HealthDay (8/6, Gray) reports that according to a study presented at a psychology meeting, “helping teens learn to count their blessings can actually play an important role in positive mental health.” The study, which “involved 700 students living in New York, aged 10 to 14,” revealed that “as gratitude increases, so do life satisfaction, happiness, positive attitudes, hope and even academic performance.”

Related Links:

— “Grateful Teens May Have Less Risk for Depression, Other Problems, “Barbara Bronson Gray, HealthDay, August 05, 2012.

MedPage Today (8/4, Petrochko) reported, “Whether or not a child maintains a treatment for mental health may depend on parents’ perceived benefits of that treatment,” according to a 573-participant study published in the August issue of the journal Psychiatric Services. Specifically, the “cohort study of parents and guardians of children receiving outpatient mental health services found those who saw treatment as providing ‘a lot’ of benefit (versus some or no benefit) to their child were significantly more likely to continue treatment at six-month follow-up, at an adjusted odds ratio of 1.96 (95% CI 1.19 to 3.21, P=0.008),” researchers reported. Notably, “medication with or without therapy was perceived as more beneficial than therapy alone and that perceived benefit was strongly related to continued use of treatment.”

Related Links:

— “Parental Approval Key to Keeping Kids on Psych Tx, “Cole Petrochko, MedPage Today, August 03, 2012.

NBC Nightly News (8/2, story 7, 0:25, Williams) reported, “The FDA has approved a kind of attachment for all types of pills, a tiny, harmless transmitter that will electronically register if you’ve taken your pill or not. It mixes with stomach acids and sends out a signal you’ve taken the pill.”

Medscape (8/3, Lowry) reports, “A questionnaire for parents is a promising tool for identifying 12-month-old infants who are at risk for an eventual diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD),” according to a 699-patient study published online July 10 in Autism: The International Journal of Research & Practice. The “study showed that 31% of children identified by the inventory as being at risk for ASD at 12 months had a confirmed diagnosis by age three years.” What’s more, “85% of the children identified at 12 months had a developmental disability or concern by age three,” researchers reported.

MedPage Today (8/2, Smith) reports that “teens who expected to die young were more likely to indulge in risky behavior, including substance abuse and attempting suicide,” according to a study published online in the journal PLoS One. In addition, “the expectation of poor survival at the beginning of the study…was associated with an increase in the risk of dying in young adulthood, with those who had a low expectation of surviving to age 35 having death rates that were double those experienced by respondents saying they were ‘almost certain’ to reach that age,” researchers reported. The study’s “findings come from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a nationally representative survey that began with 20,745 adolescents in grades 7 through 12 during the 1994-1995 school year.”

Related Links:

— “Teens’ Gloomy Outlook Predicts Bleak Future, “Michael Smith, MedPage Today, August 1, 2012.

Janice D’Arcy writes in a Washington Post (7/31) “On Parenting” blog, “A new study from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration drew on a survey of about 250,000 children ages 12 to 17 and found they were far more likely to start using drugs and alcohol during the summer than during other parts of the year.” D’Arcy discussed the study with Mylene Krzanowski, executive director of the student assistance program at the Caron Treatment Centers, who said parents must “clearly state a no-use message and…provide their teen with the accurate information as to why they have this expectation.”

Related Links:

— “Summer freedom leads to teen drug experimentation, “Janice D’Arcy, The Washington Post, July 31, 2012.

The New York Times (8/1, O’Connor) “Well” blog reports, “For those with heart failure, exercise may help ease depression,” according to astudy published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Reuters (8/1, Pittman) reports that researchers followed about 2,300 heart failure patients, about half of whom were randomly assigned to participate in an in-home exercise program, in addition to receiving standard heart failure treatment. The remaining patients were assigned to receive only standard treatment.

MedPage Today (8/1, Neale) reports that the researchers found that “at both three and 12 months, patients who were exercising in addition to receiving usual care had modestly but significantly reduced depressive symptom scores compared with those who were receiving usual care alone.”

WebMD (8/1, Goodman) reports that additionally, “the exercisers were about 15% less likely to die or be hospitalized for heart failure compared with the group getting usual care.”

HeartWire (8/1, Stiles) reports that study author Dr James A Blumenthal “said for heartwire, the magnitude of benefit was tied to how much the patient exercised. ‘It didn’t require marathon training. It looks like about 90 minutes a week, or three 30-minute sessions, was really sufficient to reduce depressive symptoms.'”

Related Links:

— “Exercise May Ease Depression in Heart Failure Patients, “Anahad O’Connor, The New York Times, July 31, 2012.

BBC News (8/1, Selvadurai) reports, “People with mild mental illnesses, such as anxiety or depression, are more likely to die early,” according to a study published online July 31 in the BMJ. For the study, researchers “looked at data over 10 years and matched it to information on death certificates.” They found that “low level distress raised the risk by 16%, once lifestyle factors such as drinking and smoking were taken into account,” and that “more serious problems increased it by 67%.”

The UK’s Telegraph (8/1, Adams) reports that people with subclinical anxiety or depression may also be “at a 29 per cent increased risk of dying from ‘external causes’ like road accidents and suicide, although these only accounted for a tiny proportion of deaths.” Previously, “it had been thought that depressed or anxious people were more likely to die early because they failed to take good care of themselves — perhaps smoking and drinking more, eating worse and doing less exercise.” However, according to the study’s lead author, stress may alter “the physiology of the body to make it intrinsically less healthy,” somehow making it more susceptible to stroke and heart attacks.

“Professor Glyn Lewis, of the University of Bristol, reviewed the findings for the journal and said they add to evidence suggesting a causal association between psychological distress and heart disease, although it is not clear how to intervene,” the UK’s Daily Mail (8/1, Watson) reports.

WebMD (8/1, Goodman) reports, “The study findings did not surprise Viola Vaccarino, MD, PhD, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at Emory University in Atlanta who studies the role of depression in heart disease.” Dr. Vaccarino, who was not involved in the study, stated, “Clearly there is evidence that depression is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and total mortality as well.”

Related Links:

— “Mild mental illness ‘raises risk of premature death’, “Emily Selvadurai, BBC News, August 1, 2012.