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May 28, 2007
Mental Health Parity or Parody?
The senate voted on the latest mental health parity bill, passing it, but only after treatment for addictive disorders was excluded. A former managed care executive, and now psychiatrist jokingly referred to the bill, and it’s similar predecessors as MH “parody” bills. Perhaps it’s due to loopholes such as above, or the fact that there is no provision for excessive utilization review or other commonly used business tactics that put a strangled hold on physician reimbursement.
What kind of message is this sending to the public about the tremendous problem with addictive disorders? Could this be the result of our puritanical heritage, a culture of the individual rather than of societal good?
If the economic burden of depression in this nation is costing us 83 billion annually, imagine the toll of substance abuse and dependence.
Robin Stone, M.D.
Insight Psychiatry
13123 Rosedale Hill Ave.
Huntersville, NC 28078
704-948-3810
May 2, 2007
Depression: bad for your heart in more ways than one…
A recent study published in the February issue of Archives of General Psychiatry did not support an increased risk of heart attack, or accelerated atherosclerosis with the high self-reported measures of hostility or anger the classic “Type A” personality temperament. However they did find a link between atherosclerosis or thickening of the carotid arteries and the “vegetative” symptoms depression. Other studies have examined post cardiac bypass graft failure and depression. Could the key be increased expression of inflammatory markers with negative mood states? Researchers found that patients with depression at baseline had a 40% increased risk of having substantial atherosclerosis progression in their saphenous vein grafts. The study which controlled for confounders such as body mass index, blood pressure, gender, race and physical activity was performed at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
Insight Psychiatry
www.insight-psychiatry.com
13123 Rosedale Hill Ave.
Huntersville, NC 28078
704-948-3810
