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Violence Against Women with Mental Illness
This issue brief from the Consensus Project examines what is known about the vulnerability to violent crime of women with mental illness; what programs have attempted to service this population of women; what resources are available to the field and other issues. 16 page downloadable pdf file.
++++++++++ Shortage of Child Psychiatrists Wyoming is down to two child psychiatrists.
West Virginia has 1.3 child psychiatrists per 100,000 young people.
A study commissioned by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists in 2003 found there was, on average, only one child psychiatrist for every 15,000 youths under 18.
Pediatricians, family doctors and child psychologists have been filling the void, although their training is far less thorough. Several steps have been proposed to ease the shortage, although none are expected to produce swift changes.
With an estimated 5% of America’s children and adolescents with acute mental disorders, the shortage is only going to get worse before it gets better.
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Depression
This lengthy article from the weekly New York Times Magazine examines a radical new brain surgery for depression. Eight of 12 patients with severe depression unresponsive to any therapy received an experimental surgery and felt their depressions lift while suffering minimal side effects. They have re-engaged their families, resumed jobs and friendships, started businesses, taken up hobbies old and new, and replanted dying gardens. These results were a surprise to both the patients and their doctors, but there is as yet no guarantee the results will last. ++++++++++ Spring 2006 Issue of THE LINK
The lead article of this issue of CWLA’s newsletter that connects delinquency and abuse and neglect is “The Legal Rights of Young People in State Custody: What Juvenile Justice Professionals Need to Know When Working with LGBT Youth.” The article identifies a series of rights of LGBT kids in the juvenile justice system: The right to safe conditions of confinement; the right to mental and physical health care; and the right not to be placed in conditions that amount to punishment. In the same issue see “Adolescents, Maturity, and the Law: Why Science and Development Matter in Juvenile Justice,” an article by Jeffrey Fagan examining juvenile crime, how it is perceived by the juvenile justice system, and the mismatch between juvenile maturation and culpability. ++++++++++ Rethinking the Juvenile in Juvenile Justice: Implications of Adolescent Brain Development on the Juvenile Justice System
The Wisconsin Council on Children and Families has released this publication about the intersection between brain research and juvenile justice and it is excellent! You can download the full text (24 page pdf file) or a single-page executive summary at the link above. Take the time to look at this one. It’s worth it. ++++++++++ Indiana County Addresses Juvenile Mental Illness
A new diagnostic wing of the Allen County Juvenile Center allows criminal justice officials to be better informed about possible reasons a child committed a crime. In addition to the basic personal information all juveniles provide when they are brought to the center, they are all now screened for mental health, physical health, education level and behavioral issues. More screening can be done if mental health is an issue. If you find this article of interest you may also want to look at an article from the latest issue of The Judges’ Page by Judge Louis Trosch, Jr. about collaboration between the juvenile court and mental health systems in Mecklenburg County, Charlotte, North Carolina. In that article the judge describes the development of collaborative relationships and a special form order that lists seven types of evaluations, specifies the questions the evaluator would answer, and provides space for additional questions. I have a copy of the form order and I will send you one if you’re interested. Send me an email with your USPO address and I’ll put a copy in the mail for you. ++++++++++ The Judges’ Page Mental Health Issue
The latest issue of The Judges’ Page is devoted to mental health issues and the dependency courts. Subjects include dual diagnosis, children and youth with ADD and ADHD, infant mental health, psychological assessments, and more. ++++++++++ Enriching Lives: Resources for mental health care providers helping traumatized rural children and their families
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network and the Idaho State University Institute of Rural Health provide free consultation to providers in rural, frontier and tribal areas about interventions for child trauma, reimbursement, and recruiting and retaining personnel. ++++++++++ A New Medical Condition to Note: Selective Mutism
TIME Magazine reports on children who are talkative in private and silent, not just shy, in public. The root of the problem is described as an extreme form of social anxiety or phobia.
++++++++++ Federal Programs to Assist Youth with Serious Mental Health Conditions
The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law has identified 57 programs run by 20 or more different agencies in nine departments of the federal government that can address the wide range of needs for teens with mental health conditions who are transitioning into adulthood. Moving On: Analysis of Federal Programs Funding Services for Transition-Age Youth with Serious Mental health Conditions is available from Bazelon. A complete set of fact sheets in 12 categories is available for download at the site.
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Teen Marijuana-Psychosis Link
Recent research points to adolescence as a particularly risky time to smoke marijuana for those genetically predisposed to mental illness. Brain scientists theorize that marijuana may induce temporary changes in brain chemistry that, when reinforced over time, become permanent. ++++++++++ The Juvenile Private Treatment Industry - Unregulated, Unseen
Desperate parents place their children in privately run residential rehab programs in an attempt to get the right help for their kids. Given that there is no government oversight or regulation of private facilities it is hard to find data or to investigate programs that offer treatment. The author of this article has also written a book, Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids. ++++++++++ School Mental Health Services in the United States, 2002-2003 This is the first national study of mental health services in a representative sample of the approximately 83,000 public elementary, middle, and high schools and their associated school districts in the United States. Findings indicate that schools are responding to the mental health needs of their students, but they also suggest that there are increasing needs for mental health services and multiple challenges faced by schools in addressing these needs. Downloadable report. ++++++++++ Juvenile Mental Health Courts – Program Descriptions: Processes and Procedures The National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice recently published this compendium of descriptions of juvenile mental health courts in the country. There are descriptions of 10 courts here. Downloadable pdf file. ++++++++++ Japanese Youth Withdraw to Their Rooms for Months, Sometimes Years
In Japan in the last decade hikikomori, or “withdrawal,” has become a social phenomenon. Hikikomori is a culturebound syndrome that thrives in one particular country during a particular moment in its history. Young Japanese men respond to family pressure to succeed academically or in the corporate world, or to bullying at school by withdrawing. In a society where uniformity is prized and reputations and outward appearances are paramount, rebellion turns inward. Experts estimate that about 80% of hikikomori are male, some as young as 13 or 14, and some live in their rooms for 15 years or more. ++++++++++ Teen Mental Health: Depression and Suicide Teen Depression Watch Draws Mixed Reviews
This NPR interview looks at Teen Screen, a suicide screen used by schools in 42 states to detect suicidal tendencies in middle school students and the opposition it is experiencing in some locales. Improving Mental Health Care in Teen Justice System NPR interview examines juvenile mental health courts, particularly the juvenile mental health court in San Jose, Calif. Kids Not So Suicidal After All In this opinion piece that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle in December, Mike Males suggests that diversity and societal evolution are forging more resilient, less self-destructive young people. Males says “Today’s youth are the third generation exposed to widespread hard-drug availability, mass-media influences, fast-paced lives and chaotic families. Far from being passive victims, teens have learned from the manifest woes of older generations and appear to be developing ways to handle modern pressures.” Another, interesting, way of looking at the issue of teens, drugs and suicide. ++++++++++ Teen Prostitution One in Ten US Teens Face Major Depression
New data from SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental health Services Administration) says that nearly one in ten American teenagers experienced major depression in 2004 and fewer than half of them were treated.
12% of youths ages 16 or 17 faced severe depression in 2004 compared to 5% of those 12 or 13 years old and,
Among 14 to 15 year olds, 9% experienced a major depressive episode.
Associated with severe depression in adolescents is a likelihood to engage in substance abuse. About 28% of depressed teens used alcohol, nearly 23% smoked cigarettes, and 21% used drugs. New data from SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental health Services Administration) says that compared to 5 and,. About , nearly , and . ++++++++++ Promoting Social and Emotional Health and School Readiness
The National Center for Children in Poverty has released a new publication, Spending Smarter: A Funding Guide for Policymakers and Advocates to Promote Social and Emotional Health and School Readiness. Research says that social and emotional skills and competencies are the foundation for success in school, but that many children lack these skills. The paper describes effective programs, highlights policy opportunities, and offers fiscal strategies to promote the emotional health of young children and their families. Available as an abstract, as an executive summary, and in the complete text. ++++++++++ Teens, Mental Health, and Suicide
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has been running a week-long series on the development of the teen-age brain, mental health issues, depression and suicide. Recent research indicates that the brain of a teenager is not only awash in a tide of hormones, but also is in the middle of a tumultuous overhaul. This transition is so significant that it may unlock the mysteries of mental illness, suicide, depression, and mental disorders. The series is in its 4th day today and may run throughout the rest of the week. If you choose to download the entire series you’ll be printing about 50 pages. If you would prefer, I can send you a hard copy of the complete series (no charge) if you’ll email me your Post Office mailing address. This is a very good series of articles ++++++++++. The Complexities of Self-Injurious Behavior
This lengthy article from corrections.com covers self-injury, suicide and suicide attempts in correctional facilities, adult and juvenile. No longer available online. Contact us for a hard copy.
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Treatment Approaches to Limit the Impact of Exposure to Trauma on Children and Adolescents The National Child Traumatic Stress Network provides detailed fact sheets that provide descriptions of a series of interventions as well as where to obtain additional information about each. ++++++++++ Mentally Disabled Program Staff in the State of Washington Preys on Clients
A publicly funded program that pays for-profit companies to guard developmentally disabled people who are deemed to be dangerous is accused of preying on its clients. Adults, 381 of them across the state, have signed away their freedom in exchange for intensive monitoring by DSHS contractors. They have disabilities that include mental retardation, Down syndrome, autism, epilepsy and cerebral palsy. Contractor staff members have slapped, dragged, punched, bruised and broken bones of men and women with the mental age of elementary school children. They have been molested and raped by other clients and by staff members. No law governs the program and no court reviews the decisions. ++++++++++ Unregulated Residential Treatment Centers Exploit Children and Families This Bazelon Center for Mental Health issue briefing urges Congress to provide critical oversight of so-called therapeutic boarding schools and residential treatment centers in the United States and abroad that prey on unwitting families whose children have serious mental health needs. Following the links in this online briefing paper take you to statements from a parent whose children was placed in two facilities, a young person who received “treatment” in such an institution, and remarks from a former program evaluator, two leading experts in children’s mental health, and an advocate. If you want to talk about this subject, Tammy Seltzer, Senior Staff Attorney at the Bazelon Center can be reached by phone at 202-467-5730 x 116, or by fax at 202-223-0409. +++++++++++
Community Based Management Pilot Programs for Youth with Mental Illness Involved in the Criminal Justice System Program Evaluation Report: Year Three
A report to the Colorado State Legislature on pilot programs intended to target youth who had co-occurring mental health and criminal/juvenile justice involvement. The purpose of the pilot programs was to reduce incarceration, out-of-home placement, and hospitalization rates among this group of high-risk juveniles. I found the executive summary and the recommendations of this very large report were sufficient to my needs.The full report is 106 pages. The evaluation documented encouraging findings for an extremely high-risk group of youths.
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