Seeing really is believing

(Medical Xpress) -- Want to know why sports fans get so worked up when they think the referee has wrongly called their team's pass forward, their player offside, or their serve as a fault?

Research from The University of Queensland's School of Psychology and the Queensland Brain Institute found people actually see their team's actions in a different way than they see those of other teams.

The study, which was published in the journal Human Brain Mapping, randomly divided volunteers into blue and red teams and let them judge the relative speeds of hand actions performed by the team they support, and their opponents, in a competitive situation.

Lead researcher Dr Pascal Molenberghs said results showed the brain responded differently when people saw actions of their team members compared to the opposing side, but that this was not as simple as a bias in opinion.

“Our study found that people quickly identified with their group and that they consistently judged their own team's actions as being a fraction of a second faster than those of non-team members, when in reality the actions were identical,” Dr Molenberghs said.

The research team, which also included PhD candidate Veronika Halász, Professor Jason Mattingley, Dr Eric Vanman and Associate Professor Ross Cunnington, then used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology to assess each participant's brain activity during the experiments.

“We explored two possible explanations for the bias: either people actually see their team's actions differently, or people see the actions as the same but make a conscious decision that their own team was faster,” he said.

“We found that the people who showed a bias in favour of their own team had a different brain response when they were watching the actions of team members compared to the actions of non-team members.

“But crucially, we found no difference in brain response during the conscious decision making part of the experiments.

“What this suggests is that we unconsciously perceive the actions of teams we are affiliated with differently than those performed by other teams.

“So contrary to common belief, people seem to be unaware that they are biased towards their own team.

“It's not simply that we decide to favour the actions of our team because we think they are the best. Rather, because we feel an affiliation with the team, our brain processes the actions of own team members more favourably.

“So next time you think an umpire has made an unfair call against your team, bear in mind that your team allegiance could be affecting the way your brain is processing what you saw.” 
Dr Molenberghs said the results had broader implications.

“Our findings could help explain discrimination between all kinds of groups - including those of race, gender and nationality - because our study suggests that we see the actions of non-group members differently and what we see is what we believe.”

Dr Molenberghs plans to build on the findings by conducting similar experiments with members of real teams to see how this affects the outcomes.

More information on the study is available here

 

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Provided by University of Queensland

"Seeing really is believing." February 1st, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-believing.html

 

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Robert Karl Stonjek

Just another pretty face: Professor investigates neural basis of prosopagnosia

These are examples of famous faces and non-famous faces used in Bradley Duchaine’s prosopagnosia experiment. Paired famous and non-famous faces are shown in corresponding positions. Credit: Bradley Duchaine

For Bradley Duchaine, there is definitely more than meets the eye where faces are concerned.

With colleagues at Birkbeck College in the University of London, he is investigating the process of facial recognition, seeking to understand the complexity of what is actually taking place in the brain when one person looks at another.

His studies target people who display an inability to recognize faces, a condition long known as prosopagnosia. Duchaine is trying to understand the neural basis of the condition while also make inferences about what is going wrong in terms of information processing—where in the stages that our brains go through to recognize a face is the system breaking down. A paper published in Brain details the most recent experimental results.

"We refer to prosopagnosia as a 'selective' deficit of face recognition, in that other cognitive process do not seem to be affected," explains Duchaine, an associate professor of psychological and brain sciences. "[People with the condition] might be able to recognize voices perfectly, which demonstrates that it is really a visual problem. In what we call pure cases, people can recognize cars perfectly, and they can recognize houses perfectly. It is just faces that are a problem."

The condition may be acquired as the result of a stroke, for example. But in the recent study, Duchaine focused on developmental prosopagnosia, in which a person fails to develop facial recognition abilities.

"Other parts of the brain develop apparently normally," Duchaine says. "These are intelligent people who have good jobs and get along fine but they can't recognize faces."

The primary experimental tool in this experiment was the electroencephalogram (EEG), which has the advantage of providing excellent temporal resolution—pinpointing the timing of the brain's electrical response to a given stimulus.

Duchaine and his colleagues placed a series of electrodes around the scalps of prosopagnosics and showed them images of famous faces and non-famous faces, recording their responses. As expected, many of the famous faces were not recognized.

They found an electrical response at about 250 milliseconds (ms) after seeing the faces. Among the control group of non-prosopagnosics, a real difference was observed between their responses to famous and non-famous faces. In half the prosopagnosics there was not. Surprisingly, however, in the other half of the prosopagnosic test subjects they did find a difference.

"On the many trials where half failed to categorize a famous face as familiar, they nevertheless showed an EEG difference around 250ms after stimulus presentation between famous and non-famous faces like normal subjects do. Normal subjects also show a difference between famous and non-famous about 600ms after presentation, but the prosopagnosics did not show this difference," Duchaine observes.

This pattern of results suggests the prosopagnosics unconsciously recognized the famous faces at an early stage (250ms) but this information was lost by the later stage (600ms). Duchaine concludes that even though they are not consciously aware that this is a famous face, some part of their brain at this stage in the process is aware and is recognizing that face, a phenomenon termed covert face recognition.

He suggests that the other half of the prosopagnosics, who showed no difference between responses at 250ms, were experiencing a malfunction in their face processing system already at this early stage suggesting a different type of prosopagnosia.

"The temporal lobe contains a number of face processing areas, so you can imagine there are many different ways that this system can malfunction. Not only can an area not work, connections between areas might not work yielding probably dozens of these different variants of this condition," he surmises.

Covert recognition has been demonstrated in prosopagnosia acquired through brain damage, but Duchaine's work is the first convincing demonstration of covert recognition in developmental prosopagnosia, the much more common form.

Provided by Dartmouth College

"Just another pretty face: Professor investigates neural basis of prosopagnosia." February 1st, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-pretty-professor-neural-basis-prosopagnosia.html

 

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Robert Karl Stonjek

Why the brain is more reluctant to function as we age

New findings, led by neuroscientists at the University of Bristol and published this week in the journal Neurobiology of Aging, reveal a novel mechanism through which the brain may become more reluctant to function as we grow older.

It is not fully understood why the brain's cognitive functions such as memory and speech decline as we age. Although work published this year suggests cognitive decline can be detectable before 50 years of age. The research, led by Professor Andy Randall and Dr Jon Brown from the University's School of Physiology and Pharmacology, identified a novel cellular mechanism underpinning changes to the activity of neurones which may underlie cognitive decline during normal healthy aging.

The brain largely uses electrical signals to encode and convey information. Modifications to this electrical activity are likely to underpin age-dependent changes to cognitive abilities.

The researchers examined the brain's electrical activity by making recordings of electrical signals in single cells of the hippocampus, a structure with a crucial role in cognitive function. In this way they characterised what is known as "neuronal excitability" — this is a descriptor of how easy it is to produce brief, but very large, electrical signals called action potentials; these occur in practically all nerve cells and are absolutely essential for communication within all the circuits of the nervous system.

Action potentials are triggered near the neurone's cell body and once produced travel rapidly through the massively branching structure of the nerve cell, along the way activating the synapses the nerve cell makes with the numerous other nerve cells to which it is connected.

The Bristol group identified that in the aged brain it is more difficult to make hippocampal neurones generate action potentials. Furthermore they demonstrated that this relative reluctance to produce action potential arises from changes to the activation properties of membrane proteins called sodium channels, which mediate the rapid upstroke of the action potential by allowing a flow of sodium ions into neurones.

Professor Randall, Professor in Applied Neurophysiology said: "Much of our work is about understanding dysfunctional electrical signalling in the diseased brain, in particular Alzheimer's disease. We began to question, however, why even the healthy brain can slow down once you reach my age. Previous investigations elsewhere have described age-related changes in processes that are triggered by action potentials, but our findings are significant because they show that generating the action potential in the first place is harder work in aged brain cells.

"Also by identifying sodium channels as the likely culprit for this reluctance to produce action potentials, our work even points to ways in which we might be able modify age-related changes to neuronal excitability, and by inference cognitive ability."

More information: The research, entitled 'Age-related changes to Na+ channel gating contribute to modified intrinsic neuronal excitability' by Andrew D Randall, Clair Booth and Jon T Brown, is published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging and funded by Pfizer who are long-standing collaborators with Randall and Brown. The paper is available to download: http://www.science … 458011005756

Provided by University of Bristol

"Why the brain is more reluctant to function as we age." February 1st, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-brain-reluctant-function-age.html

 

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Robert Karl Stonjek

New evidence touch-sensing nerve cells may fuel 'ringing in the ears'

U-M researcher Susan Shore and graduate student Seth Koehler discuss hearing data. Credit: University of Michigan Health System

We all know that it can take a little while for our hearing to bounce back after listening to our iPods too loud or attending a raucous concert. But new research at the University of Michigan Health System suggests over-exposure to noise can actually cause more lasting changes to our auditory circuitry – changes that may lead to tinnitus, commonly known as ringing in the ears.

U-M researchers previously demonstrated that after hearing damage, touch-sensing "somatosensory" nerves in the face and neck can become overactive, seeming to overcompensate for the loss of auditory input in a way the brain interprets – or "hears" – as noise that isn't really there.

The new study, which appears in the Feb. 1 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, found that somatosensory neurons maintain a high level of activity following exposure to loud noise, even after hearing itself returns to normal.

The findings were made in guinea pigs, but mark an important step toward potential relief for people plagued by tinnitus, says lead investigator Susan E. Shore, Ph.D., of U-M's Kresge Hearing Research Institute and a professor of otolaryngology and molecular and integrative physiology at the U-M Medical School.

"The animals that developed tinnitus after a temporary loss in their hearing after loud noise exposure were the ones who had sustained increases in activity in these neural pathways," Shore says. "In the future it may be possible to treat tinnitus patients by dampening the hyperactivity by reprogramming these auditory-touch circuits in the brain."

In normal hearing, a part of the brain called the dorsal cochlear nucleus is the first stop for signals arriving from the ear via the auditory nerve. But it's also a hub where "multitasking" neurons process other sensory signals, such as touch, together with hearing information.

During hearing loss, the other sensory signals entering the dorsal cochlear nucleus are amplified, Shore's earlier research found. This overcompensation by the somatosensory neurons, which carry information about touch, vibration, skin temperature and pain, is believed to fuel tinnitus in many cases.

Tinnitus affects up to 50 million people in the United States and millions more worldwide, according to the American Tinnitus Association. It can range from intermittent and mildly annoying to chronic, severe and debilitating. There is no cure.

It especially affects baby boomers, who, as they reach an age at which hearing tends to diminish, increasingly find that tinnitus moves in. The condition most commonly occurs with hearing loss, but can also follow head and neck trauma, such as after an auto accident, or dental work. Tinnitus is the number one disability afflicting members of the armed forces.

The involvement of touch sensing (or "somatosensory") nerves in the head and neck explains why many tinnitus sufferers can change the volume and pitch of the sound by clenching their jaw, or moving their head and neck, Shore explains.

While the new study builds on previous discoveries by Shore and her team, many aspects are new.

"This is the first research to show that, in the animals that developed tinnitus after hearing returned to normal, increased excitation from the somatosensory nerves in the head and neck continued. This dovetails with our previous research, which suggests this somatosensory excitation is a major component of tinnitus," says Shore, who serves on the scientific advisory committee of the American Tinnitus Association.

"The better we understand the underlying causes of tinnitus, the better we'll be able to develop new treatments," she adds.

More information: "Noise over-exposure alters long-term somatosensory-auditory processing in the dorsal cochlear nucleus – possible basis for tinnitus-related hyperactivity?" Journal of Neuroscience, Feb. 1, 2012.

Provided by University of Michigan

"New evidence touch-sensing nerve cells may fuel 'ringing in the ears'." February 1st, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-evidence-touch-sensing-nerve-cells-fuel.html

 

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Robert Karl Stonjek

SHIRDI SAI BABA ARDAAS PRACTICED AND RECORDED AT HOME BY SHIV JOSHI

Why Should I Live

 

“There are many faults associated with ending my life, and if I remain alive I can find all-auspiciousness. Therefore, I will keep my life-breath, for by living success is assured.” (Hanuman, Valmiki Ramayana, Sundara Kand, 13.47)

vināśe bahavo doṣā jīvan prāpnoti bhadrakam ||
tasmāt prāṇān dhariṣyāmi dhruvo jīvati samgamaḥ |

Here the valiant warrior, Shri Hanuman

 

, lays down a vital piece of information that is applicable to every single human being, irrespective of the time period of their existence and their mental state of mind. Who hasn’t been so dejected that they thought of ending their life, fleeing from the relentless pressures applied by material existence? The family, friends, work, school, and so many other forces constantly ask us to perform at peak levels, to maintain our obligations, to deliver when times are tough. With death, there is no such pressure, nor does one have to witness the unpleasant aftermath that follows failure.

What was Hanuman so down about? The completion of a seemingly impossible task rested in his hands. A beautiful princess had gone missing several months back and it was up to a band of warriors to find her. The person who took her obviously didn’t want to be found, and he didn’t really leave any clues as to his location. Through scouring the globe, one of the search parties eventually came upon some valuable intelligence. Sita Devi

 

, the daughter of King Janaka, was being held on the island of Lanka, the home of the powerful king Ravana.

One slight problem though. The members who came upon this information could not reach Lanka, as the island was so far away from the mainland. They could try to construct a boat, but that would take a long time, and time was of the essence. Hanuman, the most powerful of the members in the party, was the only one capable of leaping across the ocean. He took his perch on top of a mountain and then thrust himself into the air. Coursing through the skies, he looked so beautiful. The source of his beauty was not only his outward appearance but also the mission he was undertaking. The dastardly Ravana had a ghoulish figure which matched the nature of his activities. He had flown in an aerial car with Sita to Lanka, but now Hanuman was launching himself through the very same skies.

Hanuman was exhilarated upon reaching Lanka. He then found a way to infiltrate the city without being noticed. Yet after searching for so long, he still couldn’t find Sita. This is where dejection set in. The pressures applied to him were mounting more now that he was so close to victory. It is one thing to lose at the outset, knowing that you didn’t have a chance. It is more heartbreaking to fail just when you think you have overcome all the obstacles placed in front of you.

To make matters worse, Hanuman mentally reviewed what might happen should he return to his group a failure. The warriors in his group were forest-dwellers, or Vanaras. They lived in the Kishkindha forest, where ruled the king of Vanaras, Sugriva. Waiting with Sugriva were Rama and Lakshmana

 

, two famous princes of the Ikshvaku dynasty. Sita was Rama’s wife, so Hanuman was essentially acting on Rama’s behalf. Just imagine a group of individuals staying at home and waiting to hear news on the mission. It is similar to being in the waiting room of a hospital to hear how a difficult surgical operation has gone for an ailing friend or family member.

Hanuman did not want to return to Kishkindha with bad news. He had settled in his mind that everyone would die if he told them that he had failed. Rama would quit His body, then Lakshmana, then the whole royal family living in Ayodhya. With Rama gone, Sugriva would soon follow, and then all the monkeys and their wives after that. In this way Hanuman ruled out returning home.

The next option was suicide. Not the kind where one jumps off of a ledge or overdoses on drugs, but rather the voluntary quitting of the body through yoga. The soul is the identifiable aspect within a particular life form, and since it is separate from the body, whenever the soul exits, the living being goes from being alive to being dead. The soul continues its existence, and where it ends up next is determined by the consciousness at the precise moment that the previous life ended.

In ancient times men could choose when they were going to die by sitting in meditation and liberating the self from the body. This was the method considered by Hanuman, for he had mastery over every siddhi of yoga. A siddhi is a perfection, so when practicing yoga properly, the fruit is an ability to do something amazing. A real yogi can become lighter than air, become large or small in stature, or quit his body whenever he chooses. These events took place in the Treta Yuga, the second time period of creation, so it was not out of the ordinary for people to practice yoga properly.

Hanuman figured he’d either sit in trance and end his life or just dive into the ocean. Living off nothing but the fruits falling off trees, he wouldn’t enjoy his remaining time on earth. He didn’t want to take the option of quitting to enjoy life instead, for how could he be happy knowing that others were waiting to hear from him? Ah, but this would be the key factor that would eventually keep him going. Not that he was worried about his own stature or what would bring him fame. No, Hanuman was always concerned with the welfare of Rama, Lakshmana, Sita and all of his other beloved friends and well-wishers.

In the above referenced verse from the Ramayana

 

, Hanuman makes a wonderful observation that everyone can take to heart. By ending his life prematurely, there would be so many bad things that would result. For starters, he would have abandoned the mission. A soldier must fight until the very end, not being concerned with victory or defeat. This level of detachment should be the goal for every person who is engaged in fruitive activity or just carrying out their occupational duties. If we get too elated over victory, we will have a difficult time dealing with trouble. If we become too dejected over defeat, how will we ever succeed? The house takes a long time to build, as each component must be layered upon one another, with eventually a full housing structure resulting. If there is dejection over a small setback, a day where things don’t go your way, how could the final piece ever be built?

In addition to the black mark of having abandoned the mission, Hanuman would have to face the fact that others would lose their hope of finding Sita and thus happiness in life. He would quit and give up his body, but what would happen to everyone else? They would just sit there and hope for no reason? They would wonder, “What has happened to Hanuman? Did he find Sita? Did he fail in his mission? How can Hanuman fail? No one is more powerful than him. What could be taking him so long?”

This very scenario went through Hanuman’s mind, thus leading him to the conclusion that the quitting option was fraught with peril. On the other hand, staying alive at least gave him a shot at success. He wasn’t guaranteed of victory by remaining alive, but ending his life ensured that there would be no chance. It is similar to how athletes playing in an important tournament will say that they can’t win the tournament in the first week, but they can lose it. This means that if they don’t take the early opponents seriously, they will have no chance for the prize at the end. As long as they can stay in the tournament, they have a chance to win.

While these points may seem obvious to the sober observer, to the person in the heat of battle fighting the mission the rules and principles to live by don’t always remain at the forefront of consciousness. With remaining alive and trying, Hanuman had a chance to find Sita and return the information of her location to the party back home in Kishkindha. This is exactly what he would do. His courage and bravery know no limits; he is the dearmost friend of Sita, Rama and Lakshmana. Hanuman’s feats are so legendary that they are still talked about to this day, and he is celebrated and honored by so many around the world.

If his mission were ordinary, Hanuman would still be worthy of praise based on his heroic feats. But since he was working to please the Supreme Lord, Shri Rama, and His pleasure potency, Sita Devi, Hanuman’s heroic acts were part of the discipline known as bhakti-yoga, or devotional service

 

. As mentioned before, yoga has to do with detaching the soul from the body and keeping it fixed in trance. But this doesn’t mean that one has to sit quietly and meditate all the time. There is another soul residing within the body known as the Paramatma, or Supersoul. This entity is non-different from God; it is His kind expansion accompanying the individual soul, or atma, wherever it goes. The first step in yoga is detaching from the senses, and the culmination is linking the individual soul to the Supersoul.

The best way to create this link is through a bond of love, which is bhakti-yoga’s aim. In this sense, quiet meditation, chanting

 

 sacred mantras like, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

 

”, reading Vedic texts, attending temple gatherings, and other devotional activities can constitute yoga. Even fighting and frantically searching through an enemy territory can be considered yoga. God is a singular entity, but to please those who follow bhakti He kindly appears on earth every now and then in different forms. As Lord Rama

 

, God created scenarios where others could take up service to Him, for this would bring them tremendous happiness.

As we saw with Hanuman, service to God can actually increase the pressure for finding success. Hanuman’s mission is the same one given to all living entities, though they may not necessarily have to follow the same course of action. Conditioned life, which is marked by the soul accepting a temporary body that it has nothing to do with, continues for only as long as permanent yoga is not established. Does this mean that Hanuman had periods in his life where he wasn’t attached to God in a mood of pure love? For the eternally liberated souls, there is never a chance for falling out of the mood of bhakti. But this doesn’t mean that they stay safely tucked away somewhere, hidden from society. The divine descents mark the beginning act of a wonderful drama to be played out in a carefully choreographed sequence of events. The Lord fills the roles with the most capable actors, people who are fully immersed in God consciousness.

Hanuman’s role in the Ramayana gives a real-life example of how to overcome obstacles and find success in life. Attaining perfect yoga in one lifetime is very difficult. Lord Krishna

 

, the same Shri Rama but in a different visible form, states in the Bhagavad-gita

 

 that it takes many lifetimes for a person to even endeavor for self-realization, and then to find success from there is equally as rare. Yet the unsuccessful yogi does not waste any effort. If he has not succeeded in purifying his consciousness by the time of death, he gets to resume his chase in the next life from the same point where he left off. This benefit is exclusive to bhakti. If we fail to complete a building we were working on, we don’t get to start over in the next life. Everything is erased at the time of death except for consciousness, the soul’s innermost desires.

Quitting life prematurely is not the answer because it removes the potential for success. There is no way to predict what type of body the soul will receive next, especially if a person is driven by lamentations over material failures. On the other hand, as long as the vital force is within the body, there is a chance to please the Supreme Lord. This can be the rallying cry that gets us out of bed each morning. “Let me get up so that I can at least try to please God today. This is not possible, as I am the most fallen person, but since I’m alive I might as well make the attempt. Let me chant the glorious names of my beloved Lord, sound vibrations which are equal to Him. No other person is as kind to give everyone the chance to love Him without fail. There is no way to smother God with too much love. He will accept whatever I offer Him, so why should I not take full advantage of that? We human beings are brimming with potential for the outpouring of so much affection that no one will believe that any person could love that much. In our material service we are checked by the beneficiary’s ability to accept our love and also by the effect that behavior will have on the relationship. With Shri Rama, however, the more love we offer, the more endeared to Him we become, like the mother cow

 

 that produces heaps of milk when she sees her dear children crying for attention. Therefore let me arise today and give my love to God in a mood of bhakti.”

By thinking in this way, the devotees give themselves a chance at remaining vibrant, day after day. Surely there will be bumps along the road, but that comes with the territory, as there are many Ravanas in the world trying to bring unhappiness to the innocent. They don’t want to worship the Supreme Lord; they would rather everyone worship them. But while there are many evil creatures, there are also people who follow in Hanuman’s line, taking devotional service to be life’s mission. To them Hanuman is a teacher, an honorable personality, and a beloved figure who should be remembered every day. He is loved by Rama so much because of the great concern he takes into every action and his desire to remain alive to please God and His family. By harboring the same love for Hanuman, Shri Rama and His beautiful wife Sita Devi will bestow all fortune upon us, ensuring that success in bhakti will come.

In Closing:

A grave mistake I will commit,

If prematurely my body I quit.

My chances for success to ground to fall,

So the path of quitting riddled with faults.

If you remain alive there is still the chance,

To please God, stature of bhakti to enhance.

Thus Hanuman chose to continue to be,

Guaranteed that Sita he would finally see.

His example is the one for all to follow,

Practice bhakti, in misery don’t wallow.

Steve Jobs Cartoons!!

 

Vt. struggles to rebuild mental health system

In this Feb. 17, 2005, file photo, the Brattleboro Retreat is seen in Brattleboro, Vt. A Vermont sheriff is expressing frustration and worry over what his deputies are seeing of the mental health system now that the Vermont State Hospital has been closed due to flooding from Irene. Windham County Sheriff Keith Clark wrote to Mental Health Commissioner Patrick Flood to say the system has become a severe burden on his staff and that patients in need aren't getting the care they deserve. Clark writes of one incident at Christmas when a patient was transported from St. Johnsbury to Brattleboro, where there was no bed available in a psychiatric facility. (AP Photo/Jim Cole, File)

(AP) -- The remnants of Hurricane Irene did what policymakers hadn't been able to accomplish for more than a decade - close the state's antiquated psychiatric hospital.

The storm flooded much of the state Aug. 28, including the complex containing the Vermont State Hospital in the north-central town of Waterbury, but it's still raining down on the mental health system.

It has been felt in the emergency rooms and medical wards of community hospitals, where the state's most acutely mentally ill residents, who formerly would have gone to the Waterbury, have put new stresses on staff.

"I have witnessed a hospital floor I used to be proud to work on ... become an acute, chaotic, stressful environment that is not conducive to productive treatment for any patient," Christina Sclafani, a registered nurse at Burlington's Fletcher Allen Health Care hospital, said in recent testimony to the Legislature.

It's been felt by county sheriffs and their deputies, who find themselves transporting the mentally ill to far corners of the state in search of care, only to end up standing guard round the clock for days in hospital rooms, waiting for a psychiatric bed to open up.

"I've got a great staff, but they're not therapists, they're not mental health counselors, and I don't want them to be," said Windham County Sheriff Keith Clark. When the mental health system has a patient for which it can't find a placement, "someone hits the default button and the sheriff gets called."

Emergency room doctors from other hospitals have told lawmakers of patients assaulting staff members or making threats but being left unguarded when the officer standing watch is called away for an emergency.

Vermont's mental health system had been in cool crisis for more than a decade. The Vermont State Hospital had so many problems it was decertified and had lost federal funding in 2003. Two patient suicides that year were blamed on outdated features and staff failings. One woman hanged herself with an overlooked shoelace, and a man hanged himself with a belt secured in a gap between a bookcase and a wall.

A succession of governors looked for ways to close the hospital, without success.

Gov. Peter Shumlin says he wants to turn the now-hot crisis into an opportunity. He has launched a plan to replace the 54-bed Waterbury hospital with a new, smaller locked facility, and expanded psychiatric wards at two hospitals that have such units. He also wants to move patients deemed eligible to less secure settings like group homes.

"I think we've put together an integrated plan that's going to ensure patients come first, that's going to ensure that we can provide better mental health services, cutting-edge mental health services, that are community based, only using acute beds when we need to," Shumlin said.

Former staff at the Waterbury hospital, many of whom have followed patients to other facilities around the state and have been working away from home for days at a time, argued that they had the special training and experience - and professional synergy between them - to care for the most acutely ill patients.

The state employees union has argued that the shift to a smaller state institution and greater use of psychiatric units in nonprofit hospitals amounts to privatization of what had been considered a crucial government service.

Despite the problems, some people are happy to see the Waterbury hospital closed.

Xenia Williams, a former Waterbury patient who went on to help to care for patients for Washington County Mental Health services, said she recently attended a meeting with five displaced patients.

"All five of them were extremely outspoken about how glad they were to be out of VSH and what a horrible place it was," she said. "The few I've talked to who are sorry it's no longer available are people who appear to have real problems with self-esteem. They've bought the idea that they're some sort of inferior person who doesn't deserve to be treated well."

Vermont's mental health commissioner, Patrick Flood, said he sees a big opportunity for the state.

With Waterbury's patients moved elsewhere, the state suddenly is able to collect the federal Medicaid matching funds that weren't available when they were housed at the decertified hospital.

Under Shumlin's plan, Flood said, the state will be able to reduce the $22.5 million a year it was spending on the Waterbury hospital to $16.7 million, but now draw federal matching money, bringing the total available to about $41 million.

"Now we are going to be able to meet an awful lot of unmet needs in the state," Flood said, "the problems we've had in corrections," with mentally ill residents showing up in Vermont's prisons, "the problems we see on the streets of Burlington with homelessness."

"The idea that we can invest an additional $20 million in services for people with mental illness is amazing. It's what people have been talking about for a very long time," Flood said.

©2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

"Vt. struggles to rebuild mental health system." January 31st, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-vt-struggles-rebuild-mental-health.html

 

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