Articles, Leading Stories

Psychiatric Advance Directives empower patients, control treatment

By Phyllis Hanlon

The concept of advance directives was born in 1991 when the federal government introduced the Patient Self-Determination Act, which required all healthcare facilities that...

R.I. ranked first for mental illness, suicide attempts

By Pamela Berard

Rhode Island recently was atop two national studies, indicating the state had the highest rate of mental illness and suicide attempts.

In a Substance Abuse and Mental...

Young addicts need aid to change

By Janine Weisman

Young adults with severe addiction problems genuinely want to become clean and sober. They just don’t know how to do it, says a new study by the Center for Addiction Medicine...

Reduced SSI checks means drop in aid for mentally ill

By Jennifer E Chase

After months of voicing frustration and taking legal action over proposed cuts to their Supplementary Security Income (SSI) in the fall, Rhode Island’s elderly and disabled...

Study: Self-harm patients not receiving mental health evaluations

By Pamela Berard

About half of self-harm patients treated in hospital emergency rooms and discharged did not receive a mental health evaluation before being sent home, according to a recent...

Farm provides alternative to typical residential facility

By Jennifer E Chase

Gould Farm in Western, Mass., believes its few hundred acres is the perfect place for learning to cope and live with mental illness. Located among the Bay State’s bucolic...

Work with Asperger’s children highlighted

By Catherine Robertson Souter

For children with Asperger’s disorder, along with parents, educators and mental health professionals who work with them, establishing relationships can be difficult and...