Giving Voice


September 2011


IN THIS ISSUE
-  OCD Awareness Week Event
-  Free Eating Disorder Treatment
-  Expert Perspectives
-  Updated Education Web Site
-  New Blog: Connections
-  Wanted: Drug Trial Volunteers
 
 

School-Based Study Illuminates Importance of Teen Screenings 

 

A new study demonstrates the value of conducting routine mental health screenings in high school to identify adolescents at risk for brain illnesses and referring them for follow-up care. Results found that nearly three out of four at-risk students were not in treatment at the time of screening. Read more...

   



Here's Your Chance to Participate in National OCD Awareness Week!

Please join us for OCD: Real Stories - Real People, an event planned in honor of National OCD Awareness Week. It promises to be a warm evening of friendship, connections and awareness. 

 

The evening will include a dramatic performance of real OCD stories by Erasing the Distance, an acclaimed arts organization that sheds light on mental health issues through theatre. Also hear three people tell their own stories about overcoming OCD.  Refreshments follow the performance.


Date:      Tuesday, October 11th at 7:00 p.m.
Where:   Ann Sather Restaurant
               909 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago
               (Free parking in west lot)
Tickets:  $10 per person / $5 for students

Register Now!

Note: Watch ABC Channel 7 in Chicago at 8:23 a.m. on Sunday, October 9, to see a segment on this special event.


Free Treatment for Eating Disorders Study Participants at The University of Chicago 

In recent years, a number of scientific studies have provided evidence that people with OCD and other anxiety disorders are at a higher risk for eating disorders. One study released in 2009 by the Royal College of Psychiatrists in England shows as many as one in five people with OCD could have some form of eating disorder.

 

People in the Chicago area can receive free treatment for eating disorders at the University of Chicago if they qualify for one of a variety of research studies. To learn more, visit their web site.  

 

Interested in the overlap between OCD and eating disorders? Read this article... 

 


Expert Perspectives

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We continually add new material to the
OCD Chicago web site to bring you the latest information about this disorder, including the Expert Perspectives series. These articles address a wide range of topics and are written by leading specialists from across the country.

Sudden and Severe Onset OCD: Practical Advice for Practitioners and Parents
For years, scientists have believed that sudden onset OCD in young children can sometimes be triggered by strep thoat and called the condition PANDAS (which stands for Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Strep). 

Recently, however, researchers at the National Institutes of Health found that OCD could be triggered by other diseases, including Lyme, Mono, Mycoplasma and the flu virus (such as H1N1). For that reason, experts have renamed this type of sudden onset PANS, for Pediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome.

 

Renowned OCD expert Michael Jenike, M.D., and a mother/OCD advocate teamed up to compile this article, which is chock-full of information about PANS symptoms, diagnosis and treatment.

 

The ABC's of OCD, Disability and Treatment

Shana Doronn, LCSW, Psy.D, helps readers learn how to navigate the often-complex world of insurance and disability benefits--both employer-sponsored and public-provided--during a leave of absence from work. She is a member of OCD Chicago's Scientific Advisory Board.   

 


Education Web Site Gets Update
Much of the content in OCD Chicago's highly acclaimed web site for school personnel was recently updated, just in time for the new school year.

The site is designed to provide a wide range of valuable information  about OCD for all school personnel, including regular, bilingual and special educators, school psychologists, social workers, counselors, nurses, administrators, and paraprofessionals.  Visit the site...

Special thanks to Gail Adams, Ed.D., for her work in updating the site's pages.

 


Introducing Our New Blog: Connections

Welcome to Janet SInger, our new blogess! She will share her thoughts and experiences--and what she describes as "anything and everything to do with OCD"--in our new blog, called Connections.

Singer, an advocate for OCD awareness, is published regularly on various mental health web sites. She shares what helped and what hurt in her son Dan's recovery from this devastating disorder.  While there were many lessons learned along the way, she feels the most powerful one of all is that there is always hope.

Read the first blog posting...


New Drug Trial Looking for Volunteers

Many people who use medication to help treat their OCD get the results they need from Anafranil�, Paxil�, Prozac�, Luvox� or Zoloft�. For some, however, these drugs alone do not provide enough relief from their troubling symptoms.

In those siutations, doctors often try a combination of medications. A new drug trial is underway to see if an investigational medication, called ondansetron, could one day be used as a safe and effective add-on treatment option for OCD patients. Researchers are looking for people to participate in the study. Learn more...

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