National Lesbian Health Care Survey: Implications for mental health care.

Presents demographic, lifestyle, and mental health information about 1,925 lesbians from all 50 states who participated as respondents in the National Lesbian Health Care Survey (1984–1985), the most comprehensive study on US lesbians to date. Over half the sample had had thoughts about suicide at some time, and 18% had attempted suicide. 37% had been physically abused as a child or adult, 32% had been raped or sexually attacked, and 19% had been involved in incestuous relationships while growing up. Almost one third used tobacco on a daily basis, and about 30% drank alcohol more than once a week, 6% daily. About three fourths had received counseling at some time, and half had done so for reasons of sadness and depression. Lesbians in the survey also were socially connected and had a variety of social supports, mostly within the lesbian community. However, few had come out to all family members and coworkers. Level of openness about lesbianism was associated with less fear of exposure and with more choices about mental health counseling. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The training program of the National Institute of Mental Health: Its implications for mental health programs.

The year 1956 marked the tenth anniversary of the Training Grants Program of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). From very meager beginnings in 1948 they had advanced to the very substantial position which they now occupy in fiscal year 1957. This article looks backward briefly to when the National Mental Health Act was passed with the goal of improving the mental health of our nation. It describes the objectives and growth of the NIMH mental health program, which was established to help attain this goal. The article also describes several ongoing public mental health programs that reflect NIMH training grant support and problems in program implementation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

National research agenda for prevention research: The National Institute of Mental Health report.

This article reports some of the most promising ideas to emerge from a review conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health of the achievements and prospects for research on the prevention of mental disorders. These ideas are organized around 3 conceptual hubs: the development and transformation of biological and social risk and protective factors across the life span, classifying and relating various approaches to preventive interventions in a single logical system, and concepts about community contexts in which prevention trials are executed. These conceptual hubs clarify the relationship between 3 forms of research in prevention: longitudinal studies of risk, randomized preventive intervention trials, and the implementation of successful interventions as part of routine community practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The National Child Traumatic Stress Network: Collaborating to improve the standard of care.

Mental health practitioners are often called upon to provide services to children, adolescents, and families in the aftermath of traumatic experiences such as child neglect, sexual or physical abuse, family/domestic violence, sexual assault, interpersonal violence, school and community violence, serious accidental injury, catastrophic medical illness, traumatic bereavement, or mass casualty events, including natural and man-made disasters. The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) was established in 2001 to raise the standard of care and improve access to services for traumatized children, their families, and communities throughout the United States. This article describes the development of the NCTSN, its structure, programs, and many of the products and resources--including online lectures, training programs and videos, and searchable databases of child trauma resources--available through the NCTSN Web site (www.nctsn.org) to assist professionals in providing state-of-the-art assessment, treatment, and services to these children and their families. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

National Institute of Mental Health goals for behavioral science.

Because all health conditions for which the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is responsible manifest at the level of behavior, and all interventions must have an impact at the behavioral level, NIMH is firmly committed to the support of behavioral science. In an era in which research in areas that some view as reductionist—for example, genomics, genetics, functional genomics and proteomics, and molecular science—is especially promising, NIMH is striving to maintain a balance in its portfolio with studies that explore integrative aspects of biology, including behavior. Without this perspective, new information about fundamental processes will prove ultimately to be shallow. This commentary discusses how understanding of brain and behavior in mental illness and health calls for integrating bottom-up research that studies brain and behavior through genes and molecules, with top-down research that examines the impact of environment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Linking level of care to level of need: Assessing the need for mental health care for nursing home residents.

What are the mental health status and active treatment needs of nursing home residents? A stratified random sample of 828 residents in 25 facilities serving Medicaid recipients was assessed for levels of physical and psychosocial functioning. Although 91.2% had sufficiently high levels of medical and physical care needs to justify nursing home placement, 79.6% also had moderate to intense needs for mental health care. Older residents, relative to their younger counterparts, had more intense medical and mental health care needs. It was also found that psychiatric diagnosis was a poor indicator of mental health service needs, particularly among elderly individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Health manpower policy: A perspective from the National Institute of Mental Health.

Provides a brief history of the US National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and its role in mental health manpower development. It is concluded that the mental health clinical training programs of NIMH have been essential to the academic mental health community and to the growth of the professions. Presently in psychology and social work, the shortage of funds to support students is the primary concern. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of perfectionism and need for approval on the brief treatment of depression: The National Institute of Mental Health Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program revisited.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 63(3) of Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (see record 1995-33936-001). Research Program Revisited," by Sidney J. Blatt, Donald M. Quinlan, Paul A. Pilkonis, and M. Tracie Shea reported significant negative relationships of pretreatment scores on the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS) Perfectionism factor to residualized measures of therapeutic change. Further analyses revealed several errors in the original report concerning two of the five measures of therapeutic change: the Global Assessment Scale (GAS) and the Social Adjustment Scale (SAS). Pretreatment DAS Perfectionism scores predicting residualized GAS and SAS change scores yield a standard regression weight of-.328 (instead of-.270), t(145) = -3.28, p = .001, and .250 (instead of .297), t(145) = 2.50, p = .014, respectively. The linear contrast of level of posttreatment SAS among the four quartiles of pretreatment perfectionism increases slightly, F(l, 50) = 7.93, p     

The Preterm Prediction Study: recurrence risk of spontaneous preterm birth. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network

Our study was designed to evaluate the pharmacokinetics, tissue distribution, toxicity and therapeutic efficacy of liposome-encapsulated paclitaxel (LET) in comparison to conventional paclitaxel. In normal mice, LET was much less toxic than the conventional drug. A dose of 32.5 mg/kg of conventional paclitaxel administered i.v. on three consecutive days produced 100% mortality by day three, while liposomal paclitaxel exhibited no mortality. The control group which received Diluent 12 (Chremophor EL and ethanol; 1:1 v/v), a vehicle used in conventional paclitaxel, 30% mortality was observed at this dosage level. In murine ascitic L1210 leukemia model, liposomal paclitaxel and conventional paclitaxel showed comparable antitumor activity. The pharmacokinetics of conventional paclitaxel and LET was studied in mice at dose levels of 5 mg/kg and 20 mg/kg. After intravenous administration of conventional paclitaxel at a dose of 5 mg/kg, the area under the plasma-concentration-time curve (AUC) was 2-fold lower and, the elimination half-life was 2-times shorter compared to LET. At a dose of 20 mg/kg, the terminal half-lives were comparable, however, conventional paclitaxel displayed non-linear pharmacokinetics with disproportionate increase in AUC. At the two dose levels studied, LET demonstrated linear kinetics. Tissue distribution of paclitaxel after administration of LET showed levels 10-fold higher in spleen and 3.5-fold higher in liver as compared to conventional paclitaxel. The significant decrease in toxicity shown by LET, coupled with an increase in plasma AUC and half-life indicates that LET may be a viable alternative to the therapeutic use of the conventional preparation of paclitaxel.     

The National Center for Health Care Technology: Assessment of psychotherapy for policymaking.

Discusses the importance of empirical evaluations of health and mental health procedures to providing the highest quality of care and to reimbursing the most appropriate and efficient techniques. The National Center for Health Care Technology, during its brief existence, provided the federal government with a mechanism for making such assessments. The now-abandoned plans for the assessment of psychotherapy are described. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Revamping mental health care in Israel: from the Netanyahu Commission to National Health Insurance Law

The concept of typus melancholicus (TM) was shaped by Tellenbach by means of phenomenological analysis in order to describe the premorbid and intermorbid personality of endogenous depressives. In this paper, the authors delineate the core properties of TM-i.e. orderliness, conscientiousness, norm orientation and intolerance of ambiguity-as a point of departure for empirical-statistical research. Qualitative and quantitative studies inquiring the characteristics of TM are reviewed in order to point out its well-established personality dimensions. Alternating methodological steps are proposed, combining phenomenological hypotheses with empirical-statistical tests (hermeneutic complementarity) in order to validate and differentiate the TM concept. The question whether TM should be considered as a personality disorder and the ethical attitude of subsiding appreciation of the TM in different generations of psychiatrists are discussed. It is emphasized that the TM concept brings otherwise unsystematized observations of depressives' intermorbid personality features into a coherent theoretical framework.