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30 Jan 2011

Letters to the Editor

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Letters to the Editor

A nice edition of the Newsletter (July, 2010). As an ASAP member going back many, many years, I found it very informative, interesting, and refreshing. I must say that Joe Kenan’s note brought me back to over 20 years ago, when those of us on the Executive Council (I am a Past President) expressed very similar feelings – hemorrhaging funds and members and concern about whether ASAP would last. Many of the past issues appear to have been resolved – non-physician members, less expensive meetings, less frequent publication of the Annals. Hopefully (and likely) membership (in the early 80′s we were over 1000 members) will reverse itself. I say likely because we have managed to get through bad times and we still exist. Thanks also to Lois Flaherty for her continuing work on the Annals.

Alex Weintrob, MD

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Just a brief note to say that I thought the Summer 2010 ASAP Newsletter was the best I’ve seen in a long time.  In fact, it was so interesting, I essentially read it from cover-to-cover when I had only planned to skim through it!

Other than the picture of me making me appear to be chubbier than my internal self-image, I enjoyed the contents and the format.  Keep up the good work!

Yours,

Perry Bach, M.D.

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Hi and thanks for the published article. Nice work on the newsletter.

However, none of the references are shown in the text.

Dean De Crisce, MD

Editor’s note: We deeply apologize for this oversight. For those interested in a copy of Dr. DeCrisce’s complete article, with foot-noted text references, please contact me directly at gpbmd@aol.com.

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30 Jan 2011

State of the Organisation…. from President Joe Kenan

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Joe Kenan and Frank WIlliamsFrom The President…

BY Joseph Kenan, M.D.

When first I joined ASAP seven years ago, I saw the organization as a strong, vibrant, and thriving organization.  The annual meetings were first-class, hosted at amazing hotels with excellent facilities.  The President stayed in a Presidential Suite at the host hotel, complements of ASAP.  The Board of Governors enjoyed splendid lunches and dinners, gratis, during the Board of Directors meeting.  A several-hundred-page hardcover “annual” was produced yearly and sent to every member … etc., etc. … ***CHA-CHING***  Ahhh … The good old days.

I recall, next, attending my first Board of Governors’ meeting and learning the awful truth: the organization was hemorrhaging money.  Although once the magnificent organization had a magnanimous reserve of over a hundred thousand dollars, the account was quickly nearing zero.  Yearly expenditures outpaced receivables by bounds.  Board Members openly “hoped” there would be an organization in a few years.  I remember, during that meeting, eying the door and wondering how I could politely excuse myself and never return.

I’m glad I stuck it out.  Over the years, the Board has made the necessary cuts to keep ASAP alive.  Although I miss some of the perks and lavish displays of wealth, I am happier that the State of the Organization is the best it has been in years.

The 2010 ASAP annual conference was an unqualified success.  We had more attendees than in any recent year; the venue at Cedars-Sinai was free, compliments of Psychological Trauma Center; the Cedar-Sinai Department of Addiction Services made a generous contribution of $10,000 to pay for CME; Joe Kenan M.D. and Associates provided the food; and the cocktail hour was hosted by The California Society for Adolescent Psychiatry.

Most important, the conference was a BLAST.  Bobby Trendy, our celebrity guest-host for the Saturday reception at Eleven NightClub, WILL NOT STOP TALKING about all the amazing people he met and hopes that you all contact him to purchase pieces from his OVERPRICED and LUXURIOUS furniture collection.

Due to what turned out to be a fortuitous error, our reservation at THE MAGIC CASTLE was screwed up, which necessitated A VERY BRIEF meeting devoid of the usual pontifications.

The OSCAR-watching party at the ABBEY NIGHTCLUB was off the hook!  Yes, that was PARIS HILTON in the VIP section.  (The event didn’t cost ASAP a dime.)

Anyone who missed the local community AWARDS SHOW at the PLAYBOY MANSION missed the CHANCE OF A LIFETIME. ASAP took the award for “BEST NATIONAL ORGANIZATION SERVING ADOLESCENTS” during the event.  Thank you MR. HEFNER, for hosting us.  You are the consummate host.

Finally, ABAP (American Board of Adolescent Psychiatry) and ASAP merged.  The ASAP governing board has established a new council on Board Certification in Adolescent Psychiatry with our own Richard Ratner, M.D. as council chair. The council is working to develop a new exam at this time but board certification for Adolescent Psychiatry is ALIVE AND WELL.

Mark your calendars: the next ASAP conference is MARCH 26 and 27, 2011 in New York.  Dean DeCrisce is our Program Chair.  He has rented out Lincoln Center and booked Tony Robbins as our keynote speaker; LADY GAGA will perform; and the event will be catered by Nobu (A LITTLE JOKE…)

And that’s the State of the Organization.  Thank you. Good night.

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30 Jan 2011

A Special Word of Thanks….

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A Special Word of Thanks….

The Governing Board wishes to express or deepest appreciation and gratitude to ASAP President Joe Kenan, M.D .for his special efforts to make the 2010 annual meeting in Los Angeles a success. In particular, we thank you for arranging the special evening events and hosting us with refreshments paid at your expense. It was great, Joe, and you have our deepest thanks.   Dean DeCrise, Greg Bunt, Sheldon Glass, Greg Barclay, Manuel Lopez-Leon, Gregg Dwyer, Chris Thompson, Adam Raff, Frances Bell &  Fabian Saleh

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30 Jan 2011

From the Editor…

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BY Gregory P. Barclay, M.D.

In this summer edition of our society newsletter, I am pleased to introduce a lead article written by our President-Elect, Dean DeCrise, M.D. This article relates to the implications of Megan’s Law when applied to adolescents who commit sexual offenses. This is one of several controversial issues in which ASAP is considering taking a position and for which we have reactivated our newly formed Committee for Legislative and Judicial Affairs. I asked Dean to prepare this article so that our membership have a better understanding of the Megan’s Law issue before the council takes it up at our next business meeting. For those of you who were at our 2010 annual scientific meeting in Los Angeles, Dr. DeCrise’s article summarizes his excellent presentation on the treatment of adolescent sexual offenders. And, for those of you unable to attend our meeting, please don’t despair. We have also included Dom Ferro’s  summary of  the outstanding keynote presentation given by Schonfeld Award Recipient Harold Koplewitz, M.D. as well as our usual photo gallery of presenters and ASAP members hard at work in Los Angeles.

All of this edition’s articles and book reviews have a common connection – the developing adolescent brain. With the advent of functional MRI and other imaging procedures, there is now undeniable proof of what we who work with adolescents know from clinical experience: The adolescent brain is in a state of massive change and uneven development, the result of pruning with increased white matter and diminishing gray matter through to age 24 or later. Hence, their impulsivity, emotional over-reactivity, and cognitive immaturity have clearly established origins in brain development and are only influenced to a degree by hormones and sociocultural variables. This fact alone is of enormous significance to us as an organization established to advocate for adolescents, especially with the current trends to try adolescents who commit crimes as adults, invoking the death penalty for adolescent criminals, and, as Dr. DeCrise states in his summary, applying Megan’s Law to youthful sexual offenders.

In his president’s column, Dr. Joe Kenan describes the changes in ASAP’s membership and finances over the past decade. We are also sad to note the passing of some ASAP giants, Mike Kalogerakis, James Masterson, and Everett Dulit. The challenge before us at this time is how we can grow and adapt, as a society to advocate for adolescents with mental health and substance abuse problems, to meet current reality vs. the alternative of atrophying into irrelevance. It is key for our membership to become engaged and involved. ASAP membership is now open to non-psychiatric physicians and non-physician licensed mental health professionals, as well as continuing to offer reduced-cost membership to trainees. If we each recruited one member, our society would increase to 400 members! That alone might allow us some semblance of a return to those “hey days” conferences Dr. Kenan speaks of in his president’s column and grant us more legitimacy as an advocacy organization.  It might also allow us to print and mail our newsletter once again! We all know colleagues with a passion for working with teens, so what is holding us back? Do consider asking a colleague to join, plan to attend our annual meeting in New York March 26-27, 2011, pay your dues on time, and join a committee or council (we have openings on the Governing Board and the Committee for Legislative and Judicial Affairs).

Finally, I continue to welcome any contributions to our newsletter. Please ask any residents or students interested in getting something published to contact me. Or, if you have something of your own (including poetry) to submit, or have a passion for reading and writing book reviews, drop me a line at gpbmd@aol.com.

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30 Jan 2011

About Parental Alienation and DSM-V?

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Every adolescent psychiatrist should know about and thoroughly understand the condition of “mental alienation”.  A large group of mental health and legal professionals have submitted formal proposals to include parental alienation in DSM-V and ICD-11.  ASAP member, William Bernet, M.D., has organized this international effort.  Dr. Bernet says  “Our definition of parental alienation is:  a mental condition to which a child – usually one whose parents are engaged in a high-conflict divorce – allies himself or herself strongly with one parent (the preferred parent) and rejects a relationship with the other parent (the alienated parent) without legitimate justification.  There is nothing controversial about this definition.  Almost everyone who evaluates, treats, or conducts research on children of divorced parents agrees that parental alienation – as the concept is defined in our proposal – really exists and is a serious problem.”

You will soon be able to read the proposals regarding parental alienation. Look for: Parental Alienation Disorder and DSM-V, American Journal of Family Therapy, 2010, in press.  Also, for more information, contact william.bernet@vanderbilt.edu

or Joe Kenan, M.D.

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30 Jan 2011

From The President, Adam Raff

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2011-01-29_17-05-42From the President

Dear Society Members,

The executive committee and governing board of ASAP recently held its annual business meeting in Dallas and I want to share with you several of its important outcomes. First, after years of struggling to clarify some complicated financial issues that linked ASAP and its Board (ABAP, American Board of Adolescent Psychiatry), a merger has been successfully negotiated. The details include ABAP merging into ASAP as a semi-autonomous component of the latter, which will continue to carry out the duties and responsibilities and goals of ABAP. Since it will no longer exist as an independent organization, ABAP will be known as ASAP’s Council on Certification in Adolescent Psychiatry and will continue its primary function of promoting and maintaining ASAP board certification. ASAP’s obligation to this council will continue until the fiscal 2013 or the last re-certification of an ABAP diplomate, whichever occurs first. All ABAP funds will be set aside exclusively for expenses incurred by the Council on Certification in Adolescent Psychiatry to be expended upon the approval of the ASAP President and The Council on Certification in Adolescent Psychiatry. In addition to reconciling important outstanding debts to ASAP, we hope that this merger, long in the making, will also serve to create a more integrated administration and maintenance of certification as well as act as a spring board for coordinating new examinations for future certification.  Also, in the best spirit of this merger, we hope to encourage those ABAP diplomates, who have let their ASAP membership lapse, to rejoin the society at a reduced rate of $195.00.

Second, our society’s finances, while not robust by any measure, appear to have withstood significant debts, helping us to maintain some modest profits made at our last meeting. In fact, despite our perennial struggle with increasing new membership, our standing membership has stabilized. I believe this was due, in part, to our group’s decision to coordinate a more affordable annual conference while still providing high quality presentations. The fact that we can no longer enjoy the benefits of holding longer meetings in more luxurious venues has not escaped me and some of you who attended in New York City.   I can only attempt to reassure those who expressed their disappointment that such program decisions, based on our finances, were not easily made but have been essential for us to survive to see better days.

Third, ASAP has a proud history of participating in and taking positions on a range of major legal issues and health care policies that have impacted our adolescent population. Our group has been notably present in national issues such as the death penalty for adolescents.  To that end, we are hoping to stimulate society members to participate in submitting ideas and that our community can promote in the form of ASAP position papers or briefs.

Finally, please reserve the dates, March 6-7, 2010 for the ASAP annual conference at Cedars-Sinai Hospital, West Hollywood/Beverly Hills, CA. The two-day program, to be coordinated by our own Dr. Joseph Kenan, will focus on themes of trauma in the practice of adolescent psychiatry. It should be a wonderful meeting and I look forward to seeing you all there.

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30 Jan 2011

Frank Williams, Joe Kenan

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Joe Kenan and Frank WIlliams

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30 Jan 2011

Adam Raff, Joe Kenan

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2011-01-29_17-05-42

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30 Jan 2011

Ginger Williams, Frank Williams, Joe Kenan

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2011-01-29_17-04-42

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29 Jan 2011

Presidential Column: From the President Joe Kenan M.D. (Fall 2010 Newsletter)

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State of ASAP by President Joe Kenan, M.D.

The State of ASAP is excellent. We are financially well off, and we have positioned ourselves to insure a vibrant future.  A NEW website is in development; we have gone green (and economical) by having our first Fall Business Meeting by teleconference; and our committees are in full force.

This year’s annual conference in New York City is organized by President-Elect Dean DeCrise, M.D.  The conference promises to be exciting and educational.  Start planning now! Rather than step on his punch line, I point you to read his column about the conference.

Suicide among Gay Adolescents

Major news agencies’ reporting of five suicides within three weeks resulted in a national focus on this issue. Prime time television shows including “Dancing with the Stars”, “360 Anderson Copper”, and “Glee” brought special attention as well.

Two particularly notable cases include:

  • Tyler Clementi, 18, was a student at Rutgers who jumped off the George Washington Bridge days after his roommate allegedly posted a video on the Internet taken from a hidden webcam of him having sexual relations with another man in his dormitory room. Rutgers University Professor Rob O’Brien revealed to ABC news that his was the second suicide at Rutgers this year. He said the first suicide also related to “sexual orientation” issue. Dr. O’Brien said, “Students have talked about their fears and talked about their need to have safe space and thus far the university hasn’t done anything of substance to address their concerns”. The interview appears at: http://abcnews.go.com/US/rutgers-campus-mourns-loss-18-year-tyler-tyler/story?id=11782324
  • California teen Seth Walsh was 13 years old when he hanged himself after years of harassment. “The harassment and the teasing and the taunting just became too much,” Seth’s grandmother, Judy Walsh said at his memorial service. Police interviewed some of the young people who taunted Seth the day he died, but determined that their actions do not constitute a crime. More details appear at: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20018025-504083.html
  • The statistics on the issue demonstrate the degree of the problem. One of the seminal works, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “Report of the Secretary’s Task Force on Youth Suicide:  Gay Male and Lesbian Youth Suicide” (1989), reports:

 

 

o   Suicide is the leading cause of death among gay and lesbian youth.

o   Gay and lesbian youth are 2 to 6 times more likely to attempt suicide than heterosexual youth.

o   Over 30% of all reported teen suicides each year are committed by gay and lesbian youth.

Most recent studies echo these results and focus additional causal factors. I bring your attention to one:

  • A 2009 study, “Family Rejection as a Predictor of Negative Health Outcomes,” reported that adolescents who were rejected by their families for being LGBT were 8.4 times more likely to report having attempted suicide.

The above finding demonstrates that family therapy is an essential intervention for psychiatrists working with LGBT adolescents to identify and correct real or perceived rejection.

ASAP Action

On November 10, Cindy McCain appeared in an anti-bullying public service video where she said, “Our political and religious leaders tell LGBT youth that they have no future”. Ellen DeGeneres said on her TV show “We have an obligation to change this.  There are messages everywhere that validate this kind of bullying and taunting and we have to make it stop.  We can’t allow this to take another kid’s life.”

ASAP does not have any official position on the issue, but ASAP’s Legislative and Judicial Affairs Committee is currently drafting a position statement for ultimate vote by the ASAP membership. As your president, I am interested in your views about this emerging mental health issue, either in person at our upcoming annual meeting or by email. Joe Kenan M.D.

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