Bloomberg News (3/20, Lopatto) reports, “Shock therapy, in use since 1937, appears to tamp down an overactive connection between two parts of the brain involved in emotional processing, thinking and concentration, according to a study released…by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.” Shock therapy “mimics a seizure, sending a brief electric current to the brain. ECT has the strongest supporting data among treatments for patients whose depression doesn’t respond to medication, according to the American Psychiatric Association.”

HealthDay (3/20, Storrs) reports that investigators “used functional MRI scans to look at brain activity in nine adults with severe depression before and after electroshock therapy.” The researchers “found that electroshock, or electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), dampens the connections between different areas of the brain in depressed people.” Also covering the story are Reuters (3/20, Kelland), BBC News (3/20), and the UK’s Daily Mail (3/20, Allen).

Related Links:

— “Shock Therapy’s Effect on Depression Discovered, Researchers Say,”Elizabeth Lopatto, Bloomberg, March 19, 2012.

HealthDay (3/17, Preidt) reported, “Among people with coronary stents, depression was linked to a 1.5 times greater risk of death during a seven-year study period,” according to a study that was scheduled to be presented at a European Society of Cardiology meeting. Researchers followed “1,234 coronary-artery-disease patients in the Netherlands with an average age 62, who underwent assessment for depression six months after receiving a coronary stent.” About 26 percent of the patients had been diagnosed with depression. The investigators found that, “after seven years of follow-up, 187 of the patients had died, including 23 percent of the patients with depression and 12 percent of the patients without depression.”

Related Links:

— “Depression Tied to Earlier Death in Heart Patients,”Robert Preidt, HealthDay, March 16, 2012.

The Boston Globe (3/19, Wen) reports, “Despite the challenges of creating intimate therapeutic space in a bustling school building, school officials in Boston and other cities are increasingly importing private clinicians to deliver much-needed mental health services to behaviorally troubled students.” The “arrangement helps districts avoid the expense of hiring more counseling staff while reducing the gap nationwide between the number of children who need psychological or emotional help and those who actually get it.”

Related Links:

— “Schools turn to private therapists for troubled students,”Patricia Wen, Boston.com, March 19, 2012.

In continuing coverage, ABC World News (3/18, story 2, 1:55, Muir) broadcast that on Sunday night, attorneys for 38-year-old Sergeant Robert Bales, the US soldier accused of murdering 16 Afghan civilians, “are arriving at Ft. Leavenworth in Kansas and plan to meet with him face to face for the very first time.” ABC, which noted that Bales could be facing a lifetime prison sentence or the death penalty, showed military law expert Charles Gittens saying post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) “could be a mitigating circumstance that could cause a jury to determine that the death penalty is not appropriate” for Bales. ABC added, “Getting an acquittal by reason of insanity and blaming it on post-traumatic stress is almost unheard of in military court. But Bales has a creative, high-profile legal team and this will not likely be a typical case.”

Many Americans Seem WilIing To Believe There Is Explanation Behind Killings. An AP (3/19, Breed) story run by at least 250 publications reports that many Americans “seem willing to believe that a 10-year US military veteran, worn down by four tours of combat and perhaps suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, simply snapped. That somehow there must be, if not an excuse, at least an explanation” for why Bales may have killed 16 Afghan civilians.

Bloomberg News (3/19, Robison, Nash, Vekshin) notes that a US official “has said family stress and alcohol may have combined to prompt the shootings” that Bales is alleged to have committed. Bloomberg adds, “Friends, neighbors and experts in post-traumatic stress disorder contend that something else must have driven a man they know as unfailingly polite to such horrific acts.” And Harry Croft, MD, “a former Army doctor who has reviewed about 7,000 cases” of PTSD, said, “To kill innocent women and children indicates to me that something happened during these killings that was simply more than the product of PTSD.”

Rieckhoff Hopes Killings Will Lead To More Help For Vets Returning From War. During an appearance on NBC’s Meet The Press (3/18, 10:58 a.m. ET) Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Of America Executive Director Paul Rieckhoff said mental health problems and unemployment are two issues facing vets returning from war. He added, “This country has been disconnected at an unprecedented level.” And, Rieckhoff said, if the recent killing of 16 Afghan civilians forces the American public “to really take note of that and get involved and do something about it, well then that’s a good thing. Let’s have that conversation.”

Related Links:

— “Bales Faced Losing Houses as He Fought 6,700 Miles Away,”Peter Robison, Bloomberg, March 19, 2012.

The Washington Post (3/16, Moyer) reports that Washington, DC, “JM-4 in DC Superior Court” is the “home of a 14-month-old juvenile court intended to help minors with mental health problems avoid the harsh consequences and limited rehabilitation opportunities in the juvenile system. Known formally as the juvenile mental health diversion court,” the new court appears to be reducing the recidivism rate of certain crimes among minors. “A report from the DC Department of Mental Health showed that 56 juveniles enrolled in diversion in 2011. Eight, or 14 percent, were rearrested, compared with 40 percent in regular court. Nationally, the re-arrest rate is 60 percent, according to the report.”

Related Links:

— “At D.C. Superior Court program, a focus on helping minors with mental health problems,”Justin Moyer, The Washington Post, March 15, 2012.

According to the Army News Service (3/16, Lopez), the US Army “will offer 285 service members a chance to have their mental health diagnoses re-evaluated,” after having their diagnoses “changed…to something other” than post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The service members were part of a group of approximately 1,600 service members who “received medical care at Madigan Army Medical Center at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.” The Army News Service adds, “‘What we’re looking at is wanting to make sure that our service members received the best care possible,’ said Surgeon General of the Army Lt. Gen. Patricia D. Horoho, before the House Appropriations Committee, Defense Subcommittee, March 8.”

Related Links:

— “Army OKs second look at 1,600 mental health cases, “C. Todd Lopez , .Ft Leaven Worth Lamp., March 15, 2012.

According to the Washington Post (3/16, Jaffe), the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has “reversed its decision to deny a life insurance claim to a Marine who committed suicide in 2010 following a long and largely hidden struggle” with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Marine Maj. Jeff Hackett “was the subject of a front-page story last month in The Washington Post that chronicled his troubles and the VA’s decision to deny the $400,000 claim to his widow and four sons.” In an interview, Hackett’s widow “said she was overwhelmed by the news, and grateful that the VA was able to ‘actually look at a problem and try to fix it.'”

Related Links:

— “Widow of Marine who committed suicide to receive life insurance claim, “Greg Jaffe , The Washington Post, March 15, 2012.

The Los Angeles Times (3/16, Roan) “Booster Shots” blog reports, “Abuse in childhood appears to be a particularly strong risk factor for developing alcohol addiction later in life,” according to a study published online March 15 in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. “Researchers at the National Institute on Drug Abuse surveyed 196 men and women who were inpatients being treated for alcohol dependence.” Notably, nearly “one-quarter of men and 33% of women reported a history of childhood physical abuse, while rates of sexual abuse were 12% for men and 49% for women.”

HealthDay (3/16, Preidt) points out, “Previous studies have found that alcoholics have higher self-reported rates of physical and sexual abuse in childhood than people in the general population, Markus Heilig, clinical director at the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said in a journal news release.”

Related Links:

— “Abuse in childhood common among alcohol addicts, study finds,”Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times , March 15, 2012.

The WUSF-TV Tampa, FL (3/15, O’Brien) website notes that Florida lawmakers have passed a bill that “authorizes each judicial circuit to set up a Veterans’ Court or program to handle the cases of veterans with psychological problems,” like substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder, “or traumatic brain injury as a result of their military service.” WUSF adds, “Four Veterans Courts are already operating in Florida and will serve as a blueprint for other jurisdictions that have seen an increase of military veterans involved in the justice system.”

Related Links:

— “Florida Lawmakers Authorize Veterans’ Courts, “Bobbie O’Brien, wusf, March 14, 2012.

CQ (3/15, Bristol, Subscription Publication) reports, “Health and Human Services officials haven’t issued final regulations for mental health parity because they want the requirements for such coverage to be part of the health care law implementation, the agency’s Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation Sherry Glied said Wednesday.” Glied said, “I don’t think it’s a hold-up around parity. Implementing the health care law includes ‘the challenge of building this regulatory infrastructure around the insurance industry that should incorporate [mental health benefits].'” She added, “Mental health should no longer stand out there as a separate thing. It should be part of the fabric of what we do.”