Yale to Host Conference on Children's Mental Health

Yale University's Child Study Center will crowd a symposium Friday on how autism, ADHD and other mental health disorders affect children. Organized by the center as part of its 100th anniversary celebration, the symposium will feature six speakers, each focusing on a feature of mental health for children.


The event also will honor Dr. Milton J.E. Senn, who was among the first in the field of child psychoanalysis to suggest that children's emotional needs were being overlooked. The first part of the symposium will feature a talk about Senn. Other talks will focus on autism, Tourette's syndrome, attention shortfall hyperactivity disorder and advances in treating pediatric anxiety disorders. The symposium — aimed at parents, pediatricians and primary care providers — will be at the elegance Murray Hopper Auditorium at Yale's West Campus in Orange.

Mental illness and the magistrates

Mental health professionals have recognized for years that people who suffer from serious mental illnesses are often more likely to end up in jail than in some form of treatment. That's why a new program in the Baltimore City Circuit Court to divert some seriously ill defendants to mental health programs instead of jail is a worthy effort. But to succeed, the initiative will require not only an adequate supply of mental health treatment slots in Baltimore, but also increased access to stable, safe and affordable housing for the mentally ill defendants it serves — something that has been absent in the past.

The inventiveness, known as the Mental Health Case Management Docket, is aimed at the repeat offenders who commit crimes as a result of having a serious Mental illness rather than from criminal intent. People who suffer from lifelong psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or clinical depression are often unable of taking responsibility for their actions. Unless they get treatment that addresses their essential disorder, their behavior is unlikely to change and they may remain a danger to themselves and others, regardless of the sentence they receive.

Gov’t ‘must’ eliminate mental illness

The government is paying poor attention to the abolition of mental illness in the country as it allocates less money to mental illness than other health programs, a legislator says. Member of House Commission IX overseeing health policy Nova Riyanti Yusuf said many community health centers and local mental health agencies do not provide care for mental illness, arguing that they are still “developing” programs. “This leads to inhumane behaviors towards patients, such as incarceration in wooden stocks,” she said as quoted by Antara news agency. “Failing to treat these patients could guide to suicide.” She quoted a WHO report that said at least 50,000 Indonesians committed suicide between 2005 and 2007.

NH responds to mental health exploration

New Hampshire's department of health and human services says the state's mental health system does not infringe federal law. The department responded Wednesday to a recent U.S. Department of Justice investigation that completed that the state is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The state was criticized for failing to provide sufficient community-based services to people with mental illness, leading to needless and prolonged stays at the state mental hospital. In its response, the state says it already has a plan to serve people in the least restrictive setting possible and has made important progress in implementing it despite fiscal challenges. It also noted that the middle length of wait at the state mental hospital is seven days, compared to a national average of 47 days.

Intellect your mental health at Girgenti

This weekend, the Inquisitor’s Palace in Girgenti is being turned into an oasis of calm as visitors to the open weekend will have a chance to meditate, have a massage or indulge in some art appreciation. The Prime Minister’s wife, Kate Gonzi, who is coordinating the open weekend, said it was important to take care of one’s mental illness well-being as it helped in all areas of life.

The activity will feature the participation of unpaid organisations who work in the mental health sector, including Richmond Foundation, The Association for Mental Health, the St Jeanne Antide Foundation, Friends of Mount Carmel Hospital and Caritas’s Thursday Club. The public is positive to give a donation in aid of these associations. The event is being organised with the help of the HSBC Malta Base.

NAMI cites Center for reporting of mental illness

NAMI Dane County has presented its annual Media Award to the Wisconsin Center for analytical Journalism for stories that increased the public’s understanding of mental illness. The award recognized the Center’s extensive coverage of perinatal depression among low-income mothers, Wisconsin’s high suicide rates and elevated suicide rates among Native Americans in Wisconsin and nationwide. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, is a nonprofit, proletariat organization that strives to improve the lives of people living with serious mental disorder.

In accepting the award April 5 at NAMI’s awards dinner, the Center’s managerial director, Andy Hall, and reporter and multimedia manager, Kate Golden, dedicated it to the families who shared their stories to foster public understanding of suicides and perinatal depression and potential strategies for prevention. They also recognized work of former Center reporting interns Sara Jerving and Allie Tempus, who wrote the stories; and news organizations that collaborated on the reporting, including Wisconsin Public Radio, IndianCountryTV.com, Wisconsin Public Television and Native America Calling.

Mental health boost for provincial WA

New state funding is expected to boost the excellence and number of mental health workers in regional Western Australia. The State Government has handed the Western Australian Association for Mental Health nearly $1.7 million to dispense to non-government agencies over the next two years.

The association's Stephen Hall says the money will go towards recruiting and preparation mental illness workers. "We can increase the capacity of the workforce with training and other things around that," he said. "That's particularly important for service delivery in rustic and remote settings, having a professional workforce that is well trained and has the proficiency that is needed on the ground."

Housing vital to treat mental health issues

I am a senior who volunteers three times a week on the psychoanalysis in-patient unit. I have been doing that volunteer work for over three years and have never felt concern for my safety. The truth is that the vast majority of people with a mental health are not threatening or dangerous. Rather, they are much more likely to be fatalities of crime.


It saddens me that so many people have stigmatized those with a mental illness as being bad or weak-willed, or frightening or dangerous. That simply is just not true. People with mental illnesses are just like you and me. Chances are someone you know has a diagnosed or undiagnosed mental illness. Councillors needs to educate themselves on the realities of mental illness and become true leaders in Nanaimo. They must allow the housing for people with mental illness to ensue.

Accesses to food can collision mental health

New research is flaking light on how a lack of access to food affects our mental health. Staff at the University of Otago in Wellington has found a lack of access to safe, nutritious, affordable food is a growing problem in New Zealand and is adding to psychological suffering amongst thousands of adults. Dr Kristie Carter says females are more at risk than males of suffering from so-called food insecurity, as are those who struggle to afford food. She hopes the research can be used by health and welfare agencies to tackle food uncertainty and mental illness hand-in-hand.

Mental Disorders and Fatness

Studies have shown a strong connection between common mental disorder and obesity. It is suggested that people with repeated episodes of common mental disorder are particularly at risk of following obesity. There are several possible reasons or explanations for the finding that importunate common mental illness and emotional problems like anxiety, depression, stress, and fear are the risk factors for obesity.


In a prospective followers study with four measures of common mental disorders and obesity over 19 years conducted at the civil service department in London it was concluded that in the British adults common mental disorders lead to an augmented risk of obesity. The association was found to be cumulative such that the people with chronic or repeat episodes of common mental disorder are particularly at the jeopardy of weight gain.

Clemons tackles mental illness shame

Canadian Football League legend Michael (Pinball) Clemons describes Mental illness as a huge linebacker delivering a hit from the blind side. "It consistently delivers crushing, if not fatal blows to our business community and families," he said today at the Mental Fitness pinnacle, being held at the Centre for Health & Safety Innovation, on Creek bank Rd.


Clemons is keynote speaker at the day-long event, helping crowd organizations High Point Wellness Centre, the University of Toronto's Division of General Psychiatry, and Workplace Safety and Prevention Services tackle the stigma surrounding mental illness in the workplace. It's anticipated that mental illness costs Canada $51 billion per year, according to Dr. Jayne Baker, who works with the Mental Health Commission of Canada. About one in five Canadians is pretentious by mental illness, The Canadian Institutes of Health Research reports. Senior leaders and those in attendance participated in an open discussion about mental health and a number of seminars that aim to authorize people to improve their own mental health.