Health information community networks.

The author supports the development of health information community networks (HICNs) as an important tool for use by individuals and community groups. HICNs can enable citizens, organizations, and communities to exchange geographically based information on community health status. Through HICNs, individuals and groups will be able to share information, prioritize issues, resolve conflicts, estimate the impact of policy initiatives, and plan, organize, manage, and evaluate programs and projects that deal with community health issues.

Confessions of a psychotherapist.

The evolution of a therapist is the result of personal style, training, and social context. The author describes how his active involvement with people, love of telling stories, and desire to interact with others set the stage for his training as a psychoanalyst. He also discusses how the specific needs of patients drew him toward more active interaction with them, both within and outside therapeutic sessions.

The future of psychiatry: communities in action.

Psychiatry and psychotherapy are in the midst of a turbulent time. The increasing control of cost-cutting health maintenance organizations over health care delivery has resulted in a monumental shift in the field. Primary care providers prefer to treat psychiatric disorders with medication instead of psychotherapy.

Can mental illness be prevented under managed care?

Ideally, managed care should force a focus on all the issues involved in prevention and treatment. Unfortunately, the decisions in managed care are based on costs, along with the intervention techniques, as the most important criteria in choice of treatment. Medical treatment accounts for only 10 percent of health.