Word: mentality
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...nearly a million Americans who suffer the double jeopardy of mental illness and chemical dependence. "Only in the past few years have mental health professionals realized how devastating the combination can be," says John Talbott, head of the psychiatry department at the University of Maryland and co-author of a study commissioned by the federal Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Administration (ADAMHA) that will be released next week. Says Talbott: "There is no such thing as recreational drug use or a social drink for someone with a severe psychiatric illness...
...ADAMHA study discloses that at least 50% of the 1.5 million to 2 million Americans with chronic mental illness abuse illicit drugs or alcohol, compared with about 15% in the general population. It also reveals that the dual diagnosis virtually guarantees a hard fall through the cracks of the system. "Most mental health programs screen out people who have substance-abuse problems and send them down the street," explains Julie Boynton, director of a six-month-old rehabilitation center in Los Angeles County that deals specifically with both conditions. "And the alcohol and drug programs won't take people...
Talbott and his co-authors conclude that mental illness and substance abuse must be treated concurrently. When that happens, preliminary data indicate, suicide attempts and psychotic episodes rapidly decrease. Even so, there are no hard and fast rules for treatment. "Sometimes the chemical dependency is paramount, and you can't get to the psychiatric disorder until you come to grips with the addiction," says Dr. Robert Morse, director of addictive- disorders services at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., one of the few centers with an established track record. "Sometimes it's just the opposite...
...Mental health officials are beginning to bow to pressure from parents and medical professionals to create programs tailored for drug-dependent mentally ill youngsters. "There's been a tremendous grass-roots campaign to convince the mental health bureaucracy of the problem," says Kathleen Sciacca, a substance-abuse coordinator at Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center in New York. Indeed, this fall the National Institute of Mental Health plans to fund 13 pilot treatment programs. Says Talbott: "We know what approaches are necessary to treat these people. We just need to use them...
...charges leveled against him by Colonel Roberto Diaz Herrera. There are problems in which each man is the creator of his own tribulations. We public figures are exposed to all kinds of slander. In this case, everyone knows that this former colleague suffers from mental disturbances that have been exploited by some. We all feel sorry...