Mental health

December 14, 2007 -- Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Joseph Lieberman (ID-CT) today lauded passage of the FY 2008 Defense Authorization Bill, which included provisions they championed to help improve mental health services for members of the United States Armed Forces.    » read more »

Case of Lt. Whiteside illustrates the need to review DoD policy

December 14, 2007 -- Washington, D.C.—U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Kit Bond (R-MO), Barack Obama (D-IL) and John Kerry (D-MA) today sent the following letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates:

December 14, 2007

The Honorable Robert Gates
Secretary of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301

Dear Secretary Gates:    » read more »

December 13, 2007 -- Seattle - Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna joined King County prosecutor Dan Satterberg, David Weston from the DSHS Mental Health Division and Chief Vicky Stormo from the University of Washington’s police department in releasing a report outlining necessary improvements to restrict access to firearms by persons with mental health commitments.    » read more »

Smaller Programs Closer To Home Result In 30% Reduction In Large Residential Programs and 34% Reduction In Children Out Of State

December 5, 2007 -- Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell said the opening of 46 new therapeutic group homes since 2005 by the Department of Children and Families (DCF) has helped to improve the way Connecticut offers help to children with mental health needs.    » read more »

December 05, 2007 -- MONTGOMERY – Alabama Governor Riley announced Wednesday that the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation has awarded Alabama a $1.2 million grant to improve mental health services in the Black Belt.

The grant will help several organizations working together in the Black Belt to reduce stigmas associated with mental illness and assist targeted communities in the care and support of those with mental illness.    » read more »

04 December 2007 -- The U.S. Defense Department Friday, November 30, 2007 launched a new effort to address the mental health needs of members of the military. But it says the effort to coordinate medical, academic, research and other military capabilities, and combine them with civilian assets, will not be fully operational for two years. A new book by a U.S. Navy psychologist who served with the Marines in Iraq indicates there is a need right now for a strong focus on the mental health of the troops.    » read more »

11/19/2007 -- Stiff arteries may be associated with decline in mental function that often accompanies aging, researchers reported in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.

“It is possible that treating risk factors that are associated with greater arterial stiffness may ultimately help preserve brain function as people age,” said Shari R. Waldstein, Ph.D., lead author of the study and a professor of psychology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.    » read more »

Nov 13, 2007 -- A new Army medical study published in the Nov. 14 issue of "JAMA," The Journal of the American Medical Association, reports on results from 88,235 post-Operation Iraq Freedom returning Soldiers who completed post deployment health reassessment surveys months after their return, as well as initial surveys as they were departing Iraq for home. The study shows that the follow-on process of a second survey is working well to identify Soldiers returning from Iraq with mental health concerns. The second survey is an important effort by the U.S.    » read more »

November 13, 2007 -- TRENTON - New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram and Criminal Justice Director Gregory A. Paw announced today that two owners and the medical director of a Trenton mental health clinic were indicted today for their roles in a conspiracy to fraudulently over-bill the Medicaid and Medicare programs by more than $160,000.    » read more »

Chairman urges VA to quickly implement the Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention Act

November 7, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, issued the following statement regarding President George W. Bush's signing of H.R.327, the Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention Act:    » read more »

Introduce legislation to expand federal support for collaboration between state criminal justice and mental health systems

October 30, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, DC— Today, Senators Edward M. Kennedy and Pete Domenici introduced the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Reauthorization and Improvement Act of 2007. This bipartisan, bicameral legislation will provide for continued support of the cooperation between the criminal justice and mental health systems to ensure improvement in the treatment of offenders diagnosed with mental illnesses.    » read more »

Says PPFA President Cecile Richards: “We need to support women every step of their reproductive lives.”

Washington, DC — Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) today spoke out in favor of a bill to study postpartum depression, a devastating mood disorder that strikes millions of women before and after pregnancy. H.R. 20, the “Melanie Blocker-Stokes Postpartum Depression Care and Research Act,” was introduced by Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill); the bill is named for one of his former constituents who died by suicide after suffering from postpartum depression.    » read more »

TriWest Healthcare Alliance partnership is result of Governor’s Yellow Ribbon Task Force

October 10, 2007 -- St. Paul – To further support the 2,600 men and women who have recently returned from a 22 month Operation Iraqi Freedom deployment, Governor Tim Pawlenty today announced that mental health professionals will be stationed in Minnesota Army National Guard armories around the state.    » read more »

Urge Further Action

October 1, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Barack Obama (D-IL), Kit Bond (R-MO) and Joseph Lieberman (ID-CT) lauded the Senate’s inclusion of an amendment to limit the Pentagon’s use of personality disorder discharges in the FY 2008 Defense Authorization bill. This provision would add additional safeguards to discharge procedures and require a thorough review by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).    » read more »

September 25, 2007 -- DoD recently sent Congress a corrective action plan to improve mental health care for service members and their families. The plan addresses findings and recommendations presented to DoD by the Task Force on Mental Health in a June 12, 2007, report.    » read more »