Psychiatric Associates of Atlanta Mental Health News |
Saturday, March 15, 2003
Forcing Mentally Ill on Trial to Take Drugs Is Pondered By LINDA GREENHOUSE (The New York Times) WASHINGTON, March 3 — An inconclusive Supreme Court argument today on whether mentally ill criminal defendants may be medicated against their will to make them competent for trial reflected the essential difficulty and delicacy of the mix of law and psychiatry that the case presented. "It doesn't fit comfortably in any setting with which we're familiar," Justice Sandra Day O'Connor observed as she asked a government lawyer how to balance the competing interests in such a case. The defendant, Dr. Charles T. Sell, is a St. Louis dentist who was indicted in 1997 by a federal grand jury on Medicaid and insurance fraud charges. His case has a number of complexities, including a subsequent indictment for conspiring to murder a federal witness and an F.B.I. agent, but the Supreme Court framed the question more narrowly when it accepted his appeal four months ago: whether it violates the Constitution to forcibly administer antipsychotic medication in order for the government to bring someone to trial for nonviolent offenses. Saturday, March 08, 2003
Higher Depression Relapse Risk With Gland Hyperactivity After Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation A DGReview of :"The combined dexamethasone-CRH test before and after repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in major depression." Psychoneuroendocrinology 03/07/2003 By Elda Hauschildt Persistent hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) system hyperactivity after repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) therapy suggests a high risk for relapse in patients with major depression. The finding argues for immediate maintenance therapy in depression patients who respond to rTMS therapy, say German researchers. The investigators, from Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, explain that research has demonstrated HPA dysregulation normalises after successful antidepressant pharmacotherapy. Normalisation is assessed by a combined dexamethasone/corticotropin-releasing hormone (DEX/CRH) test.
Forum focuses on rise in depression By Alison Go, For the Daily March 07, 2003 The University addressed a growing trend of depression in higher education by holding its first-annual Depression on College Campuses conference yesterday. The conference gathered researchers, school administrators and medical health professionals from across the country to discuss the widely neglected topic of college depression. The program's events aims to change the perception of depression from a moral or social weakness to a serious and treatable mental illness, said John Greden, the executive director of The University Depression Center. "Knowledge and information that is disseminated is our most powerful tool," Greden said.
Experts: Shock Therapy Helps Treat Depression Fri Mar 7, 9:19 AM ET By Alison McCook NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Despite the controversy surrounding the procedure, electric shock therapy appears to be an effective treatment for psychiatric illness, and may lift patients' depression better than antidepressant drugs, UK researchers said Friday. Known today as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), the treatment involves using electric shocks to cause a seizure in patients under anesthesia. As a result of the seizure, the brain releases chemicals that may improve communication between brain cells and produce other changes, thereby relieving depression. |
