...targeting people with mental health conditions as a vulnerable group.

 

 Contents list and executive summary [pdf 1.08Mb]
The report is available in sections accessible from the above contents list

Supporting documents

Policy brief on mental health and development [pdf 208kb]

Policy analysis [pdf 99kb]

News release: People with mental disabilities cannot be forgotten

The new WHO report on mental health and development is a call to action to all development stakeholders - governments, civil society, multilateral agencies, bilateral agencies, global partnerships, private foundations, academic and research institutions - to focus their attention on mental health.

The report presents compelling evidence that persons with mental and psychosocial disabilities are a vulnerable group but continue to be marginalized in terms of development aid and government attention. It makes the case for reaching out to this group through the design and implementation of appropriate policies and programmes and through the inclusion of mental health interventions into broader poverty reduction and development strategies. The report also describes a number of key interventions which can provide a starting point for these efforts. By investing in persons with mental and psychosocial disabilities, development outcomes can be improved.

Development stakeholders who would like to integrate mental health into their agendas, policies and programmes are encouraged to contact Dr Michelle Funk, Coordinator, Mental Health Policy and Service Development funkm@who.int.

 

 APA Style  Lite for College Papers is a concise guide to crafting research papers in the style of the American Psychological Association (APA). It is based on the current edition of the APA Publication Manual (corrected printing, 2009) while incorporating guidelines for "Material Other Than Journal Articles" found in the last edition. APA Lite succeeds the APA Crib Sheet developed by Professor Dewey in the 1990s and revised by the Abel Scribe collaboration in the current century. Doc Scribe is not affiliated in any way with the American Psychological Association--this style guide is free! © Copyright 2000-2010 by Dr. Abel Scribe, PhD
APA Style Lite PDF.  Everything on Doc Scribe's website is free including the PDF version of this webpage.

http://www.docstyles.com/apacrib.htm

Scitable is a free science library and personal learning tool brought to you by Nature Publishing Group, the world's leading publisher of science. Scitable currently concentrates on genetics, the study of evolution, variation, and the rich complexity of living organisms.

How Does the Eye Work?

Extra half-hour in bed 'helps children concentrate'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/7872758/Extra-half-hour-in-bed-helps-children-concentrate.html

Small delay in school start times=big benefits
http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/05/small-delay-in-school-start-timesbig-benefits/

At St. George's, more sleep equals better performance
http://www.projo.com/education/content/SCHOOL_START_TIME_SLEEP_07-06-10_BTJ3V3C_v18.1687c8e.html

National Sleep Foundation
http://www.sleepfoundation.org/

Sleep Disorders: Medline Plus
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/sleepdisorders.html

Eric Peterson is the head of the St. George's School, a private boarding school in Rhode Island, who had an idea to improve student performance. He thought that it might be useful to have students a bit better rested before they reported for class each morning, so he decided to start the school day at 8:30AM, rather than at 8. The effects were quite dramatic, and a sleep researcher studied his efforts. The researcher in question was Dr. Judith A. Owens, whose daughter was a senior at the school. Over time, Dr. Owens noticed that fewer students were late for class and that overall students felt more motivated and less depressed. Recently, Dr. Owens published her findings in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine journal, and other scholars are taking note. Owens' work seems to mirror other findings. Later school start times have had positive effects in places like Kentucky and Minnesota. In the study Owens found that sleep deprivation is quite harmful to the parts of the brain that need to develop in adolescence and noted, "We have no idea what the long-term consequence is." [KMG]

The first link will take users to a news article from this Monday's Telegraph which reports on both the US sleep study and a similar one from the UK. The second link leads to a post from The Chart blog from CNN, which talks about the study findings. Moving on, the third link leads to an article by The Providence Journal's Felice J. Freyer about Eric Peterson's experience with the modified start time. The fourth link leads to the homepage of the National Sleep Foundation, which has some excellent resources on how to get a good night's sleep. The fifth link will whisk users away to information on sleep disorders, provided courtesy of Medline Plus and other quality partners, including the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

From The Scout Report

The World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) Africa Initiative on Mental Health & HIV/AIDS was started in October 2006. The purpose of the Initiative is "to raise awareness about the important relationship between mental health & HIV/AIDS." They also work to provide "effective advocacy" in order to improve services for people living with HIV/AIDS. First-time users will want to start by looking over the "News & Issues" area, and here they can peruse an introductory presentation which outlines the Initiative's main goals. The "NGO Directory" is a great resource for health care professionals and it contains a directory of over 1,000 organizations in Africa that provide or facilitate psychosocial support to people living with HIV/AIDS and caregivers. Visitors should also click on the "Expert Forum" area as well. Here they can read a summary report of a meeting which brought together key leaders from Africa in 2008 to talk about the work of the Initiative. [KMG] From Scout Report

http://www.wfmhafricainitiative.org/

The Schizophrenia Library is a world first, free online one stop shop for a wide range of information on schizophrenia.

 

If you want to Browse the Library :

How Topics are Categorised

Comorbid Conditions

Course and Outcomes

Diagnosis

Families

Physical Features

Population Perspective

Risk Factors

Signs and Symptoms

Treatments

 

Brain and nerves

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/substanceabuseproblems.html

Mental Health and Behavior

This document is one in a series of College Reports (previously known as Council Reports) prepared and made available on the Web by the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPSYCH). Published in 2003, the report 'The Mental Health of Students in Higher Education' acknowledges that 'Higher education is associated with significant stressors, including the emotional demands of transition from home and school to the less structured environment of college, independent study and examinations, and financial pressures. While stress is not pathological in itself, these factors may contribute to the higher rate of emotional symptomatology among students'. The report aims to review the nature, prevalence and causes of students' mental health problems, and to review existing services. Conclusions and recommendations are provided. The appendices provide information on counselling in higher education, and a glossary of acronyms. The status of this report is current, as of May 2010. http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/files/pdfversion/cr112.pdf

From Intute.ac.uk

People often dislike, criticise and put themselves down for their procrastination.

In a new study, though, Wohl et al. (2010) wondered if this self-blame may be counter-productive. By following 119 first-year students through two midterm examinations, the researchers tested whether self-forgiveness about procrastination before the first midterm was associated with less procrastination before the second midterm...[more]

→ Also check out: how to avoid procrastination.

Manual of Clinical Psychopharmacology, Seventh Edition, by Alan F. Schatzberg, M.D., Jonathan O. Cole, M.D., and Charles DeBattista, D.M.H., M.D.

Since 1986, the Manual of Clinical Psychopharmacology has been the gold standard for applying psychotropic medications to the treatment of specific psychiatric conditions. With each new edition, the book has grown in stature as well as in size, making it the bestselling book of its kind. Its many outstanding features include:

* Foundational information on the general principles of psychopharmacological treatment to ground and orient the reader

* Extensive coverage of augmentation for treatment-resistant disorders, including depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia

* A special section on geriatric psychopharmacology, a field that continues to gain prominence as the Baby Boomer generation ages

* Coverage of special topics, including emergency room treatment, pharmacotherapy for substan ce use disorders, psychotropic medication use and contraindications during pregnancy, pharmacotherapy in persons with mental retardation, legal and ethical issues

* Summary tables of key information on classes of psychotropics, which serve as quick reference guides, as well as an abundance of illustrations and figures

While the information is both up-to-the-minute and comprehensive, perhaps the book's most compelling attribute is its collegial and accessible writing style. Practicing psychiatrists, psychopharmacologists, pharmacists, and students in psychiatry and pharmacology will find the narrative easy to follow, without sacrificing depth. Reliable, readable, and highly regarded, this new edition of the Manual of Clinical Psychopharmacology continues the tradition es tablished by its predecessors

PsychFutures - Finding your next step in psychology

A MavEdu-hosted community for psychologists at all levels, for discovering information and options in their academic and professional careers. This is a UK-based service which offers a good way to network, on an attractive website. Features include groups, a Twitter channel, research digest and video clips.From Intute.ac.uk
http://psychfutures.ning.com

 

Traumatic Dissociation: Neurobiology and Treatment, edited by Eric Vermetten, M.D., Ph.D., Martin J. Dorahy, Ph.D., and David Spiegel, M.D.

Download PDF (1.5 MB)

Traumatic Dissociation: Neurobiology and Treatment offers an advanced introduction to this symptom, process, and pattern of personality organization seen in several trauma-related disorders, including acute stress disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the dissociative disorders. Our understanding of traumatic dissociation has recently been advanced by neuroimaging technology, empirically-based investigation, and an acknowledgment of its importance in psychopathology. The authors of this volume tie these findings together, tracking the condition from its earliest historical conceptualization to its most recent neurobiological understanding to provide even greater insight into traumatic dissociation and its treatment.

Bringing together for the first time theoretical, cognitive, and neurobiological perspectives on traumatic dissociation, this volume is designed to provide both empirical and therapeutic insights by drawing on the work of many of the main contributors to the field. Opening chapters examine historical, conceptual, and theoretical issues and how other fields, such as cognitive psychology, have been applied to the study of traumatic dissociation. The following section focuses specifically on how neurobiological investigations have deepened our understanding of dissociation and concluding chapters explore issues pertinent to the assessment and treatment of traumatic dissociation. The interacting effects of traumatic experience, developmental history, neurobiological function, and specific vulnerabilities to dissociative processes that underlie the occurrence of traumatic dissociation are among some of the key issues covered. The book's significant contributions include

* A review of cognitive experimental findings on attention and memory functioning in dissociative identity disorder

* An appreciation of how the literature on hypnosis provides a greater understanding of perceptual processing and traumatic stress

* Ascertaining symptoms of dissociation in a military setting and in other situations of extreme stress

* An outline of key issues for planning assessment of traumatic dissociation, including a critique of its primary empirically supported standardized measures

* An examination of the association between child abuse or neglect and the development of eating disorders, suggesting ways to therapeutically deal with negative body experience to reduce events that trigger dissociation

* A description of neuroendocrine alterations associated with stress, poi nting toward a better understanding of the developmental effects of deprivation and trauma on PTSD and dissociation

* A review of the relation of attachment and dissociation

* A discussion of new research findings in the neuroimaging of dissociation and a link between cerebellar functioning and specific peritraumatic experiences

Useful as a clinical reference or as ancillary textbook, Traumatic Dissociation reorganizes phenomenological observations that have been overlooked, misunderstood, or neglected in traditional training. The research and clinical experience described here will provide the basis for further clinical and theoretical formulations of traumatic dissociation and will advance empirical examination and treatment of the phenomenon.

You can access the Book of the Month from the home page, at PsychiatryOnline.com. You'll have access to Traumatic Dissociation: Neurobiology and Treatment as a PDF download for the month of May