Growing Old Together, in New Kind of Commune
– February 27, 2006
DAVIS, Calif., Feb. 23 – They are unlikely revolutionaries. Bearing walkers and canes, a veritable Merck Manual of ailments among them, the 12 old friends —average age 80 —looked as though they should have been sitting down to a game of Scrabble, not pioneering a new kind of commune.
Debate Rekindled on Preserving Families at Risk
– February 4, 2006
In the starkest terms, a child welfare worker who suspects a child is being neglected or abused by a parent has two choices, both fraught with risk.
Welfare Agencies Seek Foster Children’s Assets
– February 17, 2006
GREENSBORO, N.C. – In 2004, at the age of 14 and at his own desperate request, John G. became a ward of North Carolina.
Learning to Savor a Full Life, Love Life Included
– April 20, 2006
Mary Kate Graham’s boyfriend, Gary Ruvolo, is fond of recounting every detail of their first date 13 years ago and each candlelight anniversary dinner since. “God help me,” Ms. Graham said, rolling her eyes with affectionate indulgence.
A District Coming to Terms With the American Swirl
– April 12, 2006
GREENWICH, Conn. – VALENTINA PEREDA was sitting in the cafeteria of Greenwich High School here on the Friday morning of Feb. 3, counting down the last minutes of a study period she didn’t need, complaining to her friends from English class that she wished something exciting would happen. Just then, she caught sight of several security guards dashing past her chair. “Oh, my God,” she heard someone crying out. “Oh, my God.”
Families With Full Plates, Sitting Down to Dinner
– April 5, 2006
For Cathy and Bill Powell, finding a time when all three of their children are home for dinner can be like working a Rubik’s Cube. A recent Monday was typical: Valerie, 9, got home from dance class at 6:35. Brian, 10, had to leave for Boy Scouts at 6:50. That left 15 minutes to sit down for tacos.
California Ruling Expands Same-Sex Parental Rights
– August 23, 2005
The California Supreme Court ruled yesterday that both members of a lesbian couple who plan for and raise a child born to either of them should be considered the child’s mothers even after their relationship ends.
Care After Heart Attack Appears Less Than Equal
– March 21, 2006
Women, members of minorities and the very elderly are less likely to receive the most effective care, researchers determined after surveying almost 400,000 heart attack patients 65 and older.
Drug Plan’s Side Effect Is Severe
– April 8, 2006
YEADON, Pa. — As a result of the new Medicare drug program, thousands of people who take pills to fight cancer have suddenly found themselves with new bills to pay for their essential medicines. Frances Blue is one of them.
U.S. Focus on Abstinence Weakens AIDS Fight, Agency Finds
– April 5, 2006
Insistence by Republican Congressional leaders that American money to fight the spread of AIDS globally be used to emphasize abstinence and fidelity is undercutting comprehensive and widely accepted aid models, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released Tuesday.
Teaching the Homeless, and Fighting a Trend
– June 8, 2005
PHOENIX – Just after lunch at Pappas Regional Elementary School, where all 598 students come from homeless families, a small boy reported to Erin Angelini, the social worker, that he had no idea where to go after school. The night before, he and his mother were evicted from the motel where they had been living.
For Minorities, Signs of Trouble In Foreclosures
February 22, 2006
CLEVELAND – Catrina V. Roberts, a single mother of four, joined a new, growing class of minority homeowners when she moved from her subsidized apartment to a two-story house in 1999.
U.S. Should Close Prison in Cuba, U.N. Panel Says
– May 20, 2006
UNITED NATIONS, May 19 — An important United Nations panel roundly criticized the United States on Friday for its treatment of terrorism suspects, and called for shutting down the detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
Immigrants Take to U.S. Streets in Show of Strength
May 2, 2006
LOS ANGELES, May 1 – Hundreds of thousands of immigrants and their supporters skipped work, school and shopping on Monday and marched in dozens of cities from coast to coast.
Bush Turns to Big Military Contractors for Border Control
– May 18, 2006
Correction Appended WASHINGTON, May 17 — The quick fix may involve sending in the National Guard. But to really patch up the broken border, President Bush is preparing to turn to a familiar administration partner: the nation’s giant military contractors.
Killings Loom Over Debate on Treating Mentally Ill
– February 8, 2006
SANTA FE, N.M., Feb. 7 — Against the vivid backdrop of recent killings by mentally ill people, both sides in the national debate over whether mentally ill people who have not committed a crime can be forced into treatment are preparing for a showdown in the Legislature here.
Medicare Woes Take High Toll on Mentally Ill
– January 21, 2006
HILLIARD, Fla., Jan. 16 – On the seventh day of the new Medicare drug benefit, Stephen Starnes began hearing voices again, ominous voices, and he started to beg for the medications he had been taking for 10 years. But his pharmacy could not get approval from his Medicare drug plan, so Mr. Starnes was admitted to a hospital here for treatment of paranoid schizophrenia.
Plight Deepens For Black Men, Studies Warn
– March 20, 2006
BALTIMORE – Black men in the United States face a far more dire situation than is portrayed by common employment and education statistics, a flurry of new scholarly studies warn, and it has worsened in recent years even as an economic boom and a welfare overhaul have brought gains to black women and other groups.
For the Neediest of the Needy, Welfare Reforms Still Fall Short, Study Says
– May 17, 2006
Correction Appended Several years into Wisconsin’s stringent welfare-to-work program, which helped reduce welfare rolls in the state by 80 percent, the remaining welfare recipients fared poorly, seldom finding steady jobs or stable lives, according to a new study that spotlights the severe personal problems afflicting the poorest families.
Sales Estimates Paint Portraits of Alcohol Abusers
– May 2, 2006
Underage and problem drinkers may account for more than a third of money spent on alcohol products, researchers said yesterday.
With Scenes of Blood and Pain, Ads Battle Methamphetamine in Montana
– February 26, 2006
KALISPELL, Mont., Feb. 18 — The camera follows the teenager as she showers for her night out and looks down to discover the drain swirling with blood. She turns and sees her methamphetamine-addicted self cowering below, oozing from scabs she has picked all over her body because the drug made her think there were bugs crawling beneath her skin, and she lets out a scream worthy of “Psycho.”
More and More, Favored Psychotherapy Lets Bygones Be Bygones
February 14, 2006
Correction Appended For most of the 20th century, therapists in America agreed on a single truth. To cure patients, it was necessary to explore and talk through the origins of their problems. In other words, they had to come to terms with the past to move forward in the present. Thousands of hours and countless dollars were spent in this pursuit.
Revisiting Schizophrenia: Are Drugs Always Needed?
– March 21, 2006
The only responsible way to manage schizophrenia, most psychiatrists have long insisted, is to treat its symptoms when they first surface with antipsychotic drugs, which help dissolve hallucinations and quiet imaginary voices.
Psychotherapy on the Road to … Where?
– December 27, 2005
ANAHEIM, Calif. – The small car careered toward a pile of barrels labeled “Danger TNT,” then turned sharply, ramming through a mock brick wall and into a dark tunnel. A light appeared ahead, coming fast and head-on. A locomotive whistled.
Talk Therapy Succeeds in Reducing Suicide Risk
– August 9, 2005
After a year of debate over whether antidepressant drugs increase the risk of suicide, a new study finds that a standard brand of talk therapy may offer the best chance to save those at the highest risk of taking their own lives.
Workouts Are Potent Medicine for the Mentally Ill
– December 8, 2005
MATTHEW HASS is not sure what caused him to blow up to 300 pounds: his sedentary lifestyle, a diet devoid of fruits or vegetables or the medications he took for bipolar disorder. Not that the cause mattered. Mr. Hass knew he was at a crossroads: at 27 he said he felt like a “heart attack waiting to happen,” so he decided to give exercise a chance. “I was ready to try something else that would help my moods,” he said, “and maybe help me lose some weight too.”
A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Measure
– February 26, 2006
LONDON – Psychotherapy is having yet another identity crisis. It has manifested itself in two recent trends in the profession in America: the first involves trying to make therapy into more of a “hard science” by putting a new emphasis on measurable factors; the other is a growing belief among therapists that the standard practice of using talk therapy to discover traumas in a patient’s past is not only unnecessary but can be injurious.
Goodbye, Therapist. Hello, Anxiety?
– September 1, 2005
WHEN it came time to schedule a new round of appointments with his therapist of six months, Tom Dietzler took out his pocket calendar, affected the harried expression of a man whose life was terribly overbooked, and began chattering about obligations that he knew didn’t exist.
For Therapy, a New Guide With a Touch of Personality
– January 24, 2006
The encyclopedia of mental disorders known as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual is built on a principle that many therapists find simplistic: that people’s symptoms are the most reliable way to classify their mental troubles.
Major Strides in Fending Off Depression Among the Elderly
– March 21, 2006
Many elderly people are already distressed by the increasing numbers of drugs they are taking, including painkillers and heart medication. Now, those who are also battling depression may be wondering where it all will end.
