BioPsy Webzine Vol 3, Number 4, July 1998

Copyright 1998 Futurehealth Inc.      Best viewed maximized.

If you don't want to receive further issues of this cyberzine/journal, reply with >>cancel BioPsy<< in the subject head.

 

This edition is easiest to read in HTML format, as sent, or at our website, at http://www/futurehealth.org/biopsy_webzine_vol_3n4.htm

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS (click on items. They're fast link  book marks on this page)

editors brief note

front of webzine matters 

1) Get yourself PR; Following up on the parade magazine article with local and national PR.

2) the new and vastly improved Futurehealth Website http://www.futurehealth.org

3) bridges between science and religion--

4) The Center for Frontier Sciences

5) Lithium does it's job by stabilizing glutamate. Link to Brain training?

6) The Flownet website and a Quotation on Happiness from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

7) More quotations.

8) Workshops:

           Joel & Judith Lubar EEG Biofeedback Introductory Course

          Barry Sterman: Tools for Explanation The Topometric QEEG Evaluation For EEG Biofeedback

9) Yonkers School EEG biofeedback project update.

10) Why don’t doctors suggest EEG biofeedback?

11) European Biofeedback Meeting/ New Organization

12) Federal Govt Issues Second Annual Report on the Well-being Of the Nation's Children

13)  BioPsy Webzine Advertising guidelines.

14) Antidepressant Medications:Miracle Drugs or Placebos with a Buzz?

he authors of a meta-analysis of 19 drug studies involving 2,318 patients conclude that three-quarters of the beneficial effect of anti-depressant edications, can be ascribed to the placebo effect - the patient's belief and expectation that the pill they are taking will make them better.

15) 19th Century thoughts on the Mind/Body/Heart/Spirit Connection; The Body Electric

Walt Whitman was quite a heartful visionary!

 

Freelance articles, essays,  letters, editorials, reprints wanted

------------------------------------------------------

BioPsy Editor Publisher Rob Kall

211 N. Sycamore, Newtown, PA 18940, 215-504-1700 fax 215-860-5374

BioPsy@futurehealth.org 

 

past issues of BioPsy can be seen at http://www.futurehealth.org/biopsycy.htm

 

Advertise Here: announce your workshop, sell your company's equipment, tapes, announce your website, find an employee,  Promote your Institution etc. $100 for this position. Lock in an annual rate.

 

 

New: BioPsy Advertising . 

Reach over 3000 people interested in biofeedback and mind/body/heart/spirit topics.

1) Publicity for your work

A) Following up on the parade magazine article with local and national PR.

B) building a PR network

C) new story ideas

Since our work is not funded by pharmaceutical companies or the like, we need to get the word out (and pictures and sounds) about our work. That means we need to make time and devote nergy to PR and marketing. Often PR efforts can produce far more responses than paid-for advertising. Here are a few items covering these important areas.

A) Following up on the parade magazine article with local and national PR.

The Parade magazine article on EEG biofeedback for ADD does something special for all of you in the field of biofeedback, even if you don’t use EEG. Since Parade is one of the biggest circulation magazines in the world, it virtually certifies to the rest of the media that the story is newsworthy.

You can take advantage of this situation for yourself and the field by taking local action to get yourself PR. Get a copy of the Parade article, and the Psychology Today article, while you are at it. Put together a simple press kit. Include a cover letter which follows the form below. Send the package to each daily and weekly newspaper, mothly magazine, each TV and radio station, serving the areas your clients come from. If you know any feature writers, editors, producers, reporters or interviewers who specialize in lifestyles, health, education, etc., then send the same kit to them too, even if it means sending the same kit to four or five people at the same organization.

If you are in a town with national media, contact them too.

Understand that the first few minutes your are on the phone with the electronic media you are being auditioned. That’s when they determine if you are a good, clear, alive speaker.

THE LETTER

Dear Editor (Producer, etc.)

The June 28th issue of Parade Magazine told 18 million+ readers a story about how EEG biofeedback is helping kids diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) at a Yonkers inner city school to succeed. Similar stories have recently appeared on National Public Radio and in Psychology Today. Those stories stories have tweaked your viewers’/ readers’ interest.

Now, you can follow them up with the local story of how we here at (fill in the blank) are helping children and adults with this exciting new approach (or if you don’t use EEG, discuss the work you do with the populations you help).

EEG biofeedback is a new approach to some old, tough problems. And it works remarkably well, sometimes two to three times better than the conventional approaches (such as the 12 steps program for alcoholism.) EEG biofeedback, while still in its early stage of development, and experimental for some applications, is being successfully used for ADD/ADHD, closed head injury substance abuse and alcoholism, anxiety, depression, optimal functioning and peak performance training (to enhance alertness, attention, clarity of thinking, creativity,) and in the newwest areas, PMS, pain, alzheimers, AIDS, multiple personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (at VA hospitals,) stroke rehabilitation and more.

EEG biofeedback for ADD has children play computer games which are controlled by their brainwave activity. To win they have to produce brainwaves which are more attentive and less distractable. This technology is great for photos or video coverage. (The systems make sounds too, which work well as a background for radio.)

Briefly list your credentials.

We’d be happy to come to you or have you come visit us to do a story or interview on our work.

###end###

Tailor this letter to the different media.

---- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

B) building a Grass Roots Advocacy/ PR network Your help needed.

There are so little resources for advocating for biofeedback.mind/ body/heart/spirit, self awareness, self regulation, consciousness, Positive Sciences, Applied Psychophysiology interests. Such advocacy interests include not only PR, but also insurance, legislation, professional relations and liaisons, and membership (for AAPB, SSNR, etc..)

As PR chair for AAPB, It has been frustrating to work with zero funds, but the organization is volunteer based, operating virtually in the red for the last few years. The only way I can see progress being made is with grassroots efforts by people who care about these efforts. And, as an invited participant in the international biofeedback section, I have learned that outside the US, the need for advocacy is at least as great, if not greater, since biofeeback is a newcomer to many countries, with much less positive visibility.

Most state or regional societies do not have a specific committee for PR or insurance, legislation, etc. It would be much easier to be able to send announcements to one or two local PR coordinators in each state or major metropolitan or population area. I would like to invite regional groups-- either state societies or discussion groups (like the eeg biofeedback discussion groups in the Bay area and Seattle) to identify a contact person, with e-mail, who I can contact to coordinate efforts. I am making this proposal as an AAPB committee chair working as a volunteer but also as a person who is interested in forwarding the field. So, it is not essential if you are not a member of AAPB (though preferable and recommended, since AAPB is the strongest advocacy organization specifically for biofeedback.)

The goal is to have a small group I can send e-mails to who will then send out annoncements on actions we need to take or opportunities for PR, legislative initiatives, etc. Those same people can also keep their ears to the ground to learn about new developments which should be fed forward to the central level to be shared by all.

If this works, we will be able to more effectively and efficiently advocate for our interests, spreading info to people on and off the internet.

C) new story ideas

If you are doing something newsworthy with biofeedback. Contact me and we can discuss ways to get you some PR, or other forms of advocacy and support for your work.

Rob Kall smile@cis.compuserve.com 211 N. Sycamore, Newtown, PA 18940, 215-504-1700 fax 215-860-5374

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2) the new and vastly improved Futurehealth Website http://www.futurehealth.org

The original website was loaded with information, quotes, product descriptions, hundreds of meeting abstracts, articles on biofeedback, questionaires and info on Positivity, surface EMG, etc.

The new website with over 125 web page files, using over 600 sheets of paper if all printed out, has much more-- a most important, the new website is far better formatted and organized, so it is much easier to read, navigate and access.

Some new features include:

Coming soon: Biofeedback Providers links/list. If you are a current Futurehealth client

    (contact us for criteria) or meeting/workshop attendee, you are eligible for a free basic listing. 

Biopsy Webzine July 1998 issue (pre-e-mailing release)  Html/web-graphics optimized like never before.

New links throughout the website

Boosting Biofeedback How to move Biofeedback Towards Greater Acceptance

Biofeedback Overview Page

Rob Kall's Curriculum Vitae

Personal Coaching for Optimal Functioning

Page for Readers of the Parade Magazine Article on EEG Biofeedback

Addition of a new, easier to use website navigation bar to most of the web pages (eventually added to all of them.)

-abstracts from the 1998 Winter Brain Conference

-Neurofeedback Central

-ADD Central

-Relaxation & Stress Management FAQ

-many more weblinks

-abstracts from the 1998 Optimal Functioning meeting

-articles on optimal functioning

3) Science & religion discussion

Today's Science times devotes a page to the recent attempts to build bridges between science and religion-- primarily supported by millions in grants from the Templeton Foundation.

Any thoughts about where solid bricks for this bridge between science and spirituality have been found/created? We'll put your replies in the next issue of the webzine.

4) The Center for Frontier Sciences at Temple University http://www.temple.edu/CFS

V2058A@VM.Temple.edu   Nancy Kolenda, Director

This is a cutting edge organization situated at a major University. Some interesing info at their website and an excellent journal.

5) Lithium and Glutamate Here's a recent release on Lithium, which reports that it does it's job by stabilizing glutamate. I'd be interested in eharing comments on how this ties into the anecdotal successes reported using neurofeedback with Bi-polar disorder. I think it builds a nice bridge, again showing how self regulation can produce the same re-balancing efects as pharmaceutical intervention.

Keywords: LITHIUM BIPOLAR NEUROTRANSMITTER PSYCHIATRY DEPRESSION MANIA GLUTAMATE WISCONSIN

Description: University of Wisconsin Medical School researchers have solved the puzzle of how lithium can effectively stabilize both the wild euphoria and the crushing melancholy that are the hallmark of bipolar disorder. They found that in mice brains, lithium causes the neurotransmitter glutamate to level off in a stable zone where it can control both extremes.

RESEARCH EXPLAINS LITHIUM'S DUAL ANTI-MANIC/ANTI-DEPRESSIVE EFFECT Findings Help Clarify Years of Clinical Success

MADISON, Wis. -- Researchers at the University of Wisconsin Medical School have solved the puzzle of how one drug--lithium--can effectively stabilize both the wild euphoria and the crushing melancholy that are the hallmark of manic depression, or bipolar disorder.

As reported in the current (July 7) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers found that in mice brains, lithium exerts a push/pull effect on the neurotransmitter glutamate, eventually causing it to level off in a stable zone where it can control both extremes.

"Glutamate is the primary excitatory neurotransmitter, carrying messages instantaneously from one nerve cell to another in 85 percent of the brain," said UW Medical School professor of pharmacology Dr. Lowell Hokin, who directed the research. Other neurotransmitters include serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine and acetylcholine.

Under normal circumstances, an impulse from a nerve cell releases a flood of message-bearing glutamate aimed at a neighboring neuron across the synapse. A structure on the end of the releasing nerve cell, called a reuptake transporter, then shuts off the signal by reabsorbing the glutamate, pumping it back into the cell for reuse.

If the reuptake mechanism malfunctions, inappropriate concentrations of neurotransmitter remain in the synapse. Hokin postulates abnormally low glutamate levels are involved in depression, while elevated levels are responsible for mania.

Nearly a half century ago, Australian psychiatrist John F. Cade discovered lithium's mood-stabilizing effect. It has long been the drug of choice in treating bipolar disorder, which affects approximately 2.5 million Americans. Despite some side effects, lithium usually successfully dampens the mood swings that in the most severe cases end in suicide, the dire result for one in five untreated or unresponsive bipolar patients.

In an earlier study (reported in PNAS, Aug. 30, 1994), Hokin and his colleague showed that lithium causes glutamate to accumulate in synapses of mice and monkey brain slices, but exactly how it worked remained unclear until now.

In the current study, functioning slices of mice brain were examined following exposure to lithium, while control slices were not exposed to the drug. The researchers observed that lithium raised the glutamate level by slowing its reuptake. The higher the lithium dose, the greater the inhibition, they found.

To study the chronic effect of the lithium, the UW team administered it to live mice for two weeks. To their surprise, they saw that glutamate reuptake increased. This "up-regulation" resulted in less neurotransmitter in the synapse, which would produce an anti-manic effect.

"We were especially interested to find that the reuptake mechanism in the 18 lithium-treated mice was stabilized in a very narrow range, compared to the 18 controls," he said.

Hokin speculates a compensatory mechanism in the reuptake system strives over time to reset raised glutamate levels down into a fixed range. When the levels are too low, as postulated in depression, lithium brings them up into the stable region.

The research findings support clinical observations, he noted.

"It takes a few weeks before lithium begins to relieve depression and mania in bipolar patients," he said. "It's now apparent an adaptive reuptake mechanism that brings glutamate within a 'normal' range works over time to curb both the highs and lows."

What's more, he added, lithium doesn't change the moods of people who aren't bipolar, suggesting that their glutamate levels may be positioned consistently within the set zone, and therefore would not be affected by the drug.

-30-

6) Flownet website and a Quotation on Happiness from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

from Flownet website http://www.flownetwork.com/welcome.htm

This is an exciting website, loaded with information about Flow. And if you don’t know about Flow, and you are interested in the topics of this newsletter, stop reading and go to the website. Flow is a very important concept you ought to know about, for yourself and, if you are a professional, for your work..

."There is no simple formula for happiness. But I can say this: If you want to build more satisfaction into every moment of your life, it is possible to do so. In time and with practice, your life can resemble a complex tapestry where each thread contributes to a masterpiece that brings delight to yourself, and adds greater meaning and beauty to the world."  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (MC)

MC has found that there are eight essential components which make up an enjoyable flow experience. The components are: 1) A Clear Goal, 2) Feedback, 3) Challenges Match Skills, 4) Concentration and Focus, 5) Control, 6) Loss of Self Consciousness, 7) Transformation of Time and 8) Activity becomes Autotelic. As you increase these eight different key factors, you find more flow in your everyday life.

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7) More quotations.

"Intuition and intellect represent two opposite directions of consciousness: intuition goes in the very direction of life, intellect goes in the inverse direction, and thus finds itself naturally in accordance with the movement of matter."

Henri Bergson

 

"Perfectionism doesn't make you perfect. It only makes you feel inadequate."

Maria Shriver, June, 1998 commencement address to Holy Family College

 

"One person with a belief is equal to a force of ninety-nine with only interests."

- John Stuart Mill

8) Workshops: Barry Sterman: Tools for Explanation The Topometric QEEG Evaluation For Neurofeedback

This course is for users of all kinds of Brainmapper, but it demonstrates the Mindset, a new, $2495 Brain Mapper, and will also be of great use to NRS-24 and other brand brain mapper owners.

 

Presented by M. Barry Sterman, Ph.D.Professor, School of Medicine, UCLA

Sponsored by Futurehealth Inc.

 

COURSE OBJECTIVES

 The impact of these diurnal differences on QEEG evaluation is shown for one client in figure 2. In this case significant deviations from the database are shown for the clinically meaningful 5-7 Hz band both before and after correction for the time-of-day the recording was obtained. Note the very relevant differences in these data that the time correction reveals. Implications for interpretational accuracy are substantial.

COURSE OUTLINE

I. A Brief History of the EEG and Neurofeedback

 

II. Physiological Origins of the EEG

A. Where Does the EEG Signal Come From?

1. Ionic current flow in neurons

2. EPSPs and IPSPs

B. Field Potential Changes at the Cortical Surface

1. Cortical pyramidal cells: structure, orientation, input

2. Cell orientation, dipoles and surface field potentials

C. Thalamic Oscillatory Mechanisms

1. Organization of thalamic relay systems

2. Relay cell behavior

3. Inhibitory burst discharge

4. The Nucleus Reticularis Thalami

5. Projections to cortex and cortical circuits

D. The "athalamic cat", isolated cortex, and slow EEG activity

E. Normal frequency modulation

1. Relationship of thalamic cell membrane voltage to frequency patterns

2. The Graded Polarization model

3. The Independent Generator model

F. Abnormal frequency modulation

1. Cortical hyperexcitability

2. GABA receptor types and characteristics

3. Video presentation

G. Problems with Terminology

III. The Normal EEG

A. Before QEEG: Basics from higher mammals

1. SMR

2. PRS

3. State progression

B. The Human EEG

1. Changes over Time

a. Developmental considerations

b. Sleep and waking

c. Biological cycles diurnal modulation

2. Functional correlates of frequency components

a. The dimension and elements of attention

b. Movement and motor states

 

 

IV. Methods and Issues in Quantitative EEG Analysis

A. Recording methods

1. Common-mode rejection

2. The issue of reference

3. Monopolar vs. Bipolar

B. Signal acquisition

1. Montages

2. Digitizing

3. Artifact

4. Signal extraction

C. Signal analysis

1. FFT and band-pass

2. Sampling rate

3. Windowing

4. Band construction

5. Averaged epochs

V. Collecting the Data

A. Patient records and intake interview

B. Patient preparation

C. Data protocols

D. Observing the patient

E. Educating the patient

 

 VI. Analysis of the Data

A. Visual Evaluation of the Raw Data

1. Artifact removal

2. Recognizing significant transients

3. Deriving initial functional correlates

B. Topographic Evaluation and Bands Selection

1. Topographic maps

2. Compressed spectral arrays

3. About normative databases

 VII. The SKIL Topometric

1. The Normative Database

a. Displays and statistical evaluation

b. State and transition corrections

c. Reliability

d. State comparisons

e. Coherence and covariance

2. Topometric Analysis: Some Clinical Characteristics

a. Seizure disorders

b. Attention deficit and related disorders

c. Head injury

d. Tourett Syndrome

e. Anxiety and Depression

f. Others

3. How to use the SKIL Topometric

a. Pt. Reports: The interactive index for report construction

b. Use of the database.

c. Interpretation and application to neurofeedback

VIII. Future Developments

A. The Event-related EEG Response: applications to evaluation and training

 

e-mail for more info or to register

 

Registration fee:

$700 on-site, $600 until June 15, $625 until July 15, $650 until August 15 $675 until September 5.

 

Or, Register and buy a Mindset EEG

$2999 on site. $2850 until June 15, $2895 until July 15, $2945 until August 15 $2970 until September 5. add shipping and handling.

 

__Add the SKIL Sterman Topometric Database for the introductory price of $1500

Payment based on cash/check/ wire transfer . Add 3% surcharge if other payment method is used. No need to overnight mail. But clear postmark date must be legible.

 

Course content is based on Dr. Sterman’s 35+ years of research and clinical experience with the mammalian EEG. Starting with studies of sleep and waking states in cats and monkeys, he was the first to describe the SMR, show that it could be brought under experimental control through EEG operant conditioning, and evaluate the functional significance of it and other cortical EEG rhythms using this method together with sophisticated neurophysiological and behavioral techniques. He discovered a protective effect against seizures with SMR operant conditioning in animals and extended this finding into a treatment of seizure disorders in humans. During the last decade he has used contemporary computer-based EEG analysis methods to study the functional components of cognitive performance in normal subjects.

Futurehealth Inc.  211 N. Sycamore, Newtown, PA 18940, 215-504-1700 fax 215-860-5374  www.futurehealth.org 

9) Yonkers School EEG biofeedback project update.

I spent the last few days with the people involved with the Yonkers project, attending a board meeting and a pool party the next day.  It was an inspiring experience, going to the Enrico Fermi school and meeting with the whole team there. BTW, all the biofeeback people are excited about finally getting paid for the work they do, after three years of doing it pro-bono. So if you are into getting into the schools, don't expect to get rich.

Then I met a Principal of one of the schools and the member of the school board who has spearheaded the advocacy and defenses of the biofeedback project. One thing that it is important to keep in mind here is this is an educational program. It is not medical, not psychotherapy. The kids are being taught to control their brains. The school spends $20,000 per "special" kid. They see this program as costing one tenth as much. And they are looking at the expanded program as an extraordinary opportunity to make something different happen in the community. The Yonkers school board approved the $200,000 EEG biofeedback program budget even though it is in the process of cutting 10 million dollars from the annual budget.

It was wonderful talking to the school board member. He is highly enthusiastic about not only the training of the kids with biofeedback, but also doing good research as well. This is a great opportunity here. Both this one school board member, combined with the assistant principal who brought the program to him are courageous, visionary souls, working in an inner city environment which needs al the hope and help it can get.

There is a revolution brewing here. Anyone curently doing biofeedback could benefit from it too. There was an editorial in the recent Psychologist newspaper, saying psychologist income is plummetting. Doing things as usual will not work. Start looking at new ways to conceive what you do.

 10) Why don’t doctors suggest EEG biofeedback?

a note from the add-holistic listserve which I replied to:

>If the success is so great (with EEG biofeedback) how come this isn't even suggested by most Dr.s.<<

I just met this weekend with the school board member in Yonkers who has supported the EEG biofeedback program there that was featured in Parade on June 28th and in a recent Psychology Today article. He tells me there are plenty of forces who would love to see the biofeedback program killed, starting with the special ed department, since they get their funding based on the number of kids classified as special ed. Kids going through the biofeedback program could mean less money for the special ed department.

Every child taking Ritalin needs regular appointments with the physician. Learning to re-regulate the brain so the medication is no longer needed elimiinates the need for the doctor. That's lost income.

And perhaps most significant, taking a biofeedback approach suggests that there is no neurological disease, just a less than optimal functioining that can be corrected with education-- training. And even parents of ADDers are sometimes scared off by this idea, since it might change laws on IDEA, accomodation, access to spefcial services, medication, etc. There are a ton of political considerations here.

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11) European Biofeedback Meeting/ New Organization

ANNOUNCEMENT:

Workshops on Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback

29.8. - 30.8.1998 Vienna - Austria

FOR INFORMATION ON THE PROGRAMM, LOCATE THE SITE:

http://www.univie.ac.at/umwelthygiene/austriabiofeedback/ehpsw95.htm

Final Program

Workshops on Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback

29.8. - 30.8.1998 Vienna - Austria

Austrian Society for Biofeedback and Psychophysiology (ÖbfP)

Biofeedback Association of Europe

Preceding the 12th Conference of the European Health Psychology Society (EHPS) conference,

the Austrian Society for Biofeedback and Psychophysiology is organizing workshops on biofeedback in cooperation with the Biofeedback Association of Europe.

Program

Saturday, 29.8.1998

9:00-9:30

Opening remarks by the president of the Austrian Society for Biofeedback and

Psychophysiology, Univ. Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Groll-Knapp, and by the secretary of the

Biofeedback Association of Europe, Dr. Eugenia Fattovich Carmagnani.

9:30-12:30

A.1. Indication

for biofeedback-treatment on the basis of psychophysiological diagnosis (I. Curio, Germany)

A.2. Biofeedback in the treatment of chronic pain (H. Redtenbacher, Austria)

A.3. Imposing resonance frequency oscillations on heart rate for treatment of patients with

visceral disorders, neurosis and asthma (E. Vaschillo, Russia)

13:30-16:30

B.1. How to design a biofeedback treatment: which modalities for which pathologies (E. Carmagnani, Italy)

B.2. Biofeedback in the treatment of anxiety and somatisation disorders (W. Pipam; Austria)

B.3. Meaning, measurement and self-regulation of baroreceptor sensitivity (I. Curio, Germany)

17:00-20:00

C.1. Using applied psychophysiology and biofeedback in

health psychology (G. Strauss-Blasche, Austria)

C.2. Alpha-theta neurofeedback for alcohol-dependent: a

revolutionary treatment? (K. Berndorfer, G. Schenner)

C.3. Biofeedback for children (E. Stroebl, D. Hamiel, A. Rolnik, Israel & UK) Sunday,

30.8.1998 9:00-12:00

D.1. Introduction to EEG-Biofeedback (E. Carmagnani, Italy)

D.2. Treatment of urinary incontinence with biofeedback (H. Rau, Germany)

D.3. Breath relaxation (J. van Dixhoorn, The Netherlands)

12:00-13:00 Round table discussion: "Biofeedback and Health Psychology in Europe"

Workshop registration

The workshops are 3 hours long. The cost are 600,- ATS per workshop.

Information

For further information call or email the Austrian Society for

Biofeedback and Psychophysiology (ÖfBP) Wagramer Strasse 102/2/5;

A-1220 Wien, Austria Tel./Fax: ++43-1-202 5 202

email: gerhard.strauss-blasche@univie.ac.at

http://www.univie.ac.at/umwelthygiene/austriabiofeedback/

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12) Federal Government Issues Second Annual Report

on the Well-being Of the Nation's Children

Keywords: CHILDREN HEALTH EDUCATION
Description: The federal government issued its second annual report today on the well-being of America's 70 million children, revealing some good news about their overall health and educational achievements.

Contact: Robin Peth-Pierce, (301) 496-5133, piercer@exchange.nih.gov

The federal government issued its second annual report today on the
well-being of America's 70 million children, revealing some good news about
their overall health and educational achievements. The report, "America's
Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being," offers a portrait of the
nation's children, providing information on critical aspects of their lives,
including their health, economic security, education, behavior and social
environment.

"This report provides an understanding of the promises and challenges
confronting our nation's young people and guides us in caring for them," said
Katherine Wallman, Chief Statistician at the Office of Management and Budget.
According to the report, children, from infancy through adolescence, are
off to a healthier start in many ways.

"We have some good progress to report -- more children are surviving their first year of life, with infant mortality at an all-time historic low," said Duane Alexander, M.D., Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

The report also shows a dramatic decline in the number of children with
high blood lead levels, which can cause IQ or behavioral problems. Over the
past two decades, the number of pre-school children with high blood lead levels
has dropped from 88 percent to 6 percent.

"This is a public health success story of almost unprecedented
magnitude," said Edward Sondik, Ph.D., Director, National Center for Health
Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "It shows that the
collection of this data, with subsequent, aggressive legislative action to bar lead in paint and plumbing supplies and to phase out lead in gasoline, has saved
many children from permanent learning disabilities."

A majority of parents in the U.S. reported their children to be in very
good or excellent health. Moreover, fewer young children and adolescents are
dying and 77 percent of toddlers are up-to-date on their immunizations.
However, the number of children without health insurance has increased in 1996
to 10.6 million children, up from 9.8 million in 1995.

The report indicates that the birth rate among adolescents declined
between 1991 and 1996, from 39 to 34 births per 1,000. Much of this decline was
due to the large drop in births to adolescent black females, ages 15 to 17.

While the report shows some overall positive trends in the health of
young children, not all children are doing equally well. Between 1995 and 1996,
there has been no significant change in the number of children living in
poverty. Children under 18 still represent 40 percent of the population in
poverty, even though they comprise only about one-quarter of the total U.S.
population. Children in poverty are more likely to experience housing problems
and hunger, are less likely to be immunized, and less likely to have a parent
working full-time all year.

Overall, more young children are being read to by their families,
participating in early childhood education, and improving their math scores on
national achievement tests.

"By looking at these key indicators at each level of education, we can
quickly see that while more children are entering preschool, improving in math
and graduating from college -- high school completion rates and reading scores
are stagnant," said Pascal D. Forgione, Jr., Ph.D., Commissioner, National
Center for Education Statistics.

As children reach their teen years, the report shows that they are
encountering several problems. During the 1990s, the percentages of 8th, 10th
and 12th graders who smoked daily, drank heavily, or used illicit drugs
increased. The report shows that 25 percent of 12th graders smoke on a regular
basis.

"Substance abuse and cigarette smoking are at unacceptable levels," said
Alan I. Leshner, Ph.D., Director, National Institute on Drug Abuse. "Since the
early 1990s, we have seen a gradual increase in drug use, which we know is tied
to a decrease in the perception of risk -- kids just don't think drugs are
harmful," said Leshner.

The 23 indicators included in the report were chosen because they
regularly measure critical aspects of children's lives. Two special indicators
also included in this year's report are children's blood lead levels and
children in child care. The report also recommends the development of
additional indicators -- including more accurate measures of youth violence, a
global indicator of youth mental health, and measures of long-term poverty and
homelessness -- that would contribute to a fuller understanding of the overall
condition of the nation's children.

The report, issued by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family
Statistics, represents a significant collaborative effort among the Federal
agencies that report regularly on various aspects of children's lives. The
Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics was founded in 1994 and formally established by Executive Order 13045 to foster coordination and
collaboration in the collection and reporting of Federal data on children and
families. Agencies within the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense,
Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Labor, the National Science Foundation and the Office of Management and Budget participate in the forum.

For more information on the report, contact the National Institute of
Child Health and Human Development, at (301) 496-5133. Free copies of the full
report can be obtained from the National Maternal and Child Health
Clearinghouse, (703) 356-1964, via the Internet at: http://childstats.gov, or
purchased for $7.00 through the Government Printing Office at (202) 512-1800,
publication number 065-000-01162-0.

###

13) Advertising Policies:

BioPsy will now take ads. We are happy to entertain offers for trades for products, ad space in other vehicles, exhibits, etc.  We reserve the right to  determine what runs in our publication.

Display Advertise Here: announce your workshop, sell your company's equipment, tapes, announce your website, find an employee,  Promote your Institution etc. $8 for this position. Lock in an annual rate.Pos 5

Classified advertising here: : announce your workshop, sell your   equipment, tapes, announce your website, find an employee, a job, rent space, find a supervisor or supervisees.  Promote your Institution etc. $1.00/word $30 minimum.   -------------------------------------------

14) Antidepressant Medications: Miracle Drugs or Placebos with a Buzz?

American Psychological Association (APA) 17-Jul-98
Keywords: ANTIDEPRESSANTS DEPRESSION PLACEBO PSYCHOLOGY
Description: The authors of a meta-analysis of 19 drug studies involving 2,318 patients conclude that three-quarters of the beneficial effect of anti-depressant edications, can be ascribed to the placebo effect - the patient's belief and expectation that the pill they are taking will make them better.
Meta-Analysis of Drug Studies Spawns Lively Debate In Prevention & Treatment, APA's New Online Journal

WASHINGTON - They are widely prescribed, their effectiveness has been highly praised and many people consider them to be nothing less than life-savers. But is the effectiveness of drugs used to treat depression a product of their chemistry or the patients' psychological reaction to them? The authors of a meta-analysis of 19 drug studies involving 2,318 patients conclude that it may be the latter: three-quarters of the beneficial effect of anti-depressant medications,
they contend, can be ascribed to the placebo effect - the patient's belief and expectation that the pill they are taking will make them better. Furthermore, the authors say, the remaining 25 percent of the positive effect of anti-depressants may be attributable to the fact that the drugs have side effects, which inert pills do not. The article, "Listening to Prozac but Hearing Placebo: A Meta-Analysis of
Antidepressant Medication" appears in the premiere issue of APA's new online journal Prevention & Treatment, followed by commentaries from other psychologists and a psychiatrist, and a response from the lead author.

The authors, psychologists Irving Kirsch, Ph.D., of the University of Connecticut, and Guy Sapirstein, Ph.D., of Westwood Lodge Hospital in Needham, MA, pooled and analyzed the data from 19 randomized, placebo-controlled studies assessing the efficacy of various medications in treating depression, including some studies that involved drugs not considered anti-depressants. Looking across all 19 studies, the authors calculated the extent to which the beneficial effects of the various drugs could be attributed to the drugs themselves and the degree of positive effects that could be attributed to the placebo effect.

They concluded that 75 percent of the response to the drugs was a placebo response and that, at most, 25 percent might be a true drug effect. "This does not mean that only 25 percent of patients are likely to respond to the pharmacological properties of the drug. Rather, it means that for a typical patient, 75 percent of the benefit obtained from the active drug would also have been obtained from an inactive placebo," the authors say. And it is possible, they say, that the remaining benefit came not from anything the drugs did to fight depression specifically, but from an enhancement of the placebo effect caused by the fact that those who received medication (rather than a dummy pill) could tell by the side effects that they had taken something.

This result was seen in all the studies in the meta-analysis, including those involving drugs not considered to be anti-depressants, but which were as effective as anti-depressants in treating depression.

___________________

As the editors of Treatment & Prevention point out in an editor's note accompanying this article, this is a controversial conclusion. The all-electronic format of the journal made it possible to obtain rapid responses to the article and to publish some of those responses along with it.

The most lengthy and vociferous response ("Listening to Meta-Analysis but Hearing Bias") came from Donald F. Klein, MD, of Columbia University who criticizes the authors' choice of studies to analyze as "a miniscule group of unrepresentative, inconsistently and erroneously selected articles arbitrarily analyzed by an obscure, misleading effect size." Dr. Klein found fault with almost every aspect of the article, including the fact that it is a meta-analysis, pointing
to a recent study that compared meta-analyses with large clinical trials and concluded that the meta-analyses "would have led to rejection of a useful treatment in four out of 12 cases." (In his response to the commentaries Dr. Kirsch addresses Dr. Klein's complaints under the heading "Klein's Laundry List.")

Another critic of the article is psychologist Robyn M. Dawes, Ph.D., of Carnegie Mellon University who argues that the authors' logic is seriously flawed and their methodology oversimplified. "Science (like art and life)," he says, "is not that easy."

Psychologist Larry E. Beutler, Ph.D., of the University of California, Santa Barbara is more supportive. In his commentary ("Prozac and Placebo: There's a Pony in There Somewhere") he notes that "the poor showing of antidepressants, both in this and other meta-analytic studies of these drugs, raise an interesting question about why and how public enthusiasm and faith is maintained in these
treatments. This is a research question whose importance may even exceed that of the specific effects of the drugs themselves."

Article: "'Listening to Prozac but Hearing Placebo: A Meta-Analysis of Antidepressant Medication," by Irving Kirsch, Ph.D., University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT and Guy Sapirstein, Ph.D., Westwood Lodge Hospital, Needham, MA, in the Treatment and Prevention, Vol. 1, Article 00002a.

(Full text available at http://journals.apa.org/prevention/volume1/pre0010002a.html
or by contacting the APA Public Affairs Office.)

Treatment & Prevention is a peer-reviewed, archival, scholarly electronic journal and is part of the regular APA journals program. Articles that appear in it will be available online indefinitely (although they will be posted on the APA website for two years). Journalists can access the journal through the APA website (http://www.apa.org) and can register to be notified of new postings.

The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world's largest association of psychologists. APA's membership includes more than 155,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 50 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 59 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of
promoting human welfare.

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 15) 19th Century thoughts on the Mind/Body/Heart/Spirit Connection; The Body Electric

This poem was taken from the Bartleby Archive: http://www.cc.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/index.html a great resource for classic literature

I Sing the Body Electric from Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman

The following text has been abridged. Find the whole text at the above link.

I SING the Body electric;

The armies of those I love engirth me, and I engirth them;

They will not let me off till I go with them, respond to them,

And discorrupt them, and charge them full with the charge of the Soul.

Was it doubted that those who corrupt their own bodies conceal themselves;

And if those who defile the living are as bad as they who defile the dead?

And if the body does not do as much as the Soul?

And if the body were not the Soul, what is the Soul?

The love of the Body of man or woman balks account--the body itself  balks account;

That of the male is perfect, and that of the female is perfect.

The expression of the face balks account;

But the expression of a well-made man appears not only in his face;

It is in his limbs and joints also, it is curiously in the joints of his hips and wrists;

It is in his walk, the carriage of his neck, the flex of his waist and knees--dress does not hide him;

The strong, sweet, supple quality he has, strikes through the cotton and flannel;

To see him pass conveys as much as the best poem, perhaps more;

You linger to see his back, and the back of his neck and shoulder-side.

The sprawl and fulness of babes, the bosoms and heads of women, the

folds of their dress, their style as we pass in the street, the

contour of their shape downwards,

.......The natural, perfect, varied attitudes--the bent head, the curv'd neck, and the counting;

Such-like I love--I loosen myself, pass freely, am at the mother's breast with the little child,

Swim with the swimmers, wrestle with wrestlers, march in line with the firemen, and pause, listen, and count.

.....I have perceiv'd that to be with those I like is enough,

To stop in company with the rest at evening is enough,

To be surrounded by beautiful, curious, breathing, laughing flesh is enough,

To pass among them, or touch any one, or rest my arm ever so lightly

round his or her neck for a moment--what is this, then?

I do not ask any more delight--I swim in it, as in a sea.

There is something in staying close to men and women, and looking on

them, and in the contact and odor of them, that pleases the soul well;

All things please the soul--but these please the soul well.

This is the female form;

A divine nimbus exhales from it from head to foot;

It attracts with fierce undeniable attraction!

I am drawn by its breath as if I were no more than a helpless vapor--

all falls aside but myself and it;

Books, art, religion, time, the visible and solid earth, the

atmosphere and the clouds, and what was expected of heaven or fear'd of hell, are now consumed;

Mad filaments, ungovernable shoots play out of it--the response likewise ungovernable;

Hair, bosom, hips, bend of legs, negligent falling hands, all diffused--mine too diffused;

Ebb stung by the flow, and flow stung by the ebb--love-flesh swelling and deliciously aching;

Limitless limpid jets of love hot and enormous, quivering jelly of love, white-blow and delirious juice;

Bridegroom night of love, working surely and softly into the prostrate dawn;

Undulating into the willing and yielding day,

Lost in the cleave of the clasping and sweet-flesh'd day.

This is the nucleus--after the child is born of woman, the man is born of woman;

This is the bath of birth--this is the merge of small and large, and the outlet again.

Be not ashamed, women--your privilege encloses the rest, and is the exit of the rest;

You are the gates of the body, and you are the gates of the soul.

The female contains all qualities, and tempers them--she is in her place, and moves with perfect balance;

She is all things duly veil'd--she is both passive and active;

She is to conceive daughters as well as sons, and sons as well as daughters.

As I see my soul reflected in nature;

As I see through a mist, one with inexpressible completeness and beauty,

See the bent head, and arms folded over the breast--the female I see.

The male is not less the soul, nor more--he too is in his place;

He too is all qualities--he is action and power;

The flush of the known universe is in him;

Scorn becomes him well, and appetite and defiance become him well;

The wildest largest passions, bliss that is utmost, sorrow that is utmost, become him well--pride is for him;

The full-spread pride of man is calming and excellent to the soul;

Knowledge becomes him--he likes it always--he brings everything to the test of himself;

Whatever the survey, whatever the sea and the sail, he strikes soundings at last only here;

(Where else does he strike soundings, except here?)

The man's body is sacred, and the woman's body is sacred;

No matter who it is, it is sacred;

Is it a slave? Is it one of the dull-faced immigrants just landed on the wharf?

Each belongs here or anywhere, just as much as the well-off--just as much as you;

Each has his or her place in the procession.

(All is a procession;

The universe is a procession, with measured and beautiful motion.)

Do you know so much yourself, that you call the slave or the dull-face ignorant?

Do you suppose you have a right to a good sight, and he or she has no right to a sight?

Do you think matter has cohered together from its diffuse float--

and the soil is on the surface, and water runs, and vegetation sprouts,

For you only, and not for him and her?

A man's Body at auction;

I help the auctioneer--the sloven does not half know his business.

Gentlemen, look on this wonder!

Whatever the bids of the bidders, they cannot be high enough for it;

For it the globe lay preparing quintillions of years, without one animal or plant;

For it the revolving cycles truly and steadily roll'd.

In this head the all-baffling brain;

In it and below it, the makings of heroes.

Examine these limbs, red, black, or white--they are so cunning in tendon and nerve;

They shall be stript, that you may see them.

Exquisite senses, life-lit eyes, pluck, volition,

Flakes of breast-muscle, pliant back-bone and neck, flesh not flabby, good-sized arms and legs,

And wonders within there yet.

Within there runs blood,

The same old blood!

The same red-running blood!

There swells and jets a heart--there all passions, desires, reachings, aspirations;

Do you think they are not there because they are not express'd in parlors and lecture-rooms?

This is not only one man--this is the father of those who shall be fathers in their turns;

In him the start of populous states and rich republics;

Of him countless immortal lives, with countless embodiments and njoyments.

How do you know who shall come from the offspring of his offspring through the centuries?

Who might you find you have come from yourself, if you could trace back through the centuries?

A woman's Body at auction!

She too is not only herself--she is the teeming mother of mothers;

She is the bearer of them that shall grow and be mates to the mothers.

Have you ever loved the Body of a woman?

Have you ever loved the Body of a man?

Your father--where is your father?

Your mother--is she living? have you been much with her? and has she been much with you?

--Do you not see that these are exactly the same to all, in all nations and times, all over the earth?

If any thing is sacred, the human body is sacred,

And the glory and sweet of a man, is the token of manhood untainted;

And in man or woman, a clean, strong, firm-fibred body, is beautiful as the most beautiful face.

Have you seen the fool that corrupted his own live body?

or the fool that corrupted her own live body?

For they do not conceal themselves, and cannot conceal themselves.

O my Body! I dare not desert the likes of you in other men and women, nor the likes of the parts of you;

I believe the likes of you are to stand or fall with the likes of the Soul, (and that they are the Soul;)

I believe the likes of you shall stand or fall with my poems--and that they are poems,

Man's, woman's, child's, youth's, wife's, husband's, mother's, father's, young man's, young woman's poems;

Head, neck, hair, ears, drop and tympan of the ears,

Eyes, eye-fringes, iris of the eye, eye-brows, and the waking or sleeping of the lids,

Mouth, tongue, lips, teeth, roof of the mouth, jaws, and the jaw-hinges,

Nose, nostrils of the nose, and the partition,

Cheeks, temples, forehead, chin, throat, back of the neck, neck-slue,

Strong shoulders, manly beard, scapula, hind-shoulders, and the ample side-round of the chest.

Upper-arm, arm-pit, elbow-socket, lower-arm, arm-sinews, arm-bones,

Wrist and wrist-joints, hand, palm, knuckles, thumb, fore-finger, finger-balls, finger-joints, finger-nails,

Broad breast-front, curling hair of the breast, breast-bone, breast-side,

Ribs, belly, back-bone, joints of the back-bone,

Hips, hip-sockets, hip-strength, inward and outward round, man-balls, man-root,

Strong set of thighs, well carrying the trunk above,

Leg-fibres, knee, knee-pan, upper-leg, under leg,

Ankles, instep, foot-ball, toes, toe-joints, the heel;

All attitudes, all the shapeliness, all the belongings of my or your body, or of any one's body, male or female,

The lung-sponges, the stomach-sac, the bowels sweet and clean,

The brain in its folds inside the skull-frame,

Sympathies, heart-valves, palate-valves, sexuality, maternity,

Womanhood, and all that is a woman--and the man that comes from woman,

The womb, the teats, nipples, breast-milk, tears, laughter, weeping, love-looks, love-perturbations and risings,

The voice, articulation, language, whispering, shouting aloud,

Food, drink, pulse, digestion, sweat, sleep, walking, swimming,

Poise on the hips, leaping, reclining, embracing, arm-curving and tightening,

The continual changes of the flex of the mouth, and around the eyes,

The skin, the sun-burnt shade, freckles, hair,

The curious sympathy one feels, when feeling with the hand the naked meat of the body,

The circling rivers, the breath, and breathing it in and out,

The beauty of the waist, and thence of the hips, and thence downward toward the knees,

The thin red jellies within you, or within me--the bones, and the marrow in the bones,

The exquisite realization of health;

O I say, these are not the parts and poems of the Body only, but of the Soul,

O I say now these are the Soul!

Whitman, Walt. 1900. Leaves of Grass.