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Tri-City Medical Center to reconsider decision to close psychiatric ward

By drwong
August 20, 2018

The San Diego Union-Tribune By Paul Sisson August 17, 2018             With just days to go before it was to shutter its psychiatric ward, Tri-City Medical Center announced Friday afternoon that its board of directors will hear public testimony and take a fresh vote on the matter next week. The Oceanside...   read more


Tri-City Medical Center closes crisis-Stabilization unit

By drwong
August 15, 2018

The San Diego Union-Tribune By Paul Sisson August 8, 2018           Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside has closed its 12-person crisis-stabilization unit, a move that precedes plans to shut down the hospital’s 18-bed behavioral health unit later this month. In a short statement made Wednesday afternoon, Tri-City management confirmed that it closed...   read more


Task Force on Gene Testing for Antidepressant Efficacy Concludes Tests Not Yet Ready for Widespread Use

By drwong
August 15, 2018

Psychiatric News By Mark Moran July 19, 2018   One problem is lack of transparency regarding algorithms used by commercial entities to determine treatment recommendations on the basis of testing of genetic variations. Individualized medicine employing pharmacogenomics to guide psychiatric treatment is the future, experts agree. But the future is not here yet. That’s the...   read more


The Great God of Depression

By drwong
August 8, 2018

How mental illness stopped being “A terrible dark secret.” The New York Times By Pagan Kennedy Aug 3, 2018                 Nearly 30 years ago, the author William Styron outed himself in these pages as mentally ill. “My days were pervaded by a gray drizzle of unrelenting horror,” he wrote...   read more


When Medicines Affect a Child's Mind and Behavior

By drwong
August 8, 2018

The New York Times By Perri Klass, M.D. July 30, 2018             Whenever I write about children getting medications for anxiety, for depression, or especially for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, a certain number of readers respond with anger and suspicion, accusing me of being part of a conspiracy to medicate...   read more


APA Joins in Urging House, Senate to Investigate Treatment of Immigrant Children

By drwong
August 8, 2018

American Psychiatric Association Tuesday, July 24, 2018             APA and 13 other medical organizations today called on members of the House and Senate oversight committees to hold hearings as soon as possible with officials of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regarding...   read more


How to Have a Better Conversation About Mental Illness

By drwong
July 13, 2018

The New York Times By Lisa Pryor July 11, 2018             SYDNEY, Australia — As public conversation about mental health has grown louder and busier in recent years, mental illness has become more than a category of disease with social and psychological dimensions. Especially in the case of depression and...   read more


Preventing Suicide Among College Students

By drwong
July 6, 2018

The New York Times By Jane E. Brody July 2, 2018             This column is a plea to all current and future college students and their families to deal openly and constructively with emotional, social and academic turmoil that can sometimes have heartbreaking — and usually preventable — consequences. Suicide...   read more


Back from the brink of suicide, they want to save others

By drwong
June 25, 2018

CNN By Wayne Drash and Jacqueline Howard, CNN Video by Tawanda Scott Sambou and Tiara Chiaramonte, CNN June 15, 2018   (CNN) Their minds can drift to that dark place, but they hide it well. Walking among us, they laugh when really they want to cry. They sometimes feel as if they have nothing to...   read more


Sex and Drugs Decline Among Teens, but Depression and Suicidal Thoughts Grow

By drwong
June 18, 2018

The New York Times By Jan Hoffman June 14, 2018             One in seven high school students reported misusing prescription opioids, one of several disturbing results in a nationwide survey of teenagers that revealed a growing sense of fear and despair among youth in the United States. The numbers of teenagers...   read more