Friday, May 4, 2007

Mental health worsens as deployments lengthen

The Mental Health Advisory Team (MHAT) IV Operation Iraqi Freedom Final Report, (2.3 MB pdf) dated November 17, 2006(!) surfaced today.

READ MORE @ CNN

Several findings, including one-third of troops report mental conditions, including acute stress, but clearly the report evaded stating clearly the effect of war and suffering on soldiers.

Who is the biggest purchaser of psychiatric medication in the world? That's right - the US Government. (General Motors is the largest buyer of Viagra and Lipitor.)

READ MORE @ transcript of the DoD press conference

READ MORE @ Army Times

The Doctor-Patient Relationship in Pharmacotherapy

The Doctor-Patient Relationship in Pharmacotherapy
Improving Treatment Effectiveness

By Allan Tasman, Michelle B. Riba, and Kenneth R. Silk
182 Pages - May 2000

"It's the relationship that matters! That message encapsulates this volume's critically important lesson for psychiatrists. Even when medications are the primary modality of treatment and sessions are brief, the psychiatrist patient relationship is the hinge on which the efficacy of treatment depends. Attention paid to our patients as unique individuals rewards them as well as ourselves."

-Paul S. Appelbaum, MD, University of Massachusetts Medical School

Buy it cheap @ $7.50 from Guilford Press