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Biomedical subjects

F J Menolascino

Publications and source records attributed to F J Menolascino.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Training psychiatric residents in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness in mentally retarded persons.

A serious shortage of psychiatrists trained to care for mentally retarded patients exists. Based on a successful program that has been in place for more than a decade, the authors offer guidelines for training psychiatric residents in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness in mentally retarded persons. They describe a model curriculum and suggest ways to modify existing four-year curricula. Special diagnostic skills for working with this population, such as posing questions in concrete terms and ruling out the effects of disabilities like seizure disorders, are reviewed. Important treatment issues include knowing the side effects of neuroleptics and understanding the stages through which families and other caregivers pass in accepting a person's mental retardation.

Comorbidity↗
PubMed1992

Merging the departments of psychiatry of a private and state university: the Nebraska experience.

Medical colleges throughout the nation are being pressured to decrease the costs of medical education. In some of our smaller cities, the duplication of faculty expertise and costly technological resources at distinct but neighboring campuses has led to training costs far beyond what can be comfortably supported by either the institutions or their students. While the trend toward collaboration or mergers between identical medical departments on adjacent campuses is gaining ground, the methods required to achieve success in these ventures remain relatively uncharted. This paper provides an overview of the creation of successful merger between the departments of Psychiatry of Creighton University School of Medicine and the University of Nebraska College of Medicine. The development of the merger from conception to completion, along with the lessons learned along the way, are offered in the hope that other medical departments may benefit.

Academic Medical Centers↗
PubMed1989

Model services for treatment/management of the mentally retarded-mentally ill.

Mental illness affects nearly 25-30% of America's mentally retarded population. While a small number of these individuals will require institutional care, it is clearly possible to serve the majority in community-based residential settings. This paper will provide an overview of the various types of mental illness found in the mentally retarded population currently served by the Eastern Nebraska Community Office of Retardation (ENCOR), examine the treatment challenges which the provision of services to this special population have presented, and share recommendations as to how the ENCOR model can assist other communities in serving similar complex subpopulations in a developmental and cost-efficient manner.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Delivery of services in rural settings to the elderly mentally retarded-mentally ill.

A number of controversial arguments exist regarding the ability of sparsely populated areas to adequately provide for their elderly mentally retarded; the elements of distance, education, and capital are said to effectively obstruct access to psychiatric and social support. Yet several facts speak soundly for the necessity to overcome these obstacles: a five-fold increase in the life spans of the mentally retarded in recent decades, and the amply demonstrated reality that individuals with mental retardation are nearly twice as likely as the general population to develop severe behavioral disorders. This article examines both the methods and the reasons for ensuring that rural populations of elderly mentally retarded citizens receive modern psychiatric assistance and community support.

Aged↗
PubMed1989

Vitamin supplements and purported learning enhancement in mentally retarded children.

Dr. Ruth Harrell and her colleagues conducted a study in 1981 in which the administration of high dosages of vitamins were determined to dramatically improve the intellectual functioning of mentally retarded children. This paper documents the efforts of its authors to replicate the Harrell et al. research and, although no significant differences were found between active treatment groups and control groups at study's end, a thorough comparison is made between the two research efforts.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Adrenocortical function and depressive illness in mentally retarded patients.

The authors administered a 1-mg dexamethasone suppression test (DST) to 85 institutionalized adults with mild to profound mental retardation after screening to exclude false-positive nonsuppression. Thirty-one (36%) of these subjects had baseline hypercortisolemia, which was significantly correlated with age, symptoms, and "modified" DSM-III criteria for major depressive disorder. Twenty (24%) of the 85 subjects were nonsuppressors (5 micrograms/dl) after testing; nonsuppression was significantly related to age, female sex, level of retardation, symptoms, and "modified" DSM-III criteria for major depressive disorder (sensitivity 41%, specificity 81%). First-order partial correlations maintained significant relationships between age and severity of retardation but not sex. Mental retardation itself did not appear to invalidate the DST.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Issues in the treatment of mentally retarded patients in the community mental health system.

Developmental disability, particularly mental retardation, both affects a person's cognitive functioning and places that person on an alternative track of development which, when combined with social, political and economic pressures, places the developmentally disabled person at increased risk for mental illness. The presenting symptoms of mental illness will be modified by the mentally retarded person's cognitive impairment, personality development, and massively different life experience, as will the nature of his interactions with helping agencies. Evaluation, diagnosis and treatment must evolve from an alliance with the mentally retarded persons, not with caretaking agencies, and must be modified to take into account the retarded person's powerlessness. The therapist must be prepared to act as both advocate and bridge-builder for the patient, with the patient's increasing participation. The therapist must be prepared to steer between the Scylla of ignorance about the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness in the mentally retarded and the Charybdis of financial disincentives for human service agencies to collaborate in their care. The advantages of inter-agency cooperation in the treatment of dually-diagnosed individuals is described and illustrated.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Mental illness in the mentally retarded: challenges for social work.

A pressing need exists in social work for information concerning the types of mental illnesses encountered in community-based samples of the mentally retarded. These data are valuable in determining which types of social work treatment are effective with this population. This study examines the types and prevalence of mental disorders seen in a community-based sample of retarded citizens, and delineates the types of psychosocial strategies that were effective in treating these disorders. All of the individuals in this study were treated within a community health facility, thereby supporting ongoing social work contributions toward the normalization and commonly-based care of the retarded.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

Psychiatric disorders in the mentally retarded: types, problems, and challenges.

Because of their high incidence of CNS impairment and low overall interpersonal coping abilities, retarded persons have a greater than average risk for developing associated psychiatric disorders. The authors describe the types of disorders and their incidence and review allied treatment challenges. Advances in recognition of developmental issues and medical management support the trend toward decreased institutionalization and the concurrent increased normalization of the retarded individual.

Adolescent↗