sarahlee's favorite mental-health pages, page 1

Last login: 5 hours agoSarahlee: sarahlee is a 56 year old single woman from Lakota Territory, South Dakota, USA.; Likes 1,841 pages, 272 videos, 29 photos • 113 fans • Received 22 reviews; Member since May 19, 2005

Favorites » Her mental-health pages

Daily Kos: Four WV Vets taking PTSD Drugs Die in Their Sleep: May 24, 11:53pm 2 reviews mental-health, military, medicine, veterans, ptsd
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/24/175543/014/530/522202; From the page: "There has been a silent epidemic of deadly drug interactions. If you weren't reading the local news in West Virginia you won't have heard about it. But today they reported the 4th vet to die. These are young men, combat vets taking prescriptions prescribed in combination by Army psychiatrists and they are going to sleep and not waking up. The combination is Klonopin and Seroquel and Paxil. Sometimes pain killers or even alcohol may have been involved. "

Read also:
Hypothesis for Cause of PTSD Vets' Drug Deaths

Think Progress & VA discouraged staff from diagnosing PTSD for &8216…: May 15, 3:28pm 2 reviews mental-health, military, veterans, ptsd
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/15/va-discouraged-staff-from-diagnosing-ptsd...; From the page: "VoteVets.org and CREW released an e-mail today that reveals "a Veterans Affairs (VA) employee directing VA staff to refrain from diagnosing soldiers and veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)." The e-mail, dated May 1, 2008, complains about "compensation seeking veterans" and urges VA staff to rule out PTSD and "consider a diagnosis of 'Adjustment Disorder'"Э instead"

Foreclosures take an emotional toll on homeowners - USATODAY.com: May 15, 7:43am 1 review health, economics, mental-health, foreclosures
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2008-05-14-mortgage-foreclosure...; From the page: "Crisis hotlines are reporting a surge in calls from frantic homeowners. The American Psychological Association (APA) and other mental-health groups are publishing tips on how to handle the emotional stress triggered by the real estate meltdown. Psychologists say they're seeing more drinking, domestic violence and marital problems linked to mortgage concerns тА" as well as children trying to cope with extreme anxiety when their families are forced to move."

VA Hid Suicide Risk, Internal E-Mails Show, Follow-Up Reporting On Exclusive Inv…: Apr 22, 10:54am 3 reviews mental-health, military, war, suicide, veterans
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/21/cbsnews_investigates/main4032921.shtml; From the page: "The Department of Veterans Affairs came under fire again Monday, this time in California federal court where it's facing a national lawsuit by veterans rights groups accusing the agency of not doing enough to stem a looming mental health crisis among veterans. As part of the lawsuit, internal e-mails raise questions as to whether top officials deliberately deceived the American public about the number of veterans attempting and committing suicide. "

Think Progress has the e-mail exchange showing that the VA hoped to keep the statistics out of CBS's hands - unbelievably, the email from Ira Kantz reads:

""Shh!

"Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1000 suicide attempts per month among the veterans we see at our medical facilities. Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?"

Health Blog : On Mental Health Parity, Its Kennedy Vs. Kennedy: Mar 6, 10:47am 1 review health, insurance, mental-health, politics, healthcare
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/03/06/on-mental-health-parity-its-kennedy-vs...; From the page: "Now that Congressman Patrick Kennedy (pictured, left) has won passage in the House for his mental health parity bill, he has to work out a compromise with the Senate, which has passed a much less restrictive version of the bill. Kennedy will be sitting across the negotiating table from one of the old lions of the Senate: his father, Ted Kennedy (pictured right), a driving force behind the Senate bill.

"The Senate bill, backed by business and insurance groups, would give insurers that chose to cover mental health wide latitude in which conditions to cover. The House bill would require those that offered mental health coverage to cover all mental health and substance abuse disorders in the standard manual of mental illness, the WSJ reports. Both bills would forbid companies from charging higher copays or putting more stringent limits on mental health care than on other kinds of care."

AlterNet: War on Iraq: 120 War Vets Commit Suicide Each Week on Average: Nov 30, 2007 8:58pm 5 reviews health, mental-health, military, veterans
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/68713/; From the page: "Earlier this year, using the clout that only major broadcast networks seem capable of mustering, CBS News contacted the governments of all 50 states requesting their official records of death by suicide going back 12 years. They heard back from 45 of the 50. From the mountains of gathered information, they sifted out the suicides of those Americans who had served in the armed forces. What they discovered is that in 2005 alone -- and remember, this is just in 45 states -- there were at least 6,256 veteran suicides, 120 every week for a year and an average of 17 every day."