Mental Health - General

The claim is sometimes made that most bullying takes place on the way to school, not at school. However, research shows that two to three times as many students are bullied at school compared to those who are bullied on the way to school.

Approximately 40 to 75 percent of bullying takes place during breaks—in the schoolyard, in the corridors, at recess, or in more secluded places, like bathrooms.

Major studies in Norway in the 1980s and 1990s with more than 150,000 students found that about 15 percent of students in primary and lower secondary school, or approximately one in seven students, were involved in bullying with a degree of regularity—as a victim, as a bully, or both. At least 5 percent (more than 1in 20) of all students were involved in more serious bullying at least once a week.

HARASSMENT AND VIOLENCE.

Harassment and abuse are more accurate names for it. Parents and school personnel should no longer consider bullying “just a part of growing up.” It is harmful to both the perpetrators and the victims and is responsible for behavioral and emotional difficulties, long-term negative outcomes, and violence.

The National Institutes of Health (2000) recently reported that in the United States alone, bullying affects more than 5 million students in grades 6 through 11. One out of 7 students reported being victimized. The violence that erupted at several schools in highly publicized shooting incidents in the late 1990s spurred several State legislatures to propose laws requiring schools to adopt anti-bullying policies. By 2001, New Hampshire, West Virginia, and Colorado had passed laws, while others are pending in Illinois, New York, and Washington.

Need some help but feel squeamish going to a shrink? Now there is an Internet answer that promises confidentiality and first rate information.

It is called Treatment Online and it claims to provide psychological support and evaluation in a totally confidential, individually customized, and user controlled experience. The evaluation tools focus on depression, Anxiety, and ADHD, but also cover many other commonly occurring psychological syndromes.

According to a recent long-term study, when entering adolescence, girls with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) exhibit fewer symptoms of hyperactivity, but

• continue to lag behind peers academically and,
• have a greater tendency toward other emotional and behavioral disorders as well as for substance abuse.

Editors of the New England Journal of Medicine say the trial that prompted Merck to pull its popular COX-2 inhibitor rofecoxib (Vioxx) off the market had important errors, and that other drugs in the same category (such as Celebrex) may also pose health hazards.

Doctors in England are considering treatment options for gambling addiction, now that internet gambling and super casinos are increasing opportunities as never before. One physician called gambling the "Cinderella addiction" behind drugs and alcohol.

New research by the University of Washington on the effect of alcohol on perception found that most study participants who had had only one cocktail didn't even notice a gorilla walking through the middle of a basketball game.

An ITS Institute study has found that using a cell phone may impair drivers more than alcohol intoxication.

The research assessed the risk of cell phone use while driving compared to commonly accepted in-vehicle tasks, as well as driving while intoxicated.

Can you trust your local hospital and should you?

US News and World Report online's list of the best hospitals in the US according to their medical specialties includes:
* Digestive Disorders