California Justices Give State Independent Disability Laws Law.com
California Justices Give State Independent Disability Laws
Friday February 21, 2:00 am ET
Mike McKee, The Recorder

Claiming disability rights in California just got a lot easier.

On Thursday, the California Supreme Court ruled that the definition of a disability for employment and housing purposes is a condition that "limits" a major life activity, rather than the federal law's more stringent standard that it "substantially limits."


posted by Beauxbeaux's Daddy at 4:01 PM

Yahoo! News - Longer Use of Antidepressants Cuts Relapse Rate Longer Use of Antidepressants Cuts Relapse Rate
Fri Feb 21, 1:51 PM ET

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By John Griffiths

LONDON (Reuters Health) - Use of antidepressants for one year or more, in addition to the four to six months standard treatment, cuts the relapse rate in half for people with depression, according to a new report.


"Many patients remain at appreciable risk of recurrence after four to six months of treatment," said Professor Guy Goodwin, co-author of the study. "Another two years of antidepressant therapy will approximately half their risk of experiencing another episode."


In the study, Dr. John R. Geddes from the University of Oxford and colleagues in Japan and the US looked at 31 different trials involving more than 4,400 participants who had responded to treatment with antidepressants. The participants were then assigned to continued treatment or to placebo.


According to the report, further treatment for one to two years with antidepressants reduced the odds of relapse by 70%, with an average relapse rate of 18% for continued treatment and 40% for placebo. The findings are published this week in the British medical journal, The Lancet.


"The major fear for patients is of relapsing," said Goodwin. "We hope that our findings will offer them some reassurance."


The researchers suggest that further trials are needed in patients with milder illness, who may have a lower risk of relapse.


Goodwin noted that funding for the study came from the UK-based Wellcome Trust biomedical charity, and was independent of the pharmaceutical industry.


The researchers are now attempting to determine why patients choose not to take medications for extended periods of time.


"There is almost certainly a folk belief that long-term use of medication can cause harm or lead to addiction," he said. This belief may be common in doctors as well as patients, Goodwin said.


"We need to match the evidence with people's beliefs," he said.


Dr. Deenesh Khoosal from the Royal College of Psychiatrists said the paper was "an important contribution to the on-going debate on antidepressants." He also supported the need for further research.


According to the World Health Organization, depression is the leading cause of disability and the fourth leading contributor to the global burden of disease in 2000.


SOURCE: The Lancet 2003:361;653-661.
posted by Beauxbeaux's Daddy at 3:06 PM