Mental Health Notes

Begin February With A Dose Of Sanity

by Alicia Sparks, Mental Health Notes on February 2nd, 2008

Whether you’re feeling competitive or interested in using marijuana to manage your chronic pain, this week’s Saturday Sanity is sure to deliver!

• Contests abound! Wednesday I told you about that “lively woman” Kristen King (haha, my uncanny ability for corny plays on words never ceases to amaze me) and her contest to win a $50-Target gift card. If you haven’t entered yet, what are you waiting for! You still have a couple days! Too, don’t forget about Angelique’s Fall in Love…With Yourself contest over at Breaking the Mirror!
• Morphine Dependency Blocked By Single Genetic Change. UCSF Associate Professor of Neurology Jennifer Whistler, PhD, (and the mention of her name - Whistler - leads me to think of another dependency - one that I have - Prison Break, anyone?) led a group of scientists through this research and experiment to find a way to possibly prevent drug addiction. Well, at least addiction to morphine, for now.
• Virtual Reality Teaches Autistic Children Street Crossing, Study Suggests. The awesomeness of this study is not just that the research team thought of a new, safe way to teach autistic children; it’s that the autistic children transferred the skill from virtual reality to real life scenarios.
• Mental Health Screenings, Risk Behavior Interventions Needed In Juvenile Justice System. I thought about dedicating an entire post to this, but changed my mind. The information is so…DUH, that it’s not worthy. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve had experience with juveniles and young adults in both the public school system and the correctional system, but it seems to me that most of the information in this report is common sense.
• FDA Requiring Suicide Studies in Drug Trials. Why wasn’t this a requirement before?!
• Researchers Unravel Brain’s Barrier to Antidepressants. A look at why some antidepressants work for some folks and not for others. I was very intrigued to find that “[o]nly about one-third of depressed patients feel better after taking any given antidepressant.” I had no idea it was that low. The sad thing is, many people have to go through more than one antidepressant to find one that works for them. Vicious cycle.
• It’s time to legalize marijuana for pain control. Registered nurse and b5media blogger Marijke Durning is discussing the benefits of hitting the ol’ bong to help manage pain. What do you think of her points in relation to former Mental Health Notes discussion about cannabis and schizophrenia?
• New rules jeopardize access to case management services. Finally, Mental Health America is urging you to contact your senators and representatives about new regulations by the federal government that limit Medicaid coverage of case management services.

That’s all for this week, folks. Remember, if you have any Saturday Sanity-worthy news, send it my way!

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POSTED IN: Addiction, Childhood Disorders, Criminal Psych, Current Affairs & News, Death, Doctors & Scientists, Government & Politics, Have Some Fun, Health Insurance, Medications, Saturday Sanity, Sites of Interest