Job Woes Exacting a Toll on Family Life

For many families across the country, the greatest damage inflicted by this recession has not necessarily been financial, but emotional and psychological. Children, especially, have become hidden casualties, often absorbing more than their parents are fully aware of. Several academic studies have linked parental job loss — especially that of fathers — to adverse impacts in areas like school performance and self-esteem.

DSM-IV-TR Criteria for PTSD

After Years of Growing Tensions, 7 Minutes of Bloodshead

The Fort Hood Tragedy

“Every man has his breaking point,” said military doctors in World War II, believing that more than 90 days of continuous combat could turn any soldier into a psychiatric casualty.

New York Times Article by Erica Goode:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/weekinreview/08goode.html

David Strug was recently interviewed about his research with older Cubans by the host of Against the Grain, a Pacifica radio program about politics, society and ideas. Strug spoke about intergenerational conflicts between younger and older Cubans on the island, among other topics. To listen to his radio interview, click the following link: http://againstthegrain.org/program/197/id/261418/tues-6-23-09-idealism-and-survival-cuba

Community Health Care in Cuba, edited by Susan E. Mason, David L. Strug, and Joan Beder was just released this past June by Lyceum Press. This volume provides a comprehensive view of Cuba’s community-oriented health care program and includes chapters on mental health care for adoelscents and adults, on psychology in the community, and on music therapy in Cuba.

A recent article on drug rehabilitation programs in The New York Times Sciences Times Section (12/23/08) suggests there is little evidence to substantiate whether or not drug rehabilitation programs work. Here is a link to the article. What do you think?

Drug Rehabilitation or Revolving Door?

The book is at least three years away from publication, but it is already stirring bitter debates over a new set of possible psychiatric disorders.

Is compulsive shopping a mental problem? Do children who continually recoil from sights and sounds suffer from sensory problems — or just need extra attention? Should a fetish be considered a mental disorder, as many now are?

Panels of psychiatrists are hashing out just such questions, and their answers — to be published in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders — will have consequences for insurance reimbursement, research and individuals’ psychological identity for years to come.

Powerful antipsychotic medicines are being used far too cavalierly in children, and federal drug regulators must do more to warn doctors of their substantial risks, a panel of federal drug experts said Tuesday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/health/policy/19fda.html

POSITIONING IDENTITIES: LESBIAN AND GAY EXPERIENCE WITH MENTAL HEALTH CARE BY HAZEL K. PLATZER, UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA PRESS.