The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has published its 2009 Grading the States Report Card: A Report on America’s Health Care Systemm for Adults with Serious Mental Illness.  NAMI has given Colorado a "C" grade.  The score is a combination of four categories:

1-  Health Promotion and Measurement

2- Financing and Core Treatment / Recovery Services

3- Consumer and Family Empowerment

4- Community Integration and Social Inclusion

Click here to read an article regarding the grade in the Colorado Springs Gazette

Click here to see the full report

"According to Stonewall’s Prescription for Change research released in 2008; one in five young lesbian and bisexual women deliberately harmed themselves over the year, compared to 0.4 % of the general population. Also half of LB women under the age of 20 have self harmed compared to one in fifteen teenagers generally." – The Lesbian and Gay Foundation.

Click here to read the full article and learn what you can do if you know someone who needs help.

"Urban single mothers nearing the end of their welfare eligibility appear more likely to have substance use and psychiatric disorders than women in the general population, and often do not receive treatment, according to a report in the March issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals."  -Newswise Medical News online

Click here to read the article.

An interesting article posted on Newswise Medical News website discusses a study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association that suggests that rather than alcohol abuse often being the result of depressed individuals self-medicating, the relationship may be reversed, where alcohol abuse leads to depression. 

Read the article here.   

In the November 6, 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health Report, detailed findings are shared from research regarding major depressive episode and treatment among veterans, aged 21-39.  The Report demonstrates the widespread prevalence of these types of mental healh episodes among veterans and highlights the demanding need for addressing the challenges to the United States’ mental healthcare system.

Click here to read the report

This publication, by Stephen Melek, discusses the challenges presented to our criminal justice system resulting from a lack of appropriate resources in our country to treat mentally ill persons. 

Click here to learn more. 

Congress has passed long awaited provisions, within the "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act", requiring employer-sponsored health plans to provide true parity for mental health benefits.  A Client Action Bulletin released by actuarial firm Milliman, explains the parity benefit, and details two other measures that could impact employer health plan responsibilities. 

Read the Milliman Bulletin

Mental health actuarial experts at Milliman have published a study on chronic physical conditions and comorbid psychological disorders.  The paper is an in-depth look at the costs of comorbid depression and anxiety on comercially insured patients with certain chronic conditions.  It also offers opportunities for improved healhcare delivery, with better clinical outcomes, at lower costs. 

Read the Research Report here.

Several prominent mental healthcare professionals in Colorado, including George DelGrosso, Executive Director of CBHC, contributed to the article "Inaccessible to Many" in the Fall 2008 edition of Health Elevations, the quarterly journal of the Colorado Health Foundation.  The article discusses the current state of behavioral healthcare in Colorado and the efforts to improve the existing system.  

Read the article beginning on page 4 and the rest of the publication. 

NCADI published The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) Report on September 25th.  Of specicfic interest, the report highlights a survey conducted assessing Mental Health Service Use Among Youths Aged 12 to 17: 2005 and 2006. 

Click here to learn more about the study’s findings.