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The Christmas
suicide myth may be dying,
if you can trust a media survey conducted by the Annenberg Public
Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. It’s a persistent
but mistaken belief that the holiday blues drive people to suicide in
greater numbers at Christmas and New Year’s than any other time of
the year. Annenberg found that in the winter of 1999 to 2000, 77% of
newspaper articles discussing the issue supported this myth, with
about 23% questioning or debunking it. But in 2005-2006, it was closer
to 50-50. Last year, only 9% of stories perpetuated the myth, while
91% debunked it.1011
People
seek out therapy in greater numbers in January.
Unfortunately, that’s based on anecdotal evidence only--but PsyFin
readers report consistently better results to their marketing efforts
after the holidays--especially marketing with a "New Year’s
resolution" tie in. Those include but are not limited to smoking
cessation and weight loss
programs.
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Boston hospitals
reports the highest incidence of drug-related ER visits in the
country. A survey of metropolitan areas across the country reported by
the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
indicates that Boston ERs had 571 drug-related visits per 100,000 of
population in the last year, followed by: 2) New York, 555 per
100,000; 3) Chicago, 507; and 4) Detroit, 462. The national average is
317 per 100,000. Focusing specifically on heroin-related ER visits,
Boston is still tops with 251 per 100,000, followed by 2) Chicago,
216; 3) New York, 153; 4) Detroit, 150; and 5) Seattle, 100 per
100,000 of population. The national average for heroin-related ER
visits is 69 per
100,000.
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What’s "drunkorexia?"
That’s when you skip meals to save calories and "spend"
them on alcohol instead. A study conducted by faculty at the
University of Missouri (UM) department of social work and public
health found that 16% of students on the UM campus are doing this--and
three out of four of them are female. Losing weight, saving money, and
getting drunk appear to be co-equal goals of student drunkorexics. For
more, see tinyurl.com/pf0911e.
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How do you
cultivate good relationships with physicians?
Two good ways, suggests Neal Morris, are to: A) talk like they
talk; and B) feed them. A Maryland clinician who consults with
physician groups about sleep problems, Morris tell us that when he’s
around MDs, he refers to his own workplace as a "clinic"
rather than an office. As far as the feeding goes: "I bring them
stuff. I bake a lot, and they always know who made it." Morris
discusses his sleep disorder specialty in our "Special
Report" on last summer’s APA convention beginning on page
4.
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An old/new
addiction: A few
years ago, we spoke to some therapists who treated compulsive
daytraders--people who invest in the stock market from home. These
clients sometimes displayed symptoms similar to compulsive gamblers
and video game addicts. Now the wireless revolution may be bringing
this niche to the fore again. An article in The Wall Street Journal
focused on a "new class of stock obsessives" who track every
rise and dip of their investments via handheld devices. Online brokers
like TD Ameritrade and E*Trade report that clients are logging into
their accounts more frequently, with a particular surge in mobile
access via smart phones and iPads. (The Journal website
requires paid registration to view its articles, but this story can be
viewed for free here: tinyurl.com/pf0911g.)
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Drunk drivers
beget drunk drivers,
according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA). Overall, about 11.5% of 16- and 17-year-olds
admit driving under the influence during the previous 12 months. But
the figure surges to 21.4% among teens who live with a father who
drove under the influence. It’s just 8.4% for kids who live with a
father who hasn’t driven drunk. For more, see tinyurl.com/pf0911h.
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