Aging Boomers' Mental Health Woes Will Swamp Health System

By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter
Originally published July 10, 2012

The United States faces an unprecedented number of aging baby boomers with mental health or substance use issues, a number so great it could overwhelm the existing health care system, a new report warned Tuesday.

"The report is sufficiently alarmist," said Dr. Gary Kennedy, director of geriatric psychiatry at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. "I think [the report authors] are right."

Kennedy was not involved with the report, The Mental Health and Substance Use Workforce for Older Adults: In Whose Hands? It was mandated by Congress and issued by The Institute of Medicine in light of a "silver tsunami" of health care needs expected to accompany a senior population that will reach 72.1 million by 2030.

The "silver tsunami" is the result of simple supply-and-demand forces gone awry, the report authors explained.

The entire story is here.

Read the report online for free

The Evolving State of Physician-Assisted Suicide

Massachusetts voters soon will decide whether to become the third state to legalize the contentious end-of-life care option for the terminally ill.

By Jaime Joyce

The Atlantic Monthly

Originally published July 16, 2012

Should terminally ill patients have the right to kill themselves? Voters in Massachusetts will soon decide. Last Wednesday, the Secretary of the Commonwealth announced that on November 6, 2012, when Bay State voters go to the polls to pick the next President, they will also have their say on a ballot measure called the Death with Dignity Act. If passed, the law would make Massachusetts the third state to give adults diagnosed with six months or less to live the option to end their lives using a lethal dose of doctor-prescribed medication.

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A study released by the Health Research and Education Trust shows that Americans are living longer lives than ever before. As a result, more individuals and families will face difficult questions about end-of-life care. In 2011, the oldest Baby Boomers turned 65. By 2030, the number of Boomers between 66 and 84 years old will climb to 61 million, and six out of 10 will be managing chronic health conditions. For the elderly and others facing terminal illness, doctors have numerous ways to prolong life. Palliative and hospice care are available to help patients find peace and comfort in their final days. But there are some people who want another option, which is the right to end suffering by taking their own life at a time and place of their choosing.

The entire story is here.

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Others posts about end of life issues and Death with Dignity can be found by using the "search" function on the right hand side of this blog.

Dutch Euthanasia Rates Unchanged After Legalization

By Robert Preidt
MedicineNet.com
Originally published July 10, 2012

The rates of euthanasia and assisted suicide in the Netherlands in 2010 were comparable to the rates before the practices became legal in 2002, a new study finds.

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Researchers analyzed the Netherlands' death-registry data and found that the total number of euthanasia and assisted-suicide deaths in 2010 was 4,050, slightly less than 3 percent of all deaths.

The rates of euthanasia and assisted suicide in the Netherlands decreased between 2002 and 2005, but increased between 2005 and 2010. The increase was due largely to a rise in the number of patients requesting to end their lives, the researchers said.

The entire story is here.

The research from The Lancet is here.

Free access to British scientific research to be available within two years

Radical shakeup of academic publishing will allow papers to be put online and be accessed by universities, firms and individuals

By Ian Sample

The Guardian

Originally published July 15, 2012

The government is to unveil controversial plans to make publicly funded scientific research immediately available for anyone to read for free by 2014, in the most radical shakeup of academic publishing since the invention of the internet.

Under the scheme, research papers that describe work paid for by the British taxpayer will be free online for universities, companies and individuals to use for any purpose, wherever they are in the world.

In an interview with the Guardian before Monday's announcement David Willetts, the universities and science minister, said he expected a full transformation to the open approach over the next two years.

The move reflects a groundswell of support for "open access" publishing among academics who have long protested that journal publishers make large profits by locking research behind online paywalls. "If the taxpayer has paid for this research to happen, that work shouldn't be put behind a paywall before a British citizen can read it," Willetts said.

The entire story is here.

Treatment of Gender Identity Disorder: Guidelines from the ApA

by Mary Elizabeth Dallas
MedicineNet.com
Originally published on July 6, 2012

Psychiatrists who see transgender patients need specific guidelines to help determine the best course of treatment, according to new report from the American Psychiatric Association.

The American Psychiatric Association Task Force on Treatment of Gender Identity Disorder also calls for the psychiatrists' group to clarify its position on the health care and civil rights of people who are transgender or transitioning gender, meaning they are in the process of changing their gender through hormones and surgery.

The entire story is here.

The guidelines from the American Psychiatric Association are here.

Appeals Court Rejects Student's Lawsuit Over Alleged Harassment by Professor

By Libby Sander
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Originally published July 10, 2012

Student workers who are sexually harassed on the job do not enjoy a higher standard of protection under federal employment law than do workers in other employment settings, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday.

The case involves Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit concluded is not liable for an undergraduate student's claims of sexual harassment by a prominent emeritus faculty member who was also a major donor.

In a 2-to-1 opinion, a three-judge panel of the appeals court rejected claims by the student, Samuel Milligan, under federal employment law that Southern Illinois created a hostile work and educational environment.

The entire story is here.

Identifying Perceived Personal Barriers to Public Policy Advocacy Within Psychology

The authors are Amy E. Heinowitz, Kelly R. Brown, Leah C. Langsam, Steven J. Arcidiacono, Paige L. Baker, Nadimeh H. Badaan, Nancy I. Zlatkin, & Ralph E. (Gene) Cash.
Professional Psychology: Research & Practice

There is an urgent and growing need for professional and social justice advocacy within the psychological community (Ratts & Hutchins, 2009; Kiselica & Robinson, 2001; Ratts, D'Andrea, & Arredondo, 2004; Toporek, Gerstein, Fouad, Roysircar, & Israel, 2006).  Psychology, as a field as well as a profession, aims to reduce negative treatment outcomes and to enhance personal wellbeing through research and practice (Council of Specialties in Professional Psychology, 2009; American Psychological Association, 2010b).  The viability of the profession and its capacity to provide fundamental and essential services are directly affected by legislation and regulations (Barnett, 2004).  As a result, advocacy is integral to the roles of all psychologists, with the future and success of their profession and careers depending on their incorporation of advocacy into their professional identity (Burney et al., 2009).

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The findings presented in this study carry valuable implications for efforts aimed at enhancing participation in advocacy. Lating et al. (2009) suggest that the continued separation of professional and educational agendas in the training of psychologists may contribute to the profession's deficient involvement in advocacy. Specifically, psychology is the only major health profession to maintain an academic training model despite the creation of professional training programs. The lack of advocacy training appears to contribute to the development and maintenance of barriers such as lack of awareness of and lack of perceived competence in discussing public policy issues.

Efforts to increase psychologists' participation in public policy advocacy must begin early on and be integrated throughout their curricula. Pertinent public policy issues fit well into courses on ethics, diversity, assessment, and even intervention. Similarly, discussion about and training in the advocacy role may be reinforced through clinical training and supervision. In addition to incorporated teaching lessons, specific coursework in public policy advocacy might aid students in developing skills used to advocate, while increasing comfort, enhancing familiarity, and expanding knowledge of current issues.

Thanks to Ken Pope for this information.

Good News for Mental Illness in Health Law

By Richard A. Friedman, MD
The New York Times
Originally published July 9, 2012

Americans with mental illness had good reason to celebrate when the Supreme Court upheld President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. The law promises to give them something they have never had before: near-universal health insurance, not just for their medical problems but for psychiatric disorders as well.

Until now, people with mental illness and substance disorders have faced stingy annual and lifetime caps on coverage, higher deductibles or simply no coverage at all.

This was supposed to be fixed in part by the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, which mandated that psychiatric illness be covered just the same as other medical illnesses. But the law applied only to larger employers (50 or more workers) that offered a health plan with benefits for mental health and substance abuse. Since it did not mandate universal psychiatric benefits, it had a limited effect on the disparity between the treatment of psychiatric and nonpsychiatric medical diseases.

The entire story is here.

Rift Forms in Movement as Belief in Gay 'Cure' Is Renounced

By Erik Eckholm
The New York Times
Originally published on July 7, 2012

Here are some exerpts:

Alan Chambers, 40, the president, declared that there was no cure for homosexuality and that “reparative therapy” offered false hopes to gays and could even be harmful. His statements have led to charges of heresy and a growing schism within the network.
      

“For the last 37 years, Exodus has been a bright light, arguably the brightest one for those with same-sex attraction seeking an authentically Christian hope,” said Andrew Comiskey, founder and director of Desert Stream Ministries, based in Kansas City, Mo., one of 11 ministries that defected. His group left Exodus in May, Mr. Comiskey said in an e-mail, “due to leader Alan Chambers’s appeasement of practicing homosexuals who claim to be Christian” as well as his questioning of the reality of “sexual orientation change.”

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“I believe that any sexual expression outside of heterosexual, monogamous marriage is sinful according to the Bible,” Mr. Chambers emphasized. “But we’ve been asking people with same-sex attractions to overcome something in a way that we don’t ask of anyone else,” he said, noting that Christians with other sins, whether heterosexual lust, pornography, pride or gluttony, do not receive the same blanket condemnations.

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Mr. Pickup, an officer of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, composed of like-minded therapists, said reparative therapy had achieved profound changes for thousands of people, including himself. The therapy, he said, had helped him confront emotional wounds and “my homosexual feelings began to dissipate and attractions for women grew.”

      

Some in the ex-gay world are more scathing about Mr. Chambers.

The entire story is here.