Lawrence Duran of the National Association for Behavioral Health–an obscure group with an address on Pennsylvania Avenue just blocks from the White House that has cultivated high-profile relationships with key lawmakers, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on top-notch lobbyists and even held fundraisers for candidates and incumbents friendly to its position on policy issues–was cited by the Justice Department on numerous charges.

Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield is partnering with 14 health-related sites in Allegheny County to offer members and nonmembers alike programs to help them lose weight, eat better and manage stress or chronic conditions like diabetes and osteoporosis.

“These programs are lifestyle improvement programs,” said Atiya Abdelmalik, Highmark manager of health promotion. “They’re not the latest craze. They’re not a quick fix. They’re not the latest fad diet. We’re equipping members with the resources they need to live a healthier life.”

With one exception, the Wellness Where You Live programs are free to members; cost to non-members depends on length of the programs, but all start at $65, she said.

Highmark has designed a total of eight wellness programs; not all of them are offered at each participating site.

Read the full article: 14 sites to offer wellness programs

Philadelphia has one of the world’s largest urban park systems. And, according to census data, the city has the highest proportion of people 65 and older of any of the 10 largest cities in the country.

Yet 73 percent of Philadelphians over 60 reported never using their neighborhood park in the previous year, according to data from Public Health Management Corp.’s 2008 Household Health Survey.

That troubles local advocates for seniors because of the benefits that public parks can provide for older adults. Being engaged and connected in the community is related to older adults’ being more physically active and to the length of time that seniors want to stay in their homes, according to an analysis by Allen Glicksman, director of research and evaluation for the nonprofit Philadelphia Corporation for Aging.

Regular exercise can help seniors prevent falls, the leading cause of injury or death for people 65 and older. Other research from the 2008 survey showed that people with health limitations are less likely to use public recreation facilities. So even perceived risks to unsteady legs, such as uneven steps, rickety handrails, and cracked sidewalks, could deter older adults from using parks, Glicksman said.

Read the full article: Phila. effort aims to make parks fit for seniors

The Sisterhood of the Dumbbell meets three times a week at St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Devon. “Sisterhood of the Dumbbell” is my name for the group, and Sharon Eisenhour, who kindly invited me to meet these iron-pumping ladies, and Jeanne Lynam, their inspirational leader, embraced my suggestion.

…

Dumbbells in hand, Lynam led the women through a varied menu of resistance exercises, some done standing up, others on a mat – overhead presses, triceps extensions, shoulder shrugs and arm raises, chest flyes, curls, crunches, leg raises, and some mysterious female rite involving the pelvis and glutes that probably best falls under the rubric “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

Lynam kept the movements slow and gentle, calling for different weights – light, medium, or heavy – for different exercises. Nothing explosive, no macho competition to see who could hoist the most iron or do the most reps. Each woman chose a weight range she could handle. Some dumbbells weighed as little as two pounds; others, as much as 12.

Read more of the article: Women on the move, and better for it

“While political commentators were quick to pin last week’s midterm Republican victories on everything from the tanking economy to the president’s agenda, plenty of people still pulled the lever for Democrats. Deep-seated liberal and conservative philosophies still drive our voting behavior, and scientists are trying to figure out how much of that is attributable to nature (our genes) and how much to nurture (the environment).

Until a few years ago, upbringing, experience and culture were considered the primary factors influencing our political preferences. According to such thinking, if Sarah Palin were raised by liberals in a big city and Nancy Pelosi had grown up hunting moose in Alaska, they’d be giving each others’ speeches.

But that thinking is changing. This most recent study, published in the October issue of the Journal of Politics, revealed a complicated connection among political preferences, a gene called DRD4, and even the number of friends that people said they had in high school.

The DRD4 gene influences the brain chemical dopamine, which is involved in movement, emotion, pleasure, and pain.

About 38 percent of us carry an alternative version of the gene which has been associated with a novelty-seeking trait. Five percent of us carry two copies of the novelty-seeking version.

‘A novelty-seeking individual would be more likely to try a new kind of food or climb Mount Everest,’ said James Fowler, a professor of political science and medical genetics at the University of California San Diego. That’s what made him think it might have some connection to politics….

But the way [Fowler] sees it, these variants in our DRD4 genes have been around for tens of thousands of years. If one form were superior, the other would have been weeded out by natural selection.

Fowler’s study builds on an earlier one published in 2005, showing the first concrete connection between genes and political attitudes.”

Read More

The shift introduces a wellness model that has been absent from care for addiction: After an episode of treatment, a network of support will, in theory, help sustain recovery in the community. And for mentally ill people, the new approach encourages real-life goals – riding a bus alone, getting a job – that go beyond managing symptoms.

To read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/103693584.html?cmpid=15585797

The symptoms of adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder seem to describe half the people in New York City: restlessness, impatience, impulsivity, procrastination, chronic lateness, and difficulty getting organized, focusing and finishing tasks.

How do you know you have ADHD, which experts compare to having a mind like a pinball, with thoughts flitting in multiple directions. Maybe you’re just overcaffeinated and overworked? And if you do have it, will there be a stigma? Should you try medication? Will it work?

Parents of children with suspected ADHD face a myriad of similar questions. But the concerns can be just as troubling for adults, whose ADHD often goes unrecognized.

An estimated 8% of U.S. children have ADHD, which is also known as ADD, for attention-deficit disorder, and some 50% of them outgrow it, according to government data. About 4.4% of U.S. adults—some 10 million people—also have ADHD and less than one-quarter of them are aware of it.

That’s because while ADHD always starts in childhood, according to official diagnostic criteria, many adults with the disorder went unnoticed when they were young. And it’s only been since the 1980s that therapists even recognized the disorder could persist in adults.

Even now, getting an accurate diagnosis is tricky. Some experts think that too many adults—and children—are being put on medications for ADHD, often by doctors with little experience with the disorder. Others think that many more people could benefit from ADHD drugs and behavioral therapy.

Read more.

As a state House committee prepares for hearings this week on overhauling mental health laws, those most affected are debating whether the proposal would be effective or fair.

Backers say a bill in both the House and Senate would make it easier to compel those suffering from the worst mental illness to get treatment.

Opponents counter that the proposal tramples rights in a way that would never be tolerated for physical illness — and would ultimately make it harder for people to recover.

Still others question if a change in the law that doesn’t create new programs or inject more money could accomplish much of anything.

The proposal would lower the threshold for a judge to order a person to receive assisted outpatient treatment, potentially including case management, medication, therapy, substance abuse treatment, vocational training and supervised housing.

For that to happen under the current law, a person must be a clear and present danger to themselves or others — on the verge of suicide, with a plan and the means to carry it out, for example. That is the same standard required to have a person committed to a mental hospital.

Because of that, comprehensive outpatient treatment is rarely used in Pennsylvania, said Aileen Kroll, the legislative and policy counsel for the Treatment Advocacy Center, a Virginia-based group that pushes to change mental health laws across the country.

Read more of the above article, and check out a related one, also in the YDR:

Backers of a proposal that would make it easier for a judge to order people living with severe mental illness to undergo outpatient treatment say an overhaul of Pennsylvania law would affect about 470 people a year.

That’s about seven people per county.

Steve Warren, the director of mental health services for York and Adams counties, estimates about 100 people in the two counties would qualify for involuntary assisted outpatient treatment if bills before the state House and Senate were passed as written.

That’s quite a difference.

And with some of the proposal’s critics worried that a new law could be used broadly to force many people into treatment, the discrepancy represents the potential for the system to take a step backward.

Bill backers base their estimate of 470 on the percentage of people that are treated annually in New York, which passed a similar law a decade ago.

But, said Marvin Swartz, a doctor at the Duke University School of Medicine who studied New York’s law, it’s very hard to compare states.

“It depends on the implementation of the law,” Swartz said.

About 80 percent of New Yorkers committed to involuntary treatment live in New York City or its immediate suburbs, Swartz found. Those communities really embraced the idea, while most of upstate New York did not.

Even still, advocate Jeannette Castello — who backs the bill — said estimates like Warren’s are based on the number of people who could qualify, not the number that actually will wind up in the program.

“That’s what they said in New York and it didn’t happen there,” said Castello, noting original New York estimates said 10,000 people would be ordered to receive treatment; actually about 800 people actually are.

Scream at the boss? Snap at a colleague? Throw your cell phone into your @#$%%&* computer monitor? If so, you may find yourself headed to anger-management classes, which have become an all-purpose antidote for fit-throwing celebrities, chair-throwing coaches, vandals, road ragers, delinquent teens, disruptive airline passengers, and obstreperous employees.

Demand for such programs is coming from courts seeking alternatives to jail sentences and companies hoping to avoid lawsuits and office blowups. Aware that high-pressure jobs can make for hot tempers, some professions offer pre-emptive anger management. A few state bar associations now require “civility” training for lawyers renewing their licenses. And as of last year, hospitals must have programs for “disruptive” physicians as a condition of accreditation.

Programs run the gamut from $300-an-hour private therapists to one-day intensive seminars, weekly group sessions or online courses with no human interaction. Many advertise that they satisfy court requirements—even if all they offer is six CDs and a certificate of completion.

It’s not clear if the programs work, as few studies have analyzed their effectiveness. There are no licensing requirements for anger-management trainers—anyone can open a business. And since participants don’t usually sign up voluntarily, trainers say it’s possible to complete a program without actually changing one’s behavior.

Find out more.

Those who provide and need mental health services now have some parity in the new year, yet loopholes remain in the coverage.

The Mental Health and Addictions Parity Act of 2008 went into effect Jan. 1, sponsored by the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, of Minnesota and former New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici.

It was signed into law by former President George W. Bush, as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

In essence, the act states that if a U.S. health insurance company provides coverage for mental health and substance abuse, then the coverage must be equal for psychological disorders, alcoholism and drug addiction. This also goes for those covered by self-insured plans.

“What it says is that if you are an employer who has more than 50 employees and you have a health insurance plan with a mental health and substance abuse benefit to it, you are required to provide mental health coverage at parity with other medical conditions,” said Dr. Frank Sergi, of IntroSpect of BuxMont in Colmar, a private mental health practice. “That means deductibles are the same, co-payments are the same and out-of-pockets are the same. Traditionally, those are higher for mental health.”

…

“Now parity says, if you can go out of the network for medical reasons and have 80 percent coverage, then you will be able to see someone for mental health care and have the same 80 percent coverage,” Sergi said. “It gives them more choices. The insurance company must provide parity and they can no longer discriminate.”

However, loopholes exist in the act.

First, realize it is about parity and not about having coverage.

“Employers decide if they want this or don’t want it; they don’t have to provide mental health coverage,” Sergi said. “If an employer opts in with health care benefits that include mental health, then they must provide parity.”

It’s a heavier burden on a small business versus a big business to provide insurance. And if they have fewer than 50 employees, they are exempt from the parity law.

Find out more.