• High stress teens are twice as likely as low stress teens to smoke, drink, get drunk and use illegal drugs.
• Often bored teens are 50% likelier than not often bored teens to smoke, drink, get drunk and use illegal drugs.
• Teens with $25 or more a week in spending money are nearly twice as likely as teens with less to smoke, drink and use illegal drugs, and more than twice as likely to get drunk.
• Teens exhibiting two or three of these characteristics are at more than three times at risk of substance abuse as those exhibiting none of these characteristics.
• More than half the nation's 12-17 years olds (52%) are a greater risk of substance abuse because of high stress, frequent boredom, too much spending money, or some combination of these characteristics.

  Website for Parents: The Anti Drug
  
  At this website you can find helpful information of Tips for Parents such as:
  * Be prepared
  * Be firm
  * Make clear rules
  * Make your position clear
  * Praise positive behavior
  * Learn to listen
  * Talk with your kids
  * Help with peer pressure
  * Open an ongoing conversation
  * Be a good role model
  * Be more involved
  * Truth
  * Love
  * Honesty
  * Communication
  
  Sponsored by: The National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign

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Identity theft: Protect your personal information

Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), identity theft complaints were up 53% in 2002 over 2001 figures. Of these, the biggest complaint is credit card fraud, making up 42% of identity theft complaints.

William Sloyer, Amica's Assistant Special Investigative Unit Manager, says that identity theft can be a particularly insidious crime because significant damage can be done to your personal accounts and credit history before any fraud is detected.

"Identity thieves have become very sophisticated in perpetrating these crimes," said Mr. Sloyer. "Obtaining your important account numbers can be as easy as going through your trash, a practice known as "dumpster diving". Or an unscrupulous person working at a shop or restaurant could steal your charge card number when you're making an ordinary purchase."

Once a person's identity has been compromised, it often becomes an expensive and time-consuming task to recover from the experience. Fortunately, you can thwart identity thieves by managing your personal information wisely. Here are some tips from the FTC to help minimize your risk for identity theft:

* Order copies of your credit report. Your credit report is chock full of personal and financial details, including your name, address, Social Security number, credit card accounts, and bill payment information. Examine your reports to make sure the information listed is accurate, and that no accounts have been opened without your authorization. Your should order these reports once a year so that you can catch mistakes or fraud as soon as possible.

* Don't give out personal information over the phone. This also applies to the Internet. Never give out your personal information unless you have initiated the contact and you're confident in the character or reputation of the parties with whom you are dealing. Identity thieves may pose as bank representatives, Internet service providers, or government agencies in order to get you to reveal your personal information.

* Guard your mail. Deposit outgoing mail in post office collection boxes, and remove incoming mail from your mailbox soon after it's delivered. You may want to consider buying a lockable mailbox. If you're going away on vacation, consider calling the US Postal Service at 800-275-8777 to request a vacation hold.

* Shred important documents. Because some thieves will pick through your trash, make sure to shred any document that lists your Social Security number, date of birth, driver's license number, phone number, or any type of financial account or utility account number. If you discard preappreved credit card offers, shred them also.

* Do not reveal essential information. If asked to provide personally revealing information by an employer, merchant, or creditor, find out why it is needed, how it will be used and secured, and whether it will be shared with others. Do not print your Social Security number, phone number, date of birth, or credit card account number on your checks.

* Guard your Social Security number. Don't carry your Social Security card with you, and give out your number only when absolutely necessary. If your Social Security number is being used as an account number anywhere, ask to use a different number when possible.

* Don't carry all of your important information in your wallet or purse. Carry only the identification, debit, and credit cards that you will actually need to use.

* Pay attention to your billing cycles. Call your creditors if your bills do not arrive as schedued. A missing bell could indicate that an identity thief has taken over an account and changed the billing address to cover it up.

* Be on your guard for promotional scams. Identity thieves often use phony offers to get you to give out your personal and financial information.

Mr. Sloyer also recomments that you cut up old credit cards into many pieces before depositing them into the trash. And you might consider changing your driver's license number if it is the same as your Social Security number. Many states offer randomly generated numbers as an alternative.

If you fal victim to identity theft, call the Federal Trade Commission Identity Theft Hotline toll-free at 877-IDTHEFT (877-438-4338). Counselors will take your complaint and outline the steps you need to take in order to resolve any credit-related problems that may occur.

For more information on minimizing your risk for identity theft or what to do if you fall victim to this crime, order the FTC publication entitled "ID Theft: When Bad Things Happens to Your Good Name." You can download the report or call 877-438-4338 for your copy.

Published for Policyholders & Friends of Amica

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Depression: Not for women only

A 48-year-old investment banker came to my office for a psychiatric consultation under duress. His wife had threatened to divorce him if he didn't. For at least a year he had been getting progressively more sullen, noncommunicative, and angry - and had begun to drink himself to sleep each night. It was immediately apparent to me that he was one of the millions of men in the U.S. who suffer from undiagnosed depression.

Most of those receiving treatment for the condition are women, but research and clinical observation indicate that the seeming predominance of depression in women is a result of gender bias and poor diagnosis. Of the estimated 6 million men in the U.S. who have a depressive disorder, many, if not most, may never be treated for their illness.

Like our investment banker, men are often incapable of acknowledging that they're depressed, unable to talk about it, and poorly diagnosed, especially by male doctors. The consequences can be deadly. One large epidemiological study found that 75% of people who sought professional help for serious depression were female, whereas 75% of those in the same population who committed suicide were male. As the researchers concluded, "Women seek help-men die."

Men Don't Seek Help

Why do so many men fail to recognize their own depression? In my opinion, the main reason is shame. Our culture expects men to be competent, optimistic, energetic, decisive, clear-thinking, happy, and, of couse, sexually aggressive - all characteristics that depression impairs. Men are expected to keep their doubts to themselves. Acknowledging depression may leave "red-blooded" men in our culture feeling weak and unmanly. Given society's expectations, it isn't surprising that men don't seek treatment.

Instead, men are more likely than women to "self-medicate" their discomfort with alcohol or drugs. Hiding their despair behind a facade of confidence or even arrogance, men may be prone to angry outbursts, conflicts at work, spousal abuse, or road rage. As a psychiatrist who treats many middle - and upper - income men, I see the consequences of untreated depression every day: ruined marriages, faltering careers, drinking problems, sexual dysfunction, loneliness, even physical ailments.

A Family Challenge

Family and close friends often suspect that a man is depressed long before he is willing to consider that possibility himself. If they say nothing, the problem is likely to get worse. On the other hand, if they try to talk to him about it, he will very likely feel threatened, judged, defensive, and even hostile. What can you do if you suspect that a male friend or family member is depressed?

Show him this article. Tell him he has a problem for which solutions are both available and effective. If he resists seeking help, encourage him to do so for the sake of the family and friends who care about him. This takes great courage on everyone's part, but the payoff can be a dramatic improvement, often in a matter of weeks. Eighty percent of depressed individuals recover with a proper combination of drug therapy and psychotherapy.

The mainstays of drug treatment for depression are the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs): citalopram (Celexa), fluoxetine (Prozac), paroxetine (Paxil), and sertraling (Zoloft). Most depressed men will benefit from taking one of those drugs, but only if the medication is used judiciously and in combination with talk therapy. I've found that individual psychotherapy often doesn't work well for depressed men because they have no idea how to perceive or talk about painful emotions. Involving a man's wife, if he has one, in his treatment can make a huge difference because she has probably been the target of the anger or withdrawal brought on by the underlying depression.

I also run all-male group-therapy sessions, which help my patients realize that they're not the only ones suffering from these symptoms and that it's alright to express their innermost feelings.

I initiated all of the above treatments for the investment banker. Through a combination of an SSRI, talk-therapy sessions that included his wife, and participation in a men's support group, not only did he recover from his depression, but his work performance improved and his marriage became more solid than ever. In addition, he found that he was able, for the first time in his adult life, to form close male friendships.

by John S. Tamerin, M.D.

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