Top News

Researcher Dr. David Shern Takes the Helm at NMHA
Dr. Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola Unanimously Elected to Chair the Board of Directors

NMHA welcomes David L. Shern, Ph.D., as its new President and CEO. Dr. Shern brings with him over 30 years of experience, with a record of leadership, particularly in translating research into policy and practice. Dr. Shern served as dean of the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute at the University of South Florida (USF) and begins his full-time duties at NMHA Sept. 5.

"I am honored to join NMHA and excited to be part of its long-standing legacy of promoting mental health and ensuring access to quality mental health services,” said Dr. Shern. “Our science base has never been stronger and NMHA will be instrumental in translating this science into action." (Learn more about Dr. Shern.)

NMHA also welcomes Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, M.D., Ph.D., as its new Chairman of the Board of Directors. Dr. Aguilar-Gaxiola, elected by a unanimous vote, is professor of Clinical Internal Medicine and director of the Center for Reducing Health Disparities, University of California, Davis, School of Medicine. He is the first Latino to serve as NMHA's board chair. Recently, Dr. Aguilar-Gaxiola was nominated by Hispanic Business magazine as one of the country's “100 Most Influential Hispanics.”

Somber Anniversaries as U.S. Reflects on Katrina, 9/11

Report Reveals Emotional Impact of Disaster; Finds Challenges, Resilience
In the midst of calls by NMHA and mental health advocates for a better national mental health response following disasters, new research published Aug. 28 in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization confirms that emergency response and rebuilding is about far more than bricks and mortar. The study examines the impact of Hurricane Katrina on mental health and suicidal behavior, and found that the prevalence of mental illnesses among Gulf-area residents roughly doubled after the storm, although suicide rates fell dramatically.

"This study confirms the mental health field's assertions, and substantiates the need to prepare for and adequately address mental health needs after disasters," said NMHA President and CEO David Shern, PhD. "It also confirms our resiliency and victims’ ability to keep going despite overwhelming events."

Researchers point out that such optimism won’t persist indefinitely as survivors get their lives in order and pause to reflect on their losses. “However, this window of opportunity affords us time to empower the public with messages of hope, knowledge and resiliency,” said Dr. Shern.
 • Link to NMHA’s news release.
 • Link to the full study. (PDF)

Resources for Hurricane Survivors, Advocates
With mental health problems among Gulf-area residents and other survivors still emerging a year after the disaster, resources offering coping skills, statistics and other information are essential to addressing critical needs. Get info and resources.

NMHA Renews Calls for Action on Katrina Response
August 29 marked a year's passing since Hurricane Katrina ripped into the gulf shore states, leaving hundred of thousands without homes, workplaces and communities. In this past year, our nation has made inroads to rebuilding. However, too few people with mental health needs are receiving any care or support. NMHA and its national network continue to call for increased investment, improved mental health care infrastructures and comprehensive emergency preparedness in communities across the nation. Read more.

September 11 Anniversary: Looking Back, Moving Forward
It’s been five years since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and NMHA is taking a look at the progress we've made and the ground we've yet to cover in preparing a coordinated mental health response to national disasters. Get info and resources.

Back to School and Back to Campus

The beginning of the school year can be an exciting time for any child, but also a stressful one, with new teachers and classmates, new routines and more schoolwork. This time of year can be particularly overwhelming for children making major transitions as they start elementary, middle or high school. To help support parents and children during this period, NMHA is offering new educational materials as part of our Back-to-School initiative. Download the materials.

Get Set for National Depression Screening Day
Oct. 5 is the 16th annual National Depression Screening Day, a community-based mental health screening program that calls attention to mood and anxiety disorders, educates the public and practitioners, offers screenings, and connects those who may be in need to resources and services. If your organization would like to become a screening site or to find a site near you, visit Screening for Mental Health.

Q&A With MHA of San Francisco Leader Belinda Lyons

More News

Advocates Support Yates Verdict
Andrea Yates, the Houston woman convicted in 2002 of drowning her five children while suffering from postpartum psychosis, was found innocent by reason of insanity in a July retrial after her original convictions were overturned earlier this year.

"The verdict affirms that individuals with severe mental illnesses cannot be held to the same standards of criminal responsibility as other Americans,” said Dr. David Shern, president and CEO of NMHA. “It demonstrates we as a nation are rightfully reassessing our treatment of people with mental illnesses in the justice system."

Betsy Schwartz, president of the MHA of Greater Houston, heralded the latest verdict as "a landmark decision that shows the public's dramatically increased understanding of mental illness and particularly postpartum depression." At the time of the crime, Yates suffered from postpartum psychosis, a rare but serious condition related to postpartum depression. Yates also has a long history of mental illness, including hospitalizations and suicide attempts, and often did not receive appropriate mental health care. Read the MHA of Greater Houston’s statement.

NMHA in the NEWS

For continual updates on NMHA media highlights, subscribe to “Mental Health in the Headlines,” by visiting https://secured.nmha.org/secure/emailservices.cfm.

USA Today Article Covers Workplace Mental Health Issues, Cites NMHA
NMHA was cited in this Aug. 22 USA Today article bringing to light the effects of mental illnesses in the workplace

News From the Field

Also at the Annual Meeting, NMHA recognized a number of individuals, public officials and journalists for their hard work in advocacy, public policy and education about mental health. View a complete list of award winners.

On the Hill

Targeted Advocacy Defers Vote on Budget Resolution, Calls for Increases
A vote on a budget resolution continues to face postponement thanks to your advocacy efforts, including those of several House moderate Republicans, who are calling for a $7 billion increase in public health initiatives. Continued support is crucial to win this vital increase. NMHA urges individuals to press their representatives to support of the proposed $7 billion increase within the Budget Resolution for public health, education and training programs. Take action now: Contact your elected representatives.

Advocacy Persuades Administration to Exempt Some from Medicaid Citizenship Rule
The good news: Thanks to the unrelenting efforts of advocates throughout the country, the Bush administration, in an interim rule published in July, exempted two groups of Medicaid recipients from a new federal law that would have required them to prove their citizenship before they can enroll in Medicaid. The two groups are people who receive SSI payments and people who are eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare. The bad news: The new requirement still leaves millions of people without coverage because they don’t have a way to prove their citizenship through birth certificates, passport or other means. Although the new rule allows states to give current Medicaid enrollees a reasonable amount of time to secure their required citizenship documentation, new Medicaid applicants won’t be provided any coverage until they can prove that they are citizens.

NMHA and MHAs submitted comments on the interim rule to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services before the Aug. 11 closing date, also noting that the regulations designed to implement the new law fail to include sufficient protections to accommodate the challenges facing many individuals with mental illnesses who rely on Medicaid. And, in many cases, impose unnecessary additional burdens on Medicaid applicants and recipients.

Advocates Celebrate Defeat of Insurance Bill in Senate!
The Senate defeated the Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization Act by a vote of 55-43 on May 11. The bill was hailed by its proponents as the solution to the staggering problem of health insurance affordability among small employers. NMHA, along with its affiliates and coalition partners, worked to defeat the bill, which would have overridden more than 1,000 state health laws currently protecting consumers. These laws include mental health parity and mandate laws, two of the most crucial issues facing healthcare in America today. In addition, the bill would increase insurance premiums costs for businesses.

Research Roundup

Here’s a sampling of some of the latest studies published this summer:

PPD Affects Men, Study Indicates: Although post-partum depression (PPD) is becoming increasingly recognized as an issue new mothers should be aware of, far less recognized is the problem of PPD in new fathers. About 10 percent of new fathers develop PPD symptoms, twice the rate of depression among men in general, and about 14 percent of new mothers develop symptoms, according to a study in the journal Pediatrics. As with new mothers with PPD, new fathers with the disorder interact less frequently with their new children. (Reuters, 8/7/06)

Domestic violence appears to lead to bullying among children: Children who witness domestic violence among the adults they live with are more likely than other children to bully other kids physically, a University of Washington study in the journal Pediatrics indicates. About one-half of parents who participated in the study reported either perpetuating physical or sexual violence at home or being victims of such violence. About one-third of the children of these parents reported physically bullying other children, with girls more likely than boys to be bullies, and three-fourths reported being bullying victims. These children also reported higher incidences of anxiety and depression than other kids. (Reuters, 8/17/06)

Depression often goes untreated in pregnant women: Many pregnant women who have depression are not receiving adequate, if any, treatment for their disorder despite the greater risk they face in developing post-partum depression than other women, a study in the journal General Hospital Psychiatry indicates. In the study, University of Michigan researchers found that only one in five of the 40 percent of pregnant women who either had depression for the first time or had a history of the disorder were receiving any treatment. Most of the women were experiencing a recurrence, suggesting that they weren't being adequately monitored, the researchers wrote. (Reuters, 8/18/06)

Early social stimulation helps stunted children study: Scientists from the University of the West Indies in Kingston are saying that children who get social stimulation and are involved in organized play sessions in early childhood are less likely to suffer from depression and anxiety or behave antisocially, and have higher self-esteem as teenagers. (Reuters, 7/28/06)

Some male violence tied to genes, environment: University of Pittsburgh researchers found that more aggressive men have a variation of a gene that makes processing the brain chemical serotonin difficult. But not all men with this genetic variation act impulsively, or become aggressive or violent. The researchers found that those men with the variation who grew up in loving, caring and supportive households were no more likely than men without the variation to be impulsive or aggressive. Only men with the variation who were raised in less ideal conditions developed such behavior. (Reuters, 6/28/06)

Nearly one in five college students have injured themselves: About 17 percent of U.S. college students have intentionally harmed themselves at least once, reported Cornell University researchers in the journal Pediatrics. And 71 percent of those students have done so multiple times. Students who have harmed themselves repeatedly are more likely than other students to be female, unsure of their sexual orientation and/or psychologically distressed. (Reuters, 6/8/06)

Cutting stress may increase chance for pregnancy: Emory University researchers have found that significant amounts of stress can lower a woman's fertility and in some cases prevent ovulation altogether. Results of a pilot program involving women who had not had a period for at least six months found that cognitive behavioral therapy had a dramatic effect on participants by lowering stress levels and restoring fertility in 80 percent of cases. (UK Guardian, 6/21/06)

Exposure to cigarette smoke before birth linked to Tourette and OCD: University of California, San Francisco, researchers report in the American Journal of Psychiatry that children run a “very strong” risk of developing Tourette syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder if their mothers smoked regularly while pregnant. Researchers speculate that the cause of these disorders may lie in the reduction of oxygen to the developing fetus. (Reuters, 6/26/06)

Late-life job loss raises heart attack risk: Job loss doubles the risk of heart attack or stroke for adults in their 50s and 60s, a Yale University team reported in an online issue of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. (Forbes, 6/21/06)

New Publication

Attention and Behavior Problems in Your Child: Could It Be AD/HD? A Guide for Parents

All kids have trouble sitting still and paying attention from time to time. But when attention and behavior problems are extreme, happen often and cause trouble at home or school, it could be AD/HD.

This new booklet from NMHA explains the difference between everyday attention and behavior problems and AD/HD. It also provides tips on how to get a good evaluation and help your child succeed at school and in life.

Place your bulk order before Sept. 30, 2006, and get free shipping! To order, go to www.nmha.org/store.