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...
Deployment-related stress disorders on the increase
By Phyllis Hanlon
Few psychologists would challenge the notion that the ongoing Middle East conflicts are producing record numbers of behavioral health problems in military personnel. According...
Health care reform offers options
By Nan Shnitzler
The federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act remains under legal attack even while its provisions begin to take effect. While there’s plenty of information about...
Can medical students afford mental health treatment?
By Janine Weisman
Medical students experience higher rates of depression, burnout and other mental illnesses yet a new study shows insurance coverage offered by U.S. medical schools...