2011
DENVER - A mentally ill U.S. soldier accused of killing an Afghan detainee will plead guilty to premeditated murder in exchange for a substantially reduced prison term, his lawyer said Sunday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/lawyer-mentally-ill-us-soldier-to-plead-guilty-in-death-of-detainee-in-afghanistan/2011/05/22/AFgPzG9G_story.html
HEALTHCARE REFORM
Vermont Steps Closer To Single-Payer Health Care
National Public Radio
May 22, 2011
Vermont is about to accomplish something the federal government couldn't. Once Gov. Peter Shumlin signs a bill on May 26, the state will be on track to having a single-payer health care system.
http://www.npr.org/2011/05/22/136502764/vermont-steps-closer-to-single-payer-health-care
A Doctor's Push for Single-Payer Health Care for All Finds Traction in Vermont
The New York Times
May 21, 2011
MONTPELIER, Vt. - Many people move to Vermont in search of a slower pace; Dr. Deb Richter came in 1999 to work obsessively toward a far-fetched goal. She wanted Vermont to become the first state to adopt a single-payer health care system, run and paid for by the government, with every resident eligible for a uniform benefit package.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/us/22vermont.html?ref=health
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Rise in mental health cases among armed forces
British Broadcasting Corporation
May 22, 2011
Almost 4,000 servicemen and women - or 2% of the armed forces - were diagnosed with mental health disorders last year, the Ministry of Defence says. The rise from 3,103 cases in 2009 to 3,942 new cases recorded in the annual mental health summary was down to more people coming forward, the MoD said.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13491514
OPINIONS
Commentary: The doctor won't see you now
Houston Chronicle
May 22, 2011
AUSTIN - ... Texas has a deficit of physicians that is being exacerbated by our political leaders in Austin. The new state budget cuts medical schools by a whopping $400 million, scuttling plans for expanding medical school slots. Now, our promising students no doubt will seek training in other states; most of them will start new practices where they studied.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/7576348.html
RESEARCH
Anxiety disorder may precede diabetes in Latinos, study finds
Chicago Tribune
May 20, 2011
HONOLULU - Latinos have higher rates of diabetes than other ethnic groups. They also appear to have higher rates of having both diabetes and a mood disorder, such as anxiety or depression, according to a new study presented this week at the American Psychiatric Assn.'s annual meeting.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/la-heb-latino-diabetes-20110520,0,768026.story
Women on war front more likely to get post-traumatic stress disorder than men, study finds
Los Angeles Tribune
May 19, 2011
Reporting from Honolulu-Women deployed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are emerging as a group especially vulnerable to post-traumatic stress disorder, researchers reported this week at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Assn.
http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-ptsd-women-military-20110519,0,6360607.story
Dopamine Release Fuels Anxiety in Brains of Anorexics
Psych Central News
May 22, 2011
Although most people find pleasure in eating and even have a difficult time refraining from foods they love, individuals suffering from anorexia nervosa often say that eating makes them feel more anxious. Instead, refusing to eat - something called food refusal - is what brings more pleasure.
http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/05/22/dopamine-release-fuels-anxiety-in-brains-of-anorexics/26392.html
FEATURES & RESOURCES
New tool kit available to help prevent suicides in senior living communities
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
May 23, 2011
A new tool kit is now available to help those working with older Americans living at senior living communities promote good emotional health and prevent suicides. Developed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) the tool kit includes guidelines for integrating suicide prevention into the existing programs and policies of senior living communities.
http://www.samhsa.gov/newsroom/advisories/1105233324.aspx
College mental health screenings going high-tech
Chicago Tribune
May 22, 2011
... To help deal with the demand, more campus counseling centers are using computerized questionnaires, some that generate color-coded charts, to help them flag a serious problem more quickly than traditional paper-and-pencil evaluations. Though they stress that these evaluations are not a replacement for in-depth questioning or counseling, many counselors say high-tech methods like these appeal to students.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-ap-us-college-mentalhea,0,170547.story
Depression is not always easy to detect
Washington Post
May 16, 2011
A 46-year-old teacher saw a psychiatrist on referral from his primary-care doctor because he felt so depressed he couldn't function at work. The psychiatrist asked about his past relationships, his symptoms, his medical history and more. And then he ordered some blood tests. Medical history? Blood tests? Absolutely. Feeling depressed can mean many things, and not all of them represent true depression. A doctor needs to pay attention to all the patient's symptoms and consider all possible causes for them.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health/depression-is-not-always-easy-to-detect/2011/01/26/AFial74G_story.html
PHILANTHROPY
Billionaires, hospital workers give money for new Parkland hospital in Dallas
Dallas Morning News
May 21, 2011
... The two women may be at opposite ends of the gift-giving spectrum, but they're both part of what the philanthropy world calls a nontraditional approach to fundraising: soliciting private money to build a new public hospital.
http://www.dallasnews.com/investigations/headlines/20110521-billionaires-hospital-workers-give-money-for-new-parkland-hospital-in-dallas.ece
Some say Jones family foundation needs greater transparency
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
May 21, 2011
... But at least one city councilman isn't happy with the projects the foundation has selected or with the city's limited say on how the money is spent. While Mayor Robert Cluck and Councilwoman Lana Wolff represent the city on the foundation's board, the agreement between the city and the Jones family states that the charity is not required to report where it spends its money or how it decides what projects to support.
http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/05/21/3093633/some-say-jones-family-foundation.html
The Future of Nonprofits: Innovate and Thrive in the Digital Age
Austin American-Statesman
May 22, 2011
Debut authors Neff and Moss tackle the sustainability of nonprofits through one encompassing keyword: innovation. Drawing on the authors' experiences as digital-media strategists on the business side of nonprofits, this enriching guidebook not only describes how these organizations can survive the future but how they can thrive in it. ... Neff signs "The Future of Nonprofits" at 7 p.m. Thursday at BookPeople in Austin.
http://www.statesman.com/life/books/kirkus-reviews-in-the-garden-of-beasts-the-1490012.html
