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News & Views - Jun, 2000 Issue #70
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BI-POLAR RESPONDS TO ROUTINE
(April 8, 2000) Science News, Vol. #157, reported “Bipolar disorder’s extreme mood swings respond to psychological
and social factors, not just biological directives.” Research conducted by Reilly-Harrington, a psychologist at Harvard Medical School,
Boston, showed that bipolar patients tended to become manic within about 2 months of having their daily routines rearranged, even
temporarily. Other research was also referenced that showed that a steady pulse of daily activities and sleep can tame manic depression,
and that bipolar extremes can be dampened by stabilizing social routines. In other words, solid structure, including regular and adequate
sleep, can be a positive influence that lessens the disruptive effects of bipolar disorder.
SCHOOLS CAN BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR SUICIDE
(April 18, 2000) Writer Jessica Portner, in her article in Education
Week, entitled “Suicide: Many Schools Fall Short on Prevention,” pointed out that most schools in the US are ill-prepared to deal
with the possibility of suicide, although Court decisions have made it clear the schools can be held responsible for failing to provide
a safe environment. She pointed out that youth suicides have tripled in the past 30 years “reaching an all-time high of 2,700 fatalities
in 1997.” Also, “Suicide is the third-leading killer of 10 to 19 year-olds in the United States, yet only one in 10 schools has a
plan to prevent it.”
DEMOGRAPHIC CHALLENGES AHEAD
(April 18, 2000) Catherine Gewertz, in her article in Education Week, “Demographic Challenges Ahead for Schools, Study
Warns,” points out that in addition to an increasing percentage of the population being older, “in the next decade, the population
of children from birth to age 5 will shrink and the greatest gains – 12 percent to 15 percent – will be among those in the middle
and high school age group.”
PEDIATRICIAN GUIDELINES FOR ADHD
(May 2, 2000) According to an Associated Press story, The American Academy of Pediatrics issued its first guidelines
for diagnosing ADHD. The Academy said it is unclear if the disorder is being over-diagnosed or not “because there are such wide variations
nationwide in how doctors define and treat it.” These guidelines are an attempt to standardize the diagnosis of ADHD, and include
suggestions that before the diagnosis should be considered, the behavior should be present in at least two settings, such as school
and home, and the symptoms shown to be harming “the child’s academic or social functioning for at least six months.”
HOSTILITY & HEART DISEASE LINKED
(May 16, 2000) CNN
reported a release to the Journal of the American Medical Association, that “Young women and men who rate high in aggression,
anger and other forms of hostility are more likely to develop hardening of heart arteries at an early age…The study included 374 women
and men who were 18 to 30 years old at the beginning of the program in 1985…The researchers found that those subjects who had hostility
scores above the median had about 2.5 times the risk of having any coronary artery calcification than those with scores below the
median.”
RECORD LEVELS OF PRIVATE SCHOOL SUPPORT
(May 17, 2000) According to the Council For Aid To Education, 295 private schools reported receiving philanthropic
donations that totaled almost one billion dollars in 1999. With almost 29,000 private K-12 schools in the US, the total gifts to private
schools could be much, much higher. The report also found the average endowment for the reporting schools was $48,268 per student.
The article about the report can be found at About.com
online.
THREE JAILED IN CHILD’S THERAPY DEATH
(May 19, 2000) The Denver Post, reported three staff members from Connell Watkins and Associates, in Evergreen, Colorado,
are charged “and a fourth is wanted in the death of a 10-year old girl undergoing an unconventional “rebirthing” therapy session.”
The girl died “after being wrapped in a flannel blanket and piled with pillows to simulate her mother’s womb. The alternative treatment,
which was done at an Evergreen home office… was to help [the girl] … bond with her adoptive mother.”
AZ-TEC SCHOOL FOR JUVENILE DETENTION
(May 22, 2000) The Az-Tec High School opened in the fall of 1995 for students involved with the Yuma County Juvenile
Court. A Charter School at the Juvenile Detention Center in Yuma County, Arizona, it opened in 1995 to expand educational possibilities
for young people involved in the detention system, and as a condition of probation. It has a self-paced curriculum, vocational opportunities,
a low student-teacher ratio so each student receives lots of individual attention. Juvenile Court Director Tim Hardy believes for
these students, “this is their last opportunity to succeed in education.”
EATING DISORDERS MIGHT HAVE GENETIC ROOTS
(May 26, 2000) AP writer Matt Crenson reported on evidence presented by Cynthia Bulik at the Ninth International Conference
on Eating Disorders that suggested “Genes play a substantial role in the transmission of both bulimia and anorexia nervosa.” She based
her report on research from interviews with 2,000 twins that showed strong evidence for a genetic cause. “Bulik found that bulimia
is 83 percent genetically influenced. She later found that anorexia nervosa is 58 percent genetic.” Environment provides the remaining
influence in an interworking that is not yet understood.
Copyright © 2000, Woodbury Reports, Inc. (This article may be reproduced
without prior approval if the copyright notice and proper publication and author attribution accompanies the copy.)
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