Teens' Latest Self-Injury Fad: Self-Embedding
from Time magazine
At a recent medical conference in Chicago, a team of radiologists from Nationwide Children's Hospital presented intriguing X-ray evidence of a psychological phenomenon — what they believed was a new form of self-injury among teens and adolescents. Eleven out of 505 patients whom the team had treated in more than a decade had inserted objects — from chunks of crayon to unfolded paper clips — under their skin in a behavior the Nationwide team labeled "self-embedding." More

Rolling into Rockford
from NASW IL
This past Wednesday was Jane Addams Day, an official state celebration in Illinois, honoring the "mother of social work." Joel Rubin, executive director of the National Association of Social Workers Illinois Chapter, drove the Rockford, Ill., to make a presentation updating the status of the National and State Social Work Reinvestment Initiative. Rubin also discussed the fact that the National NASW office recently transmitted its transition document to the Obama Administration called "Turning Priorities into Action: How the Social Work Profession Will Help." More

Helping Seniors Beat the Holiday Blues
from The Washington Post
While the holiday season is a festive time for many, it can cause depression for seniors who've lost loved ones or are having health or financial problems. For some seniors, this despondency can lead to suicide, according to the American Geriatrics Society, which noted that the 2004 suicide rate for Americans over the age of 65 was 14 per 100,000. More

No Matter the Weather, Agency Feeds the Hungry
from The Chicago Tribune
Every Tuesday morning they line up outside Sheldon Heights Church of Christ—in freezing rain or wicked cold—waiting for a box of groceries to help feed their families. For 20 years, this church pantry has distributed food to hundreds of families in Chicago's Roseland area. Recently, however, the growing demands each week have left the pantry's shelves nearly empty. More

Why Are Some People More Susceptible To Depression Than Others?
from The Science Daily
Research conducted by a team in Switzerland suggests that a family of genes involved in regulating the expression of other genes in the brain is responsible for helping us deal with external inputs such as stress. Their results, appearing in the journal Neuron, may also give a clue to why some people are more susceptible to anxiety or depression than others. More

A Lifeline for Families Faces Cuts
from The Washington Post
Due to a budget crisis, New York City plans to eliminate funding for all 12 adult day-care programs, which offers people with dementia and Alzheimer's art and music therapy, lunch, physical activities, and guided discussions and socializing. "The impact will be catastrophic," said Ellen Sarokin, the chief social worker at the Selfhelp Alzheimer's Resource Program in Queens, N.Y. More

"Nothing Wrong with the People"
from The Baltimore Sun
Molly McGrath had been chief operating officer of the Baltimore Department of Social Services for about nine months when she was promoted to the position of director in September. Since then, McGrath, 41, has been working to reform the huge agency. A career social worker, she says it takes simple things - like turning up the ringer volume on the phones - combined with the more ambitious statewide strategy of keeping children with their families, to make a difference. More

New Psychotherapy has Potential to Treat Majority of Cases of Eating Disorders
from Science Daily
Researchers have developed a new form of psychotherapy that has been shown to have the potential to treat more than eight out of ten cases of eating disorders in adults. This new "enhanced" form of cognitive behavioral therapy builds on and improves the current leading treatment for bulimia nervosa as recommended by the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence. More