Times Online (UK): Children with depression are too often given pills rather than psychological treatments, according to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). Every year 40,000 children and adolescents in Britain are prescribed some form of anti-depressant, but only half of them get the chance of “talking therapies�, which have been shown to be effective. In a new guideline, NICE insists that all should be offered some form of psychological treatment, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, as a first-line treatment. About one child in ten suffers from some form of mental illness. Pills are the easiest treatment to prescribe and are often effective, but the message from NICE is that they should not be given as a first-stop remedy.

Slidell Sentry News (Slidell, LA): Shirleen Carter, executive director for the United Way serving St. Tammany Parish, said anyone who is frustrated and does not know where to turn to find the resources needed to get through this disaster, can call 2-1-1 on a landline or 1-800-749-2673 on a cell phone. She said within 30 seconds you will be on the line with a 211 United Way professional or a crisis counseling intervention counselor. These people are trained to help individuals think things through and address their issues. Carter said United Way could provide you with the resources and contacts through the state that you need to start putting your life back in order. The United Way office at 325 North New Hampshire St. in Covington is also open.

ABC News (Australia): A Senate inquiry sitting in Adelaide today is expected to hear that mental illness at the Baxter detention center has contributed to South Australia's mental health system being Australia's worst. The seven-month inquiry was set up to examine the National Mental Health Strategy, and follows the sitting of the Senate inquiry into immigration laws and the adequacy of mental health services in detention centers in Adelaide yesterday. Submissions have highlighted inadequate mental health services concerning Baxter, and South Australian prisons, as well as problems with short-term supported accommodation. Democrats' leader and inquiry chairwoman Lyn Allison says submissions so far also suggest a deterioration in mental health services in the state and a reduction in psychiatric beds. "Because South Australia has so many detainees at Baxter, that'll be quite a focus of our attention," she said. "And what we do know is that's less than helpful. "In fact it's very damaging to people who have serious mental illness."

2 The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA): You've had two or three or 10 family members living with you since Hurricane Katrina sent them packing. You may have been a close family before, but now you're really close! Sharing close quarters when you're used to your own space can be stress-inducing, for both the guests and the hosts. "We know it's happening because we're seeing it with our own staff members who have family living with them," said Butch Robicheaux, a social worker and clinical director of the Child and Family Counseling Center, a program of Family Service of Greater Baton Rouge. To help deal with some of those tensions, Family Service is offering a Saturday morning support group. "We wanted to give people a place where they could go and talk about things that are bothering them," said Robicheaux. If you can't make it to the meeting, Robicheaux offered these tips for getting by: * Eliminate the guest-host concept. No one should expect or be expected to provide maid service. * Have a family meeting to divvy up duties and responsibilities. "You have to be organized to make this work," said Robicheaux. * Establish psychological or emotional space. "Most people are used to having space, you know, time to unwind at the end of the day," said Robicheaux. "It's important to maintain that psychological or emotional space." He suggested that families should go in opposite directions at times to give themselves breaks from each other. "Or maybe you establish a 'quiet zone' for 30 minutes each day, and tell the kids that that's the time to calm things down," said Robicheaux.

Show Notes: Pet therapy comes to two Wisconsin hospitals. How effective is this form of therapy? Over in Ireland, psychiatrists are calling for major improvements...why? Also, an Indiana family sues their school district over a matter of consent. And how many of you have ever heard of 'Dignity Therapy'? Finally, bullying takes center stage in Massachusetts.

Sonoma Index Tribune (Sonoma, CA): Sonoma Valley Unified School District trustees on Tuesday unanimously passed the district's revised 2005-06 school budget. While additional reductions weren't necessary, what hasn't changed are trustees' original round of $500,000 in cuts from spring. That means the elimination of sports, library hours and co-curricular clubs from the district's budget still holds; nothing has been restored unless parent groups have raised the green themselves - as has been the case with high school and middle school sports. Because it ended up with a staggering deficit at the end of 2004-05, the district was also required by the county to pass a positive "multiyear projection" - proving that it could tentatively balance its budget for the next two years based on rough spending and revenue projections. And in a district facing rising costs, fewer state resources and declining enrollment, balancing meant cutting. The cuts laid out for 2006-07 and 2007-08 are not set in stone, but they're an indication of what's to come if the district does not find new sources of revenue or a way to solve - or at least mitigate - its long-term fiscal woes. The next two years' budgets could include reducing elementary school counseling, a teacher, a district management position and books and supply funds.

Aberdeen American News (Aberdeen, SD): A South Dakota panel studying abortion heard Thursday from experts on both sides of the issue who disagreed sharply on whether women get enough information before abortions and whether they make voluntary decisions to have abortions. Vincent Rue of the Institute for Pregnancy Loss in Jacksonville, Fla., said women are often under stress when they decide to get abortions and many report that they wish they had received more information before making that decision. Women also need time to evaluate the information before deciding whether they should have an abortion, he said. "If an abortion decision is not voluntary, consent is not possible." Rue said women often feel pressured to have abortions from family members and others, and they are under pressure to make a decision quickly. Rue recommended that states impose a longer waiting period between the time women receive information and the performance of an abortion, better screening to determine which women are at risk of having physical or psychological problems from abortions, and tailoring some information to teenagers. Laws also should require that clinics report if women seeking abortions have been victims of abuse, give more information to women about the options of childbirth and adoption, and do a better job of determining whether women seeking abortions have been victims of abuse.

Press Release (Baton Rouge, LA): Individuals and families who need help recovering from the trauma of Hurricane Katrina can get free counseling by calling any one of the following toll-free, helpline numbers: 1-800-273-8255, 1-866-615-8700 and 1-888-622-6470. The local Baton Rouge crisis line number is ( 225 ) 924-3900. All of the crisis lines operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. When a person calls one of the helplines, a crisis counseling representative will provide the needed assistance. Individuals are eligible for crisis counseling services if they were in the disaster area at the time of Hurricane Katrina. The crisis counseling program is funded by FEMA and administered by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals Office of Mental Health.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock, AR): The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences has received a five-year, $4.5 million grant to study the use of a computer program to counsel patients addicted to heroin or painkillers. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) grant continues research that examines standard addiction-counseling therapies developed into 49 computer modules. The program would take the patients’ responses and work it into a plan for avoiding those situations in the future. The computerized counseling program works in conjunction with medication. The question researchers hope to answer is whether the computerized counseling is as effective as a human counselor. The data so far indicate it is. The results from the first four years of the study show that therapy delivered through a computer is comparable to counseling with a person. The two produced about the same level of drug-free urine tests. People can be more candid about sensitive issues such as intravenous drug use when they’re being questioned by a computer incapable of judging them. The therapy could be most useful in rural areas, where fewer counselors typically practice. The computer program also saves counselors time and energy for more complex therapy. Counselors, at times, can get frustrated with a patient. "That’s the one great thing about the computer program. It never gets tired, and it’s going to keep on asking the questions." The research will also study the effectiveness of nonmonetary incentives, such as fewer clinic visits, for staying drug-free.

Boston Globe (NEWINGTON, NH): Members of a congressional committee say New Hampshire is setting the standard for helping National Guard troops return to civilian life after coming home from war. Members of the House Veterans Affairs Committee met Monday at the Pease Air National Guard base in Newington to talk about programs designed to help National Guard troops returning from Iraq, Afghanistan and Hurricane Katrina disaster relief. "The New Hampshire's National Guard Bureau's transition program has helped many guardsmen and reservists from the Granite State readjust seamlessly. Their effective program serves as an exceptional model for other states to follow," said Rep. John Boozman, R-Arkansas, chairman of the subcommittee holding the hearing. Under the program, soldiers go through three to five days of processing at bases out of state before returning home. There, they take part in a series of workshops discussing benefits and counseling. They also attend classes on stress, career placement and other issues. More than 800 Guard personnel have taken part in the program. "We are not suggesting that we have found the magic pill to eliminate post-traumatic stress syndrome and other issues of war, but we are aggressively educating and encouraging soldiers who struggle to reach out early for support," N.H. Guard Col. Deborah Carter told the committee. "We believe early mandatory counseling ... is the most profound way we are assisting soldiers upon reentry. It's about early intervention," she said.

News 8 Austin (Austin, TX): Quitting smoking is hard enough with help, but doing it alone can be a nightmare. That's why the American Cancer Society has a whole range of services to help smokers quit and stay that way, including the Austin-based Quitline. "We provide an array of services. With the Quitline, you can either receive self-help materials, individual telephone counseling, or we can provide you with information about resources that are happening in your community," program manager Kenya Johnson said. Counselors say people who opt for the counseling double their chances at succeeding. Sessions are scheduled and can range from a half-an-hour to an hour or more - whatever the client needs. "Everything is confidential. You would talk with a Quitline counselor. They will work with you on quit tips, you guys would set a quit date, and they would prepare you for that and provide you with maintenance to carry you through so you're successful in your quit attempt," Johnson said. The Quitline is about five years old and is staffed by qualified counselors who only want to help smokers beat their addiction.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee, WI): One relocated family from New Orleans signed two daughters up at Milwaukee's Hopkins Street Elementary School only to leave an hour into the first day after the second-grader broke down in class. At Messmer High School, an administrator tried to re-create the destroyed transcript of another evacuee, a senior who showed up last week at the school's doorstep with his mother. And Dorothy Smith realized she should find counseling and health services for her granddaughter, a displaced high school student who had fainted and showed other signs of stress after a weeklong ordeal getting from New Orleans to Milwaukee. For the dozens of evacuees who have enrolled their children in Milwaukee area schools, the challenges range from psychological to logistical, and are just beginning to become evident. "To be honest, I think a lot of them are still in shock," said Carolyn Parkinson, homeless coordinator for Milwaukee Public Schools. Parkinson has overseen the enrollment of about 60 new MPS students at a booth at State Fair Park. "It's kind of a fragile situation," said Maurice Turner, the principal at Hopkins. He said the family with two daughters is staying with a relative who sends her own children to Hopkins and loves the school. When the parents signed up the girls - a second-grader and a fourth-grader - the school gave them brand-new backpacks and school supplies. "The girls were very happy," Turner said. "The family was all smiles." Last Tuesday, the school staff and teachers introduced the girls as new students, but were careful not to delve into their recent history and experiences in detail. "When the children are willing to open up and share experiences with other children and staff, then they will do that," Turner said. But the second-grader dissolved after an hour, prompting school officials to call her parents. The family hasn't been back since picking up the girls on Tuesday morning. "The plan is to have them meet with school counselors and psychologists to provide them with the support that they obviously need," Turner said.

Show Notes: Torrance State Hospital hosts a Behavioral Health Leadership Forum. Hear what the buzz around it is. And what are schools doing to address the needs of the student body when a former student dies? Finally, Sterling High educates their Freshmen in an innovative way. Stay tuned.

Casper Star Tribune (Casper, WY): Suicide is a problem crossing all demographic lines, a recent study by the Natrona County Suicide Prevention Coalition has found. Of the 76 people who took their lives in the county between 2000 and 2004, most were male, supporting the claim that men are more likely to succeed in committing suicide because they choose more lethal means. The vast majority of local suicides were committed with a gun, followed by hanging and overdose. Suicide also crosses age groups. Despite a heavy emphasis on teen suicide prevention, teens are not the most likely age group to commit suicide, according to the study. Rather, the 36- to 50-year-old demographic has experienced the most suicides in the past four years, followed by two older age groups, then by the 26- to 35-year-old bracket. Teen suicides actually were the least prevalent, accounting for only 4 percent of the self-inflicted deaths among men and 1 percent among women. But the causes of the choice to end one's life remained unclear from the study. The majority of victims did have a history of depression. However, only half had any history of alcohol or drug abuse and half had a history of medical issues. Marital status showed no bearing on the decision -- suicides split evenly among single, married and divorced people. The study came about as an effort to identify who is at risk of committing suicide, a trend in Wyoming that far outpaces the national average.

Juneau Empire (Juneau, AK): Parents and children's advocacy groups are working to bring back hundreds of emotionally disturbed Alaska children who have been shipped outside the state for psychiatric treatment. About 400 Alaska children and teenagers are Outside in residential psychiatric treatment centers, said Mark Haines-Simeon, policy and planning manager with the state Division of Behavioral Health. Some children are stuck in Lower 48 treatment centers because their parents do not know how to find treatment in their home community or get their child back in school. Advocates and parents have helped form a state project called Bring the Kids Home. The number of young people sent out-of-state has already dropped as local agencies step up their efforts and the state pushes for more children to be helped in Alaska, Haines-Simeon said. During the 12 months that ended June 30, 676 Alaska children received treatment in Outside residential psychiatric centers through Medicaid. The year before, the number was 749, he said. State officials say they have worked for the last year and a half on the problem and that they welcome the voices of parents and advocacy groups.

BBC News (UK): Employers should do more to help support workers who are suffering from mental health problems, a study says. The British Occupational Health Research Foundation said counseling could help staff to stay in work. One in four people in the UK develop mental health problems each year, costing the economy £11.6bn in lost working days. Unions said the report was welcome as employers' were doing "very little" to help staff with mental health problems. The report, carried out by the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health on behalf of the research charity, said employers should develop policies to help workers with mental health problems, such as depression, panic attacks and stress. It said supervisors should be contacting employees off work with mental health problems at least once every two weeks, and early interventions should be used as much as possible. And it said cognitive behavioral therapy was particularly effective. Researchers said eight-week courses could make the difference in helping people to stay at work.

Lund University (Sweden): Electroconvulsive therapy, previously known as “electric shock treatment� is a method that can help patients combat severe depressions that no other treatment can alleviate. Lund University researcher Johan Hellsten has now shown in animal experiments that electroconvulsive therapy leads to new generation of nerve cells and blood vessels in precisely those parts of the brain that are affected in patients with depression. This may explain how electroconvulsive therapy makes the disease recede. We now know that a deep depression not only causes patients great suffering but also leads to measurable changes in the brain. It has been shown, for instance, that the hippocampus is smaller in volume in depressed patients. The longer the depression has lasted, the smaller the hippocampus becomes. For several years, Johan Hellsten has studied electroconvulsive therapy in experiments with rats. On the one hand, he has shown that rats exposed to stress hormones evince a reduction in the generation of new nerve cells and, on the other hand, that electroconvulsive therapy can counteract the negative effects of the stress hormone and re-initiate the generation of new nerve cells. Electroconvulsive therapy also increases the production of blood vessel cells and the number of blood vessels in the relevant parts of the brain. “These studies are the first in the world to show increased production of blood vessels in connection with anti-depressive treatment,� says Johan Hellsten. “New knowledge about the positive effects of electroconvulsive therapy can lead to a greater use of the method. But it can also help in the development of new, more effective anti-depressive drugs,� Johan Hellsten asserts.

Las Cruces Sun News (Las Cruces, NM): Communication and adult intervention are crucial to stop bullying before it causes serious problems, experts say. “It can always escalate into something that can be a lot worse,� Rebekah Martinez, Doña Ana Elementary School counselor, said. Diana Del Campo, child development and family life specialist with the New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service, said bullying harms the development of the bully and the victim. “It’s not a very useful way of dealing with life,� she said. Neither side of the mistreatment is a good way to relate to people, Del Campo said. A Las Cruces mother said her son with special needs was bullied until, in ninth grade, he attacked the bully. He was diagnosed as suicidal partially because of the mistreatment, she said. The mother did not want herself or her son, now 19, identified because of the counseling he underwent and the suicidal mind set. His mother said she first learned of the bullying in counseling. Her son had been mistreated since elementary school. “In the ninth grade, that’s why he got so fed up with it that he decided to take matters into his own hands,� she said. The mother said the bullying stopped afterward. She said she thinks the fight helped, and both students’ schedules were changed. “After that, things calmed down, and I think my son felt better that he had finally gotten rid of the problem,� she said. An administrator and the counseling helped her son, she said.

Press & Sun Bulletin (Binghamton, NY): In an effort to combat childhood obesity, the Pennsylvania Health Department is requiring school nurses to compute students' body-mass index starting this year with children in kindergarten through fourth grade. Parents will receive letters about the results that will encourage them to share the information with their family physician. "Schools have screened students for height and weight for about 50 years," Health Department spokesman Richard McGarvey said. "They're simply taking what they've already been screening for and calculating the BMI." Pennsylvania joins four other states that already collect BMI data during student growth screenings, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Arkansas, California, Florida and Missouri. "When you have a kindergartner who weighs 80 pounds, that's concerning," said Nancy Alleman, a nurse at one of the test schools, Sylvan Heights Science Charter School in Harrisburg. But Dr. Reginald Washington, a Denver pediatrician who co-chairs an obesity task force for the American Academy of Pediatrics, said the recommended physician consultation is an overly simplistic solution. "If you're a general practitioner, you see patients probably every 10 minutes. It takes about an hour of counseling and evaluation to even begin to do something about obesity," Washington said. "To say, 'Here's a piece of paper and the world will be right' is foolish."

Show Notes: Teen pregnancy is on the uprise. What's being done to address this issue? Also, there's a new approach to treating bipolar disorder, but does it really work? And telephone administration of psychotherapy...does it really help patients with MS suffering from depression? Find-A-Therapist puts the call out. What for...stick around. And finally, what are the barriers to public mental health treatment after a disaster?

Savannah Morning News (Savannah, GA): Suicide affects more people than you realize. But too often families affected by suicide are reluctant to talk about it because they feel ashamed, said Dr. Julia Mikell, 53, of Savannah. Her brother, Roy, died by suicide about two decades ago in Atlanta. He was 26, the fourth of six children. Words can't describe the effect his suicide had on his family. Mikell's mother cried for a year. Her father, who has since died, had to be admitted into a hospital for depression. "A lot of families see it as a personal failure,'' said Mikell, a neurologist and wife of Charles Mikell, a judge for the state Court of Appeals. Today is world suicide prevention day, a time when mental health advocates want people to realize 90 percent of those suicides involve some type of mental illness such as depression and bipolar disorder. It's estimated that people with mood disorders are 12 to 20 times more likely to commit suicide. Each year, more than 30,000 Americans die by suicide. Many more make a suicide attempt. And suicide is on the rise, especially among senior citizens as that population has increased, Aycock said. "With baby boomers, we're seeing more suicides when their loved ones or spouses die,'' Aycock said. She said disasters, such as the devastation along the Gulf Coast, followed by economic problems, may also cause an increase in suicides. ''Financial problems, job loss, prices increasing, people without medical care, loss of homes, those are all going to be major factors,'' Aycock said. "We are going to see some repercussions from that.'' For more information, call the National Suicide Prevention hot line at 1-800-273-TALK.

This week's podcast has been delayed due to circumstances beyond my control but will be up before Sunday night. Thank you for your patience and continued support and G News Central!

Honolulu Advertiser (Honolulu, HI): School counselors still offer one-on-one sessions with students who need individual attention, but these days counselors are just as likely to provide services that will make these sessions less necessary. The current trend in counseling is to prevent problems rather than solve them, said Michele Bernier, a counselor at Kealakehe Elementary School. As a result, many counselors offer guidance programs to help students learn about academic skills, personal/social skills and career awareness in an effort to help the whole school community and improve student achievement. "It's no longer of significant value to the school that we spend a lot of time with individual students to help with personal-social issues," Bernier said. That's not to say that the individual counseling sessions are a thing of the past. For older students, these meetings may help keep their problems from snowballing. For instance, when students reach middle school, they encounter a wide range of social, emotional and personal changes and can be readily influenced by their peers. If they are struggling to cope with these changes, they might not be able to focus on academics, say the counselors at Highlands Intermediate. Bernier said students should seek out a counselor when they feel they need support in academic, personal or social issues, or if they have career concerns.

Mercury News (San Jose, CA): ``Kids are highly influenced by their context,'' said Guy Diamond, associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and lead author of the study, which was discussed for the first time earlier this month at a joint meeting in New York of the American Medical Association and the National PTA. ``Even if it's not the cause, the family context can exacerbate symptoms.'' Enlisting parents can demystify therapy and keep up the child's motivation to change, said Stephen Hinshaw, psychology professor at the University of California-Berkeley. ``The message too often is, families don't have much to do with it,'' Hinshaw said. ``That's simply not true either. Non-optimal parenting might have a lot to do with the long-term outcome of an individual who has a biologically based condition.'' Diamond's study, a review of the past 10 years of research, showed that family-based therapy could help with children's disruptive behavior -- from conduct and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder to depression, anxiety and eating disorders. Although the findings may seem intuitive, families are often not included in psychotherapy. Diamond estimates that many treatments fail to embrace the family, although parents are included more than they used to be.

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (Milwaukee, WI): Experts estimate that 2 million to 3 million people--or close to 1% of the population--deliberately injure themselves on a regular basis. Lauren C. Solotar, chief psychologist with the May Institute in Massachusetts, said self-injury is about to catch up to eating disorders as a widespread problem among female adolescents. She calls the behavior "parasuicidal" because teens who cut aren't trying to kill themselves. They often are trying to retaliate against people who have hurt them. And for teens, sometimes physical pain is easier to cope with than emotional pain. For more information, check out www.selfinjury.com.

Fort Worth Star Telegram (Fort Worth, TX): The parents of an estimated 125,000 New Orleans children are fanning out across Louisiana and other states, trying to find new homes and enroll their children in school. As those schools absorb all the students, many of them are also hiring New Orleans' displaced teachers and school administrators. The rush is on for everything from school uniforms to pencils. Principals are lugging furniture and offering hugs and tears to the homeless. Last week's teachers are this week's social workers, as Katrina strains schools in at least seven states. "Last night, we were movers," said Lynn Barnes, the principal at Briarmeadow Charter School in Houston, a city where 8,000 Louisiana students are expected. "Parents and teachers were taking trundle beds and tables up three flights of stairs. A family had walked into our door with a 2-month-old, a first-grader, a second-grader, Mom and Dad and nothing else." Tens of thousands are expected to register in Louisiana schools beyond Katrina's reach and thousands more in other Gulf Coast states. Houston officials said 557 students had enrolled in just two days. By Friday, 1,000 children had shown up in Shreveport, La. Louisiana Department of Education officials are urging all state school districts to register students as quickly as they can, said Meg Casper, the director of communications. They're also asking districts to hire all teachers and support staff who seek shelter in their areas.

Cherry Hill, NJ: The surge in the popularity of poker among young people also has a downside. More and more young people are calling gambling helplines, turning up in gamblers anonymous meetings and seeking help at high school and college counseling centers. Both gambling experts and child advocates are wary of this poker phenomenon, and they worry about the future effects it will have on the individuals and society as a whole. "Kids playing poker is like kids playing with loaded guns because one in 10 will not be able to get up," said Jennifer McCausland, whose Second Chance Washington foundation promotes legislation to secure permanent funding for treatment and prevention of problem gambling. "The country is not equipped for the addictions that are going to follow this." Local high schools are trying to help prevent possible addictions from spreading. "Our stance is very simple," said John O'Breza, the Cherry Hill High School East principal. "This is a place for study and poker is not part of the culture at East. It's not appropriate and not permitted." Ed Looney, the executive director of The Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey (CCGNJ), said his agency's rule of thumb is 80 percent of all gamblers will have no problems, 15 percent will have some type of problems and 5 percent will become compulsive gamblers. McCausland and others are concerned because if you multiply Looney's 5 percent figure by the astounding increase in poker players in recent years, especially among young people, the number of potential compulsive gamblers is significant. Dr. Greg Nicholls, who directs the counseling center at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, said he observed "a sudden spike" last semester in calls and visits to his office relating to poker. Gambling is a serious addiction and every problem gambler starts as a social gambler.

New Orleans, LA: The American Red Cross, in recognition that catastrophes also leave mental and emotional damage in their wake, is coordinating and deploying psychiatrists, psychologists, and mental health counselors to storm-ravaged areas of the Gulf Coast. For the survivors, mental and emotional responses to a disaster usually come in waves, beginning with the so-called "adrenaline rush". "People are on overload and are in this basic survival mode for the first day or two or three, but after that, when things are getting worse or not changing, people begin to come to terms with the idea that everything's gone," said Edmund Neuhaus, Ph.D., director of the Behavioral Health Partial Hospital Program at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass. "Then there's major loss, the horror of the current situation, and total uncertainty about the future." Traumatic events -- natural disasters, accidents, terrorist attacks -- can cause in their aftermath horror, helplessness, and fear of serious injury or death. According to the CDC, traumatic events can manifest in cognitive, emotional, physical and behavioral realms. Cognitive problems may include confusion, disorientation, indecisiveness, shortened attention spans and memory loss. Emotional responses may include shock, numbness, feelings of being lost or overwhelmed, or a feeling of abandonment. Trauma survivors may experience nausea, dizziness, a rapid heart rate, gastrointestinal distress, poor sleep, hyperarousal, or jumpiness. The emotional aspects of trauma can manifest as suspicion, irritability, argumentativeness, withdrawal, appetite changes, and increased drug and alcohol use or abuse. The road to recovery often begins by letting victims talk about the event, share their thoughts, and discuss their reactions when they feel ready and able to do so, mental health experts say. People need to tell their stories, and clinicians need to validate the emotional reactions of patients, with the understanding that some may be very angry at their situation.

Alexandria, VA: The National Mental Health Association (NMHA) encourages Americans to cope with the stress and anxiety related to Hurricane Katrina by employing the following tips: (1) Cut back on watching TV, especially programs that show ongoing images, (2) Get plenty of rest and exercise. Eat properly, (3) If you feel overwhelmed, talk with someone or ask for help, (4) Don't compare yourself to others. We all react differently to disasters, (5) If you have children, encourage them to discuss their concerns and feelings with you and (6) If you have feelings that won't go away, seek professional help. "Everyone will react uniquely to the devastating impact of Katrina on our southern states," said Michael Faenza, MSSW, president and CEO of NMHA. "Anxiety and trauma levels vary widely, but no one should soldier through this alone. There are supports available - within one's family, in the community or from professionals."

Psychology Today: One classroom, or two? That's the question facing elementary schools and the parents of twins. Educators long thought same-age siblings needed to learn right away to navigate school as individuals, without relying on, or retreating to, their other half. "The thinking was that twins needed to be separated to expand their social horizons," says Stan Varner, principal of 300 youngsters at Laurence J. Daly Elementary School in Fayette, Missouri. But that's not sitting well with today's parents, who are challenging whether schools know what is best. Parents in Oklahoma, Quebec and, most recently, Minnesota, have fought to allow their kids to be taught together in the same classroom. Nancy Segal, a California State University at Fullerton psychologist says there's no hard data to support the argument that twins will flourish as individuals only if they are schooled apart. Segal points to studies that show children entering school for the first time adjust better if they go with a friend. Separating twins -- if they don't want to be separated -- puts an added burden on twins, who, like other kids, are also adjusting to separation from their parents. "It's extra tough on twins emotionally if you separate them," says Segal.

Newswise Press Release (UT): Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) therapy, a treatment recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment-resistant depression, produced a positive response in more than 25 percent of patients in a national, yearlong study led by UT Southwestern Medical Center psychiatrists. Sixteen percent to 20 percent of the study group experienced total remission. Results of the study, led by Dr. A. John Rush, vice chairman for research in psychiatry at UT Southwestern, appear in the September issue of Biological Psychiatry. VNS therapy, which the FDA approved for treatment of epileptic seizures in 1997 and for depression in July, has been studied in clinical trials for treatment-resistant depression since 1998. VNS therapy includes surgical implantation of a small battery-operated pulse generator – similar to a pacemaker – in a patient’s left upper chest. Thin, flexible wires from the device are tunneled into the neck and send mild, intermittent pulses to the neck’s left vagus nerve. The vagus nerve in turn delivers these pulses about every five minutes to the areas of the brain involved in the regulation of mood, motivation, sleep, appetite and other symptoms relevant to depression. VNS therapy is only indicated for people who have not been helped by other depression treatments.

Show Notes: * Truancy is at issue in Richmond schools. What are they doing to address this problem? * Vermont changes it's shackling policy of children being transported for mental health reviews. What's the new policy? * Auburn University pulls together during Hurricane Katrina.

Times Online (UK): It’s rude to stare, but that doesn’t stop us doing it. Reality television has gone a step further. The Channel 4 documentary The House of Obsessive Compulsives put three people suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) in a house together and filmed them as they went through therapy. This treatment of mental health issues as entertainment has raised ethical questions about whether it is right to expose vulnerable people on TV. Community Care tackles the issue, with surprising conclusions. Featuring people with mental health problems in documentaries isn’t all bad, says Colin Putney, a former television producer who has OCD. In the case of The House of Obsessive Compulsives, he is satisfied that “it was handled . . . sensitively and the sufferers were not exploited�. Andy Bell, a spokesman for Mentality, a charity promoting good mental health, agrees. Allowing the public to have contact with people with mental health problems, albeit second-hand through television, is the key to removing the stigma attached to mental illness, Bell says. What is more, programs showing people coping with their illness help to dispel preconceptions since most of the coverage of mental health issues in the press and on television associates them with violence, exacerbating the myth that mentally ill people are dangerous.