I’ve been in the car a lot this week. Every time I switch on the radio, I hear a Citadel Broadcasting station air the Bryan Cranston PSA for The Mind Research Network!
It is very gratifying to live in a community where the media lends you its incomparable power to reach people! Thank you, Citadel and our TV PSA partners, COMCAST and KOB-TV.
And thank you again, Bryan Cranston! (view the PSA at www.mrn.org)
We at MRN are about to enjoy a rare three day weekend thanks to the Martin Luther King birthday celebration. It is hard to think of “celebrating” as we watch the horrific events unfolding in Haiti.
While my life’s mission is to raise money for MRN and The Domenici Discovery Fund, I did contribute to the Haiti relief effort on behalf of my husband and me. There are lots of places to donate, but we gave to Bill Clinton’s foundation: www.clintonfoundation.org/haitirelief.
Mental health disorders are already at alarming rates across the globe, especially where there is staggering poverty. Once the immediacy of basic services and care are addressed in Haiti, we should all be concerned about the lasting emotional impact of this devastating earthquake.
We are uniquely qualified at The Mind Research network to find better ways to diagnose and treat individuals suffering from mental disorders. We join the world in hoping we can find ways to help our Haitian neighbors in the months and years ahead.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Read today's NY Times
"The Americanization of Mental Illness" by Ethan Watters----in today"s NY Times Magazine.
Comments??????
www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/magazine
and then scroll to the article.
Whatever your thoughts, the article underscores the need to find better ways to address mental illness, and that is exactly what we are doing at The Mind Research Network.
www.mrn.org
Comments??????
www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/magazine
and then scroll to the article.
Whatever your thoughts, the article underscores the need to find better ways to address mental illness, and that is exactly what we are doing at The Mind Research Network.
www.mrn.org
Thursday, January 7, 2010
MRN strives for more personalized care
We will share news and articles we at MRN run across this year through this blog.
The following is from Monday's Wall Street Journal. It underscores the need for more personalized treatment for individuals with brain disease.
THAT is exactly MRN's goal: to DISCOVER better and earlier ways to diagnose mental illness , autism, epilepsy, addiction and other brain disorders-----and then bring to the clinic more personalized care for each person facing these illnesses.
Here is the WSJ article--and then find out more about The Mind Research Network at: www.mrn.org
JANUARY 5, 2010
Studies: Mental Ills Are Often Overtreated, Undertreated
By SHIRLEY S. WANG
More Americans are being prescribed multiple psychiatric medications for use at the same time, but most people diagnosed with recent depression don't get adequate treatment, according to two independent studies published Monday.
In national surveys of more than 15,000 adults, researchers found that 8.3% met the diagnostic criteria for major depression during the previous year. About half those diagnosed received some form of treatment for depression, but less than a quarter were treated using strategies considered effective and used in accordance with American Psychiatric Association practice guidelines, one study found.
"Few Americans with depression actually get any kind of care, and even fewer get care consistent with the standards of care," said Hector Gonzalez, first author on the study published by the Archives of General Psychiatry and an assistant professor of family medicine, public health and gerontology at Wayne State University in Detroit.
Each year, depression affects about 15 million adults in the U.S., or 6.7% of the population, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. It is the country's leading cause of disability.
With major depression, people experience a consistent and profound feeling of being down, or lack of sense of pleasure, to the point where it affects their daily functioning, such as their ability to eat, sleep and work. Of those who sought treatment, about a third received medication and 44% reported seeking talk therapy.
The factors impeding treatment are still being investigated, but could involve difficulty finding or receiving insurance coverage for care, as well as concern over stigma, according to Dr. Gonzalez. "If you create any type of barrier people will avoid [treatment]," he says.
At the same time, psychiatrists are increasingly prescribing more than one psychotropic drug for patients during a single office visit, according to a separate study also published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
Analyzing data from 13,000 psychiatric office visits, researchers from Johns Hopkins University and Columbia University found that the percentage of visits in which two or more psychotropic medications were prescribed increased to 60% in 2006 from 43% in 1996. Visits in which three or more drugs were prescribed climbed to 33%, up from 17% a decade earlier.
There isn't any indication that patients are more depressed now than previously, according to the data analyses. And in many cases, there isn't good evidence to show that combining medicines is better than taking just one.
But there is a greater concern about additional side effects, particularly longer-term ones that may not be apparent immediately, according to Ramin Mojtabai, a study author and associate professor of mental health at Johns Hopkins's Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Changes in psychiatric practice, the influence on both patients and physicians of drug industry promotion of medications and the greater comfort of doctors in prescribing these medications may be responsible for the growth in simultaneous prescriptions of multiple psychotropic medications, according to Dr. Mojtabai.
Some doctors may prescribe more drugs in an effort to reduce patients' symptoms, and some may prescribe these medications for purposes not approved by regulators, such as to help patients sleep, Dr. Mojtabai said.
The results from the two papers reflect a larger issue in mental-health care that some people are overtreated while others are undertreated, Dr. Mojtabai said.
"A large proportion of people who are in need of treatment don't receive treatment,'' he said.
Write to Shirley S. Wang at shirley.wang@wsj.com
The following is from Monday's Wall Street Journal. It underscores the need for more personalized treatment for individuals with brain disease.
THAT is exactly MRN's goal: to DISCOVER better and earlier ways to diagnose mental illness , autism, epilepsy, addiction and other brain disorders-----and then bring to the clinic more personalized care for each person facing these illnesses.
Here is the WSJ article--and then find out more about The Mind Research Network at: www.mrn.org
JANUARY 5, 2010
Studies: Mental Ills Are Often Overtreated, Undertreated
By SHIRLEY S. WANG
More Americans are being prescribed multiple psychiatric medications for use at the same time, but most people diagnosed with recent depression don't get adequate treatment, according to two independent studies published Monday.
In national surveys of more than 15,000 adults, researchers found that 8.3% met the diagnostic criteria for major depression during the previous year. About half those diagnosed received some form of treatment for depression, but less than a quarter were treated using strategies considered effective and used in accordance with American Psychiatric Association practice guidelines, one study found.
"Few Americans with depression actually get any kind of care, and even fewer get care consistent with the standards of care," said Hector Gonzalez, first author on the study published by the Archives of General Psychiatry and an assistant professor of family medicine, public health and gerontology at Wayne State University in Detroit.
Each year, depression affects about 15 million adults in the U.S., or 6.7% of the population, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. It is the country's leading cause of disability.
With major depression, people experience a consistent and profound feeling of being down, or lack of sense of pleasure, to the point where it affects their daily functioning, such as their ability to eat, sleep and work. Of those who sought treatment, about a third received medication and 44% reported seeking talk therapy.
The factors impeding treatment are still being investigated, but could involve difficulty finding or receiving insurance coverage for care, as well as concern over stigma, according to Dr. Gonzalez. "If you create any type of barrier people will avoid [treatment]," he says.
At the same time, psychiatrists are increasingly prescribing more than one psychotropic drug for patients during a single office visit, according to a separate study also published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
Analyzing data from 13,000 psychiatric office visits, researchers from Johns Hopkins University and Columbia University found that the percentage of visits in which two or more psychotropic medications were prescribed increased to 60% in 2006 from 43% in 1996. Visits in which three or more drugs were prescribed climbed to 33%, up from 17% a decade earlier.
There isn't any indication that patients are more depressed now than previously, according to the data analyses. And in many cases, there isn't good evidence to show that combining medicines is better than taking just one.
But there is a greater concern about additional side effects, particularly longer-term ones that may not be apparent immediately, according to Ramin Mojtabai, a study author and associate professor of mental health at Johns Hopkins's Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Changes in psychiatric practice, the influence on both patients and physicians of drug industry promotion of medications and the greater comfort of doctors in prescribing these medications may be responsible for the growth in simultaneous prescriptions of multiple psychotropic medications, according to Dr. Mojtabai.
Some doctors may prescribe more drugs in an effort to reduce patients' symptoms, and some may prescribe these medications for purposes not approved by regulators, such as to help patients sleep, Dr. Mojtabai said.
The results from the two papers reflect a larger issue in mental-health care that some people are overtreated while others are undertreated, Dr. Mojtabai said.
"A large proportion of people who are in need of treatment don't receive treatment,'' he said.
Write to Shirley S. Wang at shirley.wang@wsj.com
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Here's to a more hopeful 2010!
The Mind Research Network(MRN) Foundation kicks off the New Year by entering the blogosphere! As Director of Development, I promise at least weekly updates on MRN research progress and foundation success stories.
Already this first week of 2010, MRN has received a couple of terrific gifts for the Domenici Discovery Fund. MRN CEO Dr. John Rasure is shown in this picture accepting a check of $5000 from Dr. Al Romig, Executive Vice President and Deputy Director of Sandia National Laboratories. Dr. Romig is also a member of the MRN Board of Trustees.
The contribution from Lockheed Martin/Sandia National Laboratories Corporation boosts MRN research to find earlier and better ways to diagnose and treat brain disease and injury.
The Hubbard Broadcasting Foundation this week also presented MRN with a 2010donation . The $2000 gift will accelerate MRN work to bring better outcomes to so many of our friends and family suffering from mental illness and other brain disorders. Hubbard Broadcasting is the parent company of KOB-TV in Albuquerque as well as ReelzChannel.
You can join these great corporate citizens in celebrating MRN's second Decade of Discovery!
Go to www.mrn.org and "Buy A Piece of the Puzzle". You can purchase puzzle pieces each for $100 and help MRN unlock the puzzles of brain disease and injury.
And notice I am pictured with a very handsome movie star? That's Bryan Cranston, star of the AMC hit TV series "Breaking Bad". He donated his talent and compassion to MRN and narrated a public service announcement that you can also view at www.mrn.org.
This is a new era for The Mind Research Network and our foundation!
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