Articles, Leading Stories
Policy changes affect isolation for prisoners with mental illness
By Phyllis Hanlon
On March 12, 2012, after a five-year legal battle, the Disability Law Center, Inc. (DLC) in Massachusetts earned a victory for inmates with mental illness who face long-term isolation. Assertions that segregation violates the constitutional rights of prisoners with mental illness as well as a spate of suicides while in segregated cells – 11 within a 28-month period – prompted the lawsuit. Chief U.S. District Court Judge Mark Wolf delivered the settlement in the case; his decision prompts the creation of a mental health classification system as well as other positive changes. According to Rick Glassman, litigation director at the [More]
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R.I. grant will grow jobs for people with behavior, abuse disorders
By Jennifer E Chase
Rhode Island has received $103,000 from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to help improve the Ocean State’s jobs forecast for people with behavioral health disorders. One of only nine states in the country to receive an Employment Development Initiative grant from SAMHSA, the money will help R.I. during the rest of FY 2012 to increase employment opportunities for individuals with mental health and/or substance use issues in a unique way: by developing and fusing the state’s evidence-based practice of Individual Placement and Support (IPS) with a certification program that will formally train Certified Peer Wellness specialists [More]
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Connecticut’s suicide increase tied to bad economy
By Janine Weisman
Is the bad economy to blame for a significant rise in Connecticut’s suicides documented this past spring by the state’s chief medical examiner? Experts suggest such a link to explain the 371 suicides recorded in 2011 by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the highest number of such deaths in the last 22 years. Men committed 288 suicides and 83 were by women. Men between ages 40 and 59 accounted for 37 percent of the deaths. The second highest year occurred in 1991, also a period of economic downturn, with 362 suicides. The third highest year, 2010, had 358. [More]
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Special needs camps put fun back in summer
By Jennifer E Chase
Summertime is supposed to be fun; but for kids with medical, learning or mental health problems clouding their days, the same issues they fight during the school year – low self esteem, problems connecting with adults or interacting with peers – can easily spill into vacations. Specialized summer camps like ones geared toward sports and the arts have existed for generations. In New England, some camps also cater to kids with special needs of all kinds. Three in particular – Adventurelore in N.H. and Maine, Camp Starfish in Massachusetts, and Camp Daybreak in Vermont – help this population experience summertime [More]
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New divisions proposed for APA
By Phyllis Hanlon
The American Psychological Association (APA) currently has 54 divisions that cover a wide spectrum of psychological areas. That may change, however, if the Council of Representatives for APA approves four new recently proposed divisions. In an email, Sarah Jordan, director, Division Service Office, Governance Affairs for APA, indicates that the Council last approved a new division, Trauma Psychology, in 2006. APA has received questions on new areas on occasion, but no concerted efforts have been made until recently. Mary Gresham, Ph.D., who has a private practice in Atlanta, Ga., filed a letter of intent with several colleagues to form a [More]
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Psychologist is diversity specialist, novelist
By Catherine Robertson Souter
They say that everyone has a novel in them and, for Deborah Plummer, Ph.D., getting that novel out onto paper started as escapism and turned into a well received novel about a woman very similar to herself…except that she sets out to solve a murder mystery and winds up targeted for death. Plummer is a nationally recognized diversity specialist, writer (as Deborah Plummer Bussey) of “Racing Across the Lines: Changing Race Relations through Friendships,” winner of a Mayflower Award for best publication in the category of Church and Society, and editor of the “Handbook of Diversity Management: Beyond Awareness to [More]
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Treatment resistance: a complex problem that requires multiple approaches
By Phyllis Hanlon
Individuals who suffer with mental illness have several treatment options from which to choose, including psychotherapy, behavioral therapy, short-term residential placement and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or other pharmacological agents. In spite of this robust therapeutic menu, some patients remain significantly impaired, posing a challenge for effective treatment. Treatment resistance, present across a number of diagnoses and common in depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and personality disorders, involves multiple variables, according to Rick Barnett, Psy.D., LADC, MS clinical psychopharmacology and president of the Vermont Psychological Association (VPA). Those variables include who is defining treatment resistance, treatment approach, diagnosis, co morbid [More]
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Advice given to avoid professional legal pitfalls
By Jennifer E Chase
In a profession regulated by rules and boundaries established by governing bodies (and often, more personal ones practitioners impose on themselves), the legal issues that ensnare today’s psychologist far outnumber what faced their predecessors just 10 years ago. But according to experts in the field – folks who are used to doling out advice to those who dole out advice – pre-emptive thought about one’s actions can mean the difference between legal safety and a legal snafu. Milton L. Kerstein is a 25-year attorney and a managing partner at Kerstein, Coren and Lichtenstein, LLP, in Wellesley, Mass., where he counsels [More]
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Creation of licensing board still an issue
By Catherine Robertson Souter
Across the country, the practice of applied behavior analysis (ABA) has exploded. According to Steve Woolf, Ph.D., BCBA-D, president of the Massachusetts Association for Applied Behavior Analysis, Massachusetts has the highest concentration of board-certified ABAs in the world. “The last official count was 732,” he says. “Although that number is on the increase and we will probably see more than 1,000 a year from now.” With the explosion of the field has come a drive to create a licensing board to regulate the practice of behavior analysis. From three bills introduced to the Mass. legislature last year, the issue has [More]
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Funding will help support sharing of health records
By Pamela Berard
Maine and Rhode Island were two of five states to receive $600,000 in federal funding to help support the electronic sharing of health records among behavioral health and general medical providers. The Center for Integrated Health Solutions, which is funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Health Resources Services Administration, awarded the contracts. In Maine, the State of Maine and HealthInfoNet will provide 25 behavioral health care organizations and 200 individual providers with new ways to securely share medical records, including use of the health information exchange (HIE) – an electronic system where health care [More]
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