The Los Angeles Times (12/23, Roan) “Booster Shots” blog reports, “A year-long project by experts nationwide has led to a new definition of the term” recovery from addiction or mental illness “that is meant to help doctors, counselors and policymakers.” Yesterday, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) disclosed the new definition: “A process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live a self-directed life, and strive to reach their full potential.” And, “as part of SAMHSA’s Recovery Support Strategic Initiative, researchers and other mental-health experts also clarified four major dimensions that support a life in recovery.” Those are health, home, purpose, and community.

In its “Talk of the Nation” program, NPR (12/20, Conan) discussed the reasons “behind the growing number of diagnoses” of autism. “According to the Centers for Disease Control, nearly one percent of US children have some form of autism, 20 times higher than the rate in the 1980s.” The program interviewed clinical psychologist Catherine Lord, PhD, and Alan Zarembo, of the Los Angeles Times, the author of a series of articles called “Discovering Autism” that ran last week.

Zarembo discussed a Columbia University study that “found that if you lived very close to somebody else with the disorder, your chances of having your child diagnosed were 16 percent higher than if you lived further away.” Lord emphasized the importance of early intervention in treating children with autism to help them achieve the maximum amount of basic independence, but also mentioned that even later treatment is not without benefits.

MedWire (12/16, Robertson) reports, “People with type 2 diabetes are more likely to experience serious psychological distress (SPD) than those without the condition,” according to a study published online Dec. 9 in the journal Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice. After analyzing data from “49,644 respondents from the 2007 California Health Interview Survey,” researchers found that “participants with diabetes were at an increased risk for being psychologically distressed compared with nondiabetic individuals, at an odds ratio of 1.81.”

HealthDay (12/16, Goodwin) reports, “The recent recession took a toll on parent-child ties, with parents who were under financial strain reporting that they felt less connected to their kids and kids saying they were less likely to act with generosity,” according to a study published in the December issue of the Journal of Research on Adolescence. Investigators surveyed “about 500 families in the Seattle area” who “were mostly white, middle- to upper-middle-class and college educated.”

They found that “parents who reported increasing financial pressure were also more likely to report symptoms of depression, according to the study. In turn, depressed parents were more likely to report feeling less connected and less close with their child.”

NBC Nightly News (12/14, story 5, 0:30, Williams) reported, “We got startling new numbers from the” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “today based on a new survey of domestic violence. One in four women in this country reported being violently attacked by a husband or boyfriend. … One in five women said they have been sexually assaulted.”

The New York Times (12/15, A32, Rabin, Subscription Publication) reports that the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey “released on Wednesday affirmed that sexual violence against women remains endemic in the United States and in some instances may be far more common than previously thought. Nearly one in five women surveyed said they had been raped or had experienced an attempted rape at some point, and one in four reported having been beaten by an intimate partner. One in six women [has] been stalked, according to the report.”

The survey was given to “a nationally representative sample of 16,507 adults” and “elicited information on types of aggression not previously studied in national surveys, including sexual violence other than rape, psychological aggression, coercion and control of reproductive and sexual health.”

ABC World News (12/14, story 4, 0:20, Sawyer) reported, “And there was an announcement from the White House today about the President’s healthcare reform. The government said 2.5 million young adults who were uninsured now have received health insurance because of that law, which allows children to stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26.”

The CBS Evening News (12/14, story 5, 2:30, Pelley) reported, “Patient rights advocates like Ron Pollack of the nonprofit group Families USA call this an accomplishment because young adults will 19-25, are the most likely not to have health insurance.” Ron Pollack, Families USA: “This is a benefit for those people who are struggling to find a job or who are in an entry-level job and they can’t pay for health insurance and now they have the ability to stay on their parents’ policy until their 26th birthday.”

The Wall Street Journal (12/15, Radnofsky, Subscription Publication) quotes HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who said, “It shows what a big difference this law is already making in Americans’ lives.” According to Sebelius, without the option for additional coverage, insurance was a major factor in young adults’ career decisions, while others were “a car accident or a surprise diagnosis away from a lifetime of medical debt or worse.”

Television and print media provided extensive coverage of a government survey which indicated a change in substance-abuse habits among US adolescents.

NBC Nightly News (12/14, story 6, 1:05, Williams) reported that a study released on Wednesday provides a “new look…at teenage alcohol and drug use. According to this study, there’s been a big shift when it comes to substance abuse among high school-aged kids.”

The CBS Evening News (12/14, story 8, 0:30, Pelley) reported, “Marijuana use among teenagers has gone up four years in a row. In a survey, one out of every 15 high school students admitted using marijuana every day or almost daily. That’s the highest rate in 30 years.”

The Wall Street Journal (12/15, Randall, Subscription Publication) reports that the “Monitoring the Future” survey released Dec. 14 by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) also reveals that even as marijuana use is increasing, US adolescents are smoking fewer cigarettes and drinking far less alcohol.

The American Association of State and Local History (AASLH) has given a Certificate of Commendation to the documentary film The Building of a Sanctuary. Executive Producer and Foundation member Carol Allen will travel to St.Louis, MO to accept the award.

The AASLH Awards Program not only honors significant achievement in the field of local history, but also brings public recognition to small and large organizations, institutions, and programs that contribute to this arena. By publicly recognizing excellent achievements, the Association strives to inspire others.

Made by Historic Towson, Inc., the film is about the last built and best designed of the early private psychiatric hospitals in the United States, The Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital.  Its founders drew on lessons learned from other institutions and from Europe to provide moral treatment in a homelike setting and to turn 400-acres into an intimate campus of Victorian buildings with beautifully landscaped grounds.

Jerome D. Frank M.D. Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at The Johns Hopkins University Medical School died on Monday March 14th, 2005. Dr. Frank was recognized worldwide for his extensive research on psychotherapy and group therapy. He was also known for his criticism of nuclear weapons. He was an honorary member of the Maryland Foundation for Psychiatry’s board since its inception and was always available for advice and guidance.

Jerome Frank, professor emeritus of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, was a major figure in American psychology and psychiatry. Profoundly influenced by the ideas of the social psychologist Kurt Lewin, with whom he studied both in Germany and at Cornell, Dr. Frank was deeply committed to applying the principles of rigorous academic research to meaningful human problems, including the treatment of the mentally ill, the understanding and resolution of political and international conflict, and the promotion of a just society.

After earning a PHD in psychology at Harvard, Dr. Frank pursued medical training at Harvard Medical School and psychiatric residency at the Henry Phipps Clinic of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, initially under Dr. Adolf Meyer. As a military psychiatrist in the Asian Theater during World War Two, he first noted the effects of demoralization upon the health and well-being of American troops overseas. In collaboration with Florence Powdermaker of the Veterans Administration, he pioneered the use of group psychotherapy for psychiatric conditions, particularly conditions in which demoralization plays a role.

After joining the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University Medical School in 1949, Dr. Frank, with the encouragement of Dr. John C. Whitehorn, began applying the methods of psychology research to the study of psychotherapy. In the course of this research, funded by the NIMH and continuing over several decades, Dr. Frank developed his understanding that all psychotherapies make effective use of certain common principles, including a healing rationale, hope, mastery, and a caring therapeutic relationship. His best known work, Persuasion and Healing: A Comparative Study of Psychotherapy, first published in 1961, developed this insight and related effective psychotherapy to other types of healing influence, including faith healing and participation in cohesive social groups such as religious cults. The three editions of this work, continuously in print in many languages, have been a important bridge among many professional and lay groups that aim to relieve suffering through the application of counseling, healing ritual and helping relationships. The understanding that these are all forms of psychotherapy  based common principles of psychology fostered the development of psychotherapy within the disciplines of psychiatry, clinical psychology, social work, pastoral counseling, medicine and nursing. Current psychotherapeutic practices, including cognitive behavioral psychotherapy, time-limited psychotherapy, and group psychotherapy (including self-help groups) all rely heavily on the intellectual foundations of Dr. Frank’s work.

Dr. Frank’s was committed to understanding real problems in society. He had been studying in Germany during the rise of Nazism, and he was in the Pacific when the atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima.  His feelings as a parent in the post war era led him to study the psychology of the nuclear arms race and to work for nuclear disarmament. His book, Sanity and Survival in the Nuclear Age: Psychological Aspects of  War and Peace, impressed Senator William Fulbright, the former head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Senator Fulbright shared Dr. Frank’s grasp of the nuclear threat and the need to change people’s understanding of war to meet it. Dr. Frank testified by invitation before the Senate Foreign Relations committee in 1966. He was a founding member of Physicians for Social Responsibility and for years participated actively in the deliberations of the Council for a Livable World, among many political/social commitments.

In his final years, Dr. Frank returned to the study of psychotherapy. He came to believe that demoralization is a dimension of mental and medical illnesses of many kinds, and that psychotherapy uniquely combats this state. This insight remains important , contributing to the many forms of mental health care provided to soldiers involved in current conflicts. Dr. Frank also returned to the world of post-modern academia, developing the provocative and still controversial idea that psychotherapy is a form of healing rhetoric rather than an applied science.

Dr. Frank mentored many students, residents and colleagues during his years at Johns Hopkins. They repaid him with respect, affection, and a willingness to develop and disseminate his ideas, something he knew and treasured. His own reflection provides perhaps the most fitting capstone for the career of this lifelong teacher and researcher  "*more territory remains to be explored. So my intellectual journey ends, not with conclusions, but with questions, as all such journeys should."