Interface Consultation Services, PLLC

Cognitive behavioral therapy reduces the severity of obsessive compulsive disorder in children and adolescents, according to a new review. This form of treatment helps relieve the overall distress and reduces the interference that OCD symptoms can cause in young people's lives. Further, the evidence indicates that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and medication are equally effective in treating pediatric OCD, say lead researcher Richard O'Kearney and colleagues. "When CBT is combined with medication, treatment is more effective than medication alone. Health professionals need to consider this therapy - particularly in view of the controversy about prescribing psychotropic medications to children and teens," said O'Kearney, director of clinical training for psychology at the Australian National University, in Canberra. This review appears in the October 18 issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration , an international organization ...

The National Institute of Mental Health sponsored a study, The Preschool ADHD Treatment Study that took 303 preschoolers from age 3-5 who were diagnosed with ADHD. The study included 10 weeks of behavioral treatment along with parent training and about one year of drug treatment. Nearly 300 families were enrolled, but many dropped out after the first phase, either because the behavior treatment worked or because they didn't want to put their children on drugs. The drug phase started with 165 children, more than a dozen dropped out because of side effects. It found that the children taking methylphenidate had a more marked reduction of their ADHD symptoms compared to children taking a placebo. Throughout the duration of the study, the children grew about half an inch less in height and weighed about 3 pounds less than expected, based on average growth rates established prior to the study. "This is a catastrophe. It just opens up the way for drugging the younger kids," sai...

A brief overview of Interface Consultation Services current endeavors: I. Blog Focus We continue to post 2-3 times a week. ICS - Providing our professional blog site readers with informative clinical behavioral health material at this blog site. Co unseling Connections - Therapeutic, counseling-focused articles for consumer interests. II. "High Risk Mental Health emergencies" Book - Craig Judd is in the process of writing a book. III. National Training Seminars: PESI High Risk Mental Health Emergencies - "How To" Techniques & Interventions. Craig Judd, co-founder of Interface Consultation Services , will be presenting this seminar in the Fort Wayne and Indianapolis area on October 26 & 27. This day-long seminar is suited to mental health clinicians, school counselors, social workers, case managers, addiction counselors, nurses, emergency responders and all others that directly encounter mental health emergencies. Clients in Crisis: Assess, Interven...

Suicide among the elderly is undoubtedly a complex phenomenon, and the difficulty in preventing suicide, regardless of cultural delineation, is apparent. Across cultures, suicide in older age is more prevalent in Latin and Asian countries, compared to Anglo-Saxon nations. In all countries, primary care physicians and mental health care professionals face a common dilemma in detecting symptoms of depression and suicidality among the elderly. Ideally, in order to prevent suicide in late life, complete consideration should be paid to both the personal characteristics and circumstances and the sociocultural milieu of an elderly person. More...... Copyright © 2006 CMP Healthcare Media Group LLC The highest suicide rates in the US population is still the elder white male although declining over the past decade.

Celebrity on the couch: 40 faces of depression in the spotlight. In the public confessional of the media, more and more household names have come out of the shadows to talk about their depression and mental illness. This is what they say about it. By Jonathan Owen 10 October 2006 . 1. George Michael: Singer "Twelve years of depression and fear and lots of other bad stuff. It was as if I had a curse on me. I couldn't believe how much God was piling on at once." 2. Uma Thurman: Actress "Nobody seemed to have any perspective any longer. Those were low points. But we got through it." 3. Jack Dee: Comedian "Depression is something that has always figured in my life but now I'm dealing with it. I wish I'd done this years and years ago because it's been really helpful." 4. Kylie Minogue: Singer "You get such a kick and then suddenly it's all over. That's good ground for uncertainty and depression. I usually burst into tears." 5....

As of October 1, 2006, Massachusetts has implemented a universal health care program for the state. They were crossing their Ts and dotting their Is. Connector COO Rosemarie Day told the Board that all systems are "Go" from the administrative end. "The biggest concerns centered around the hardship waivers. The draft mirrored MassHealth regulations which allow the agency to waive premiums if an enrollee has extreme financial hardship due to a number of specific factors." Weeeeeeeee........Here we go! It's a bold exciting move by Massachusetts and many other states and individuals will be watching closely to see how successful the system becomes. If it succeeds, there may be more systems to follow modeled after Commonwealth Care. In Michigan, our own governor Jennifer Granholm has been eluding to developing a program modeled after Commonwealth Care.

Luke R. remembers exactly when the bizarre urges first hit. Two years ago, soon after summer vacation started, Luke, then 11, bounded into his Westchester, NY, home, said something to his mother he can't remember—and then, for no reason, said it three more times in exactly the same way. "Is anything wrong?" Luke's mother asked, somewhat unnerved. Luke shook his head, puzzled. "I just feel like I have to repeat things," he said. Luke's compulsion snowballed: A week later, he felt impelled to take four steps at a time, blink four times, even count to four as he ran bases. He had to read backward every phrase he read forward. Soon, he was darting his eyes back and forth, rolling his head around like a loose ball, and sticking his fingers into his mouth. Luke—an accomplished saxophone player, honor student, and athlete—says he never felt embarrassed about his new "habits." If he felt like he had to control his hands, he would trap them under his ar...

As a society, we are bombarded with negative images of people with mental illnesses. The media and entertainment industries overwhelmingly present people with mental illnesses as dangerous, violent and unpredictable individuals. These inaccurate and unfair portrayals shape the public’s perception of those who suffer from mental disorders as people to be feared and avoided. This stigma has tragic consequences. Many people with mental health problems fail to seek treatment because of the shame associated with their illness. And most will experience some form of discrimination, whether in the workplace, health insurance plans or social settings. The National Mental Health Association’s Stigma Watch program tracks news and entertainment coverage of mental health issues for fairness and accuracy. Our goal is to correct and prevent stigmatizing advertising, television and radio programming, and print features. More information regarding the stigmatizing of mental illness is available by link...