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Check out this article with the Psychiatric Times. Very interesting Read..... Click on the Link at the end for more.... The Case of Factitious Disorder Versus Malingering Courtney B. Worley, MPH, Marc D. Feldman, MD, and James C. Hamilton, PhD Ms Worley is a graduate student in psychology, Dr Feldman is clinical professor of psychiatry, and Dr Hamilton is associate professor of psychology at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. The authors report no conflicts of interest concerning the subject matter of this article. Patients who exaggerate, feign, or induce physical illness are a great challenge to their physicians. Trained to trust their patients’ self-reports, even competent and conscientious physicians can fall victim to these deceptions. In doing so, the treating physician may unwittingly provide support for specious claims of illness or injury by conferring official diagnoses, or by delivering treatments that transform the patient from a pretender into a person with a genuine...

Recent reports about abuse of juvenile inmates have renewed calls for a national overhaul of a juvenile justice system that includes nearly 100,000 children. Juvenile detention center in Missouri replaces lockdowns with hugs. In Missouri, a different method for juvenile detention has seen surprisingly successful results, trading in the orange uniforms and cell blocks for therapists and dorm rooms . see more ABC News: Looks like Missouri is really trying to make a difference with his children who are struggling with criminal behavior, substance abuse and emotional problems. Let us know what your state is doing?

" Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny." -Frank Outlaw

NIMH Science UpdateJune 09, 2009 Re-shaping Negative Thoughts Shields At-Risk Teens from Depression Cognitive Prevention Program Trumps Usual Care in “Real World” Trial At-risk teens exposed to a program that teaches them to counteract their unrealistic and overly negative thoughts experienced significantly less depression than their peers who received usual care, NIMH-funded researchers have found. However, the cognitive behavioral prevention program failed to similarly help adolescents prone to the mood disorder if their parents were currently depressed. NIMH grantee Judy Garber, Ph.D., of Vanderbilt University, and colleagues, report on the findings of their multi-site clinical trial in the June 3, 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Background Only a fourth of depressed youth receive any treatment and at least 20 percent develop a chronic, difficult-to-treat form of the illness. Having a history of the illness substantially increases risk for depression...

June 25, 2009 Psychiatric Times. NEWS STEPPS: A Viable Supplement to Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder by T. M. Ness, MD Dr Ness is a psychiatrist currently practicing in California. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Two randomized controlled trials have shown the Systems Training for Emotional Predictability and Problem Solving (STEPPS) program to be effective in reducing the intensity of core aspects of borderline personality disorder (BPD), Dr Donald Black and social worker Nancee Blum announced at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association held recently in San Francisco. Black summarized, “Data from several studies show that STEPPS reduced global severity as rated by clinicians and patients, borderline personality disorder symptoms, and depressive symptoms." STEPPS is a 20-week, manual-based, psychoeducational group treatment that combines skills training with cognitive-behavioral techniques. It includes...

Provided by: Associated PressWritten by: Lindsey Tanner, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS May. 8, 2009 CHICAGO - Leo Lytel was diagnosed with autism as a toddler. But by age nine he had overcome the disorder. His progress is part of a growing body of research that suggests at least 10 per cent of children with autism can "recover" from it - most of them after undergoing years of intensive behavioral therapy. Skeptics question the phenomenon, but University of Connecticut psychology professor Deborah Fein is among those convinced it's real. She presented research this week at an autism conference in Chicago that included 20 children who, according to rigorous analysis, got a correct diagnosis but years later were no longer considered autistic. Among them was Leo, a boy in Washington, D.C., who once made no eye contact, who echoed words said to him and often spun around in circles - all classic autism symptoms. Now he is an articulate, social third-grader. His mother, Jayne Lytel, says...