Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

Teenager jailed after giving judge the finger

Excerpt from: The Oakland Press (click for full article)

 

 

Drug Abuse and Rehabilitation

Excerpt from: About.com (click for full article)

 

While kids will always experiment with new things and push the boundaries, and parents naturally worry that this will extend to smoking and even worse, drug taking. It's not as uncommon as you might think, with around a third of high school kids using marijuana at least once each year, and this includes children with learning disabilities. As a parent, it can be difficult to keep track of your child's activities and types of friends. Many parents often wonder if their child is participating in illegal activity, such as abusing drugs, and they may feel helpless because they do not know how to tell if their child is using. However, there are warning signs parents should be on the lookout for to determine if there's a need for drug rehabilitation before the problem progresses.

Predicting violence remains difficult, despite years of study by mental health experts

Excerpt from: The Oakland Press (click for full article)

 

After every act of incomprehensible violence, the world asks whether the killer could have been identified ahead of time. It’s as automatic as the call for more gun control and better mental health services.

Psychologists and psychiatrists have been working for decades to try to figure out whether there’s a link between mental illness and violence, and if so, which people are likely to act. Using an ever-changing tool kit of theories and questionnaires, they’ve made some progress.

It’s now fairly clear, for example, that people with severe mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and some personality disorders, are more likely to commit violent acts than others. But the risk is small. The vast majority of mentally ill people won’t commit assault, rape, arson or homicide, although the risk rises sharply among those who abuse drugs and alcohol.

Study Questions Effectiveness of Therapy for Suicidal Teenagers

Excerpt from: The New York Times (click for full article)

 

The study, in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, found that 55 percent of suicidal teenagers had received some therapy before they thought about suicide, planned it or tried to kill themselves, contradicting the widely held belief that suicide is due in part to a lack of access to treatment.

The findings, based on interviews with a nationwide sample of more than 6,000 teenagers and at least one parent of each, linked suicidal behavior to complex combinations of mood disorders like depression and behavior problems like attention-deficit and eating disorders, as well as alcohol and drug abuse.

The study found that about one in eight teenagers had persistent suicidal thoughts at some point, and that about a third of those who had suicidal thoughts had made an attempt, usually within a year of having the idea.

The study suggests that effective treatment for severely suicidal teenagers must address not just mood disorders, but also behavior problems that can lead to impulsive acts, experts said. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1,386 people between the ages of 13 and 18 committed suicide in 2010, the latest year for which numbers are available.