The Washington Post (4/7, Gugliotta) reports that community health organizations are concerned that a VA hiring blitz of 1,600 mental healthcare professionals by July 1 may end up simply moving those people from jobs where they serve broader populations than veterans. The concern centers on a “pool of qualified candidates” in the US that “is too small.” The Post includes perspectives on how the VA can partner with local communities to deliver care to veterans while serving a larger group as well. The VA said last month that it had 1,089 of the 1,600 professionals already hired.

Related Links:

— “VA hiring blitz concerns community health program backers, “Guy Gugliotta, The Washington Post, April 7, 2013.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune (4/8, Olson) reports that “new Mayo Clinic research this month has yielded important insights on ‘avoidance’ behaviors, showing they predict which children are more likely to suffer severe anxiety later on.” For the study, “Mayo researchers asked parents how their children responded to challenges.” One “year later, they found higher anxiety in kids whose parents said they tended to avoid things that scared them.”

Related Links:

— “Mayo Clinic: For kids, avoiding risks can be risky, “Jeremy Olson, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 8, 2013.

HealthDay (4/6, Gardner) reported, “According to a recent study published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, the link between prison time and mental illness is a two-way street.” Even though “many incarcerated people exhibit such problems as impulse control disorders – which normally first appear in childhood or adolescence – before they enter the correctional system, incarceration itself seems to cause major depression.” This finding “may help explain why so many inmates have trouble re-entering society when they are released, said the authors of the study,” which examined data on some 5,700 people.

Related Links:

— “Mental Illness a Frequent Cell Mate for Those Behind Bars, “Amanda Gardner, HealthDay, April 5, 2013.

HealthDay (4/6, Preidt) reported, “Many American adults who work and volunteer with young people believe that children and teens have limited or no access to mental health care,” according to a survey “conducted by the University of Michigan-based National Voices Project, which was created to assess disparities in children’s health, education and economic opportunities at the community level, through the input of paid adults or volunteers who work on behalf of children.” Notably, “more than half of the respondents said there was ‘lots of availability’ for teens to have hospital care (55 percent) and primary care (56 percent), but only 30 percent said the same was true for mental health care.” Responses were similar regarding availability of mental healthcare for kids.

Related Links:

— “Mental Health Care Lacking for Kids, Advocates Say, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, April 5, 2013.

In continuing coverage, the CBS Evening News (4/4, story 6, 2:35, Pelley) reported that a study (4/4) published April 4 in “the New England Journal of Medicine says nearly 15% of Americans over the age of 70 have dementia, and the yearly cost caring for them can run $70,000.”

The CBS News (4/5, LaPook) website focuses entirely on the impact Alzheimer’s and dementia care has on families.

CNN Money (4/5, Isidore) reports that the study “puts the cost of treating Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia at $109 billion, making it more expensive to society than either cancer or heart disease.” In addition, the study “estimates that costs will more than double in the next 27 years, reaching $259 billion by 2040. The same study puts the estimated cost of treating heart disease at $102 billion, and cancer treatment at $77 billion.”

Psychiatric News (4/5) reports, “Brent Forester, MD, chair of the APA Council on Geriatric Psychiatry, told Psychiatric News that the RAND study ‘points out the staggering economic toll that Alzheimer’s disease takes on individuals with dementia, their families ,and the national economy. If we do not find effective prevention methods or treatments that meaningfully slow disease progression, the costs of dementia care will cripple our health care system.'” Forester added, “Collaborations between academia, industry, and the federal government are required to accelerate our focus on developing effective therapies for prevention and early intervention for at risk individuals.”

Related Links:

— “The high costs of caring for someone with dementia, “Jonathan LaPook, CBS Evening News, April 4, 2013.

Reuters (4/4, Doyle) reported that according to a study published online March 28 in the journal Addiction, middle-school and adolescent children of parents taking part in military deployments have an increased likelihood of binge drinking or abusing prescription medications. Researchers arrived at this conclusion after examining data on 1,700 children who had deployed parents and 57,000 youngsters whose parents were not militarily deployed. The study is just a snapshot of behavior in 2010. It did not follow the kids after their parents returned from deployment, nor did it examine the youngsters’ behavior prior to parental deployment.

Related Links:

— “Drinking, drugs more common for kids of deployed, “Kathryn Doyle, Reuters, April 3, 2013.

USA Today (4/4, Hellmich) reports that handling “stress poorly…may put you at greater risk for anxiety disorders and other mental health issues 10 years later,” according to a study published online in the journal Psychological Science. Researchers from the University of California-Irvine “analyzed data on 711 men and women, ages 25 to 74, who were interviewed two times 10 years apart.” Investigators found that “people who responded to stress with more anxiety and sadness than the average person were much more likely to have self-reported anxiety/mood disorders and psychological distress 10 years later.”

Related Links:

— “Get a grip on your stress now to avoid problems later, “Nanci Hellmich, USA Today, April 3, 2013.

MedPage Today (4/1, Bankhead) reports, “Parent behavior training (PBT) topped medication and other interventions for preschool children at risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD),” according to a review published online in the journal Pediatrics and sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. “Eight methodologically sound studies of PBT produced the best and most consistent strength of evidence for efficacy, with a standard mean difference (SMD) of -0.68, reported Alice Charach, MD, of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, and colleagues.” But, “the investigators found only one good study of medical treatment with methylphenidate, resulting in a low strength of evidence, while combined home and school/daycare interventions yielded inconsistent results.”

Related Links:

— “Parent Training Tops Meds in ADHD, “Charles Bankhead, MedPage Today, April 1, 2013.

A front-page New York Times analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a sharp increase in the numbers of US children being diagnosed for the first time with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD). The figures indicate a 16% increase in AD/HD cases diagnosed since 2007 alone. In addition to the New York Times, one network news segment, numerous print publications and medical journals focus on the story, many of them questioning if overdiagnosis is behind the increased number of cases, and others concentrating on the fact that some medications for AD/HD may be misused or abused.

NBC Nightly News (4/1, story 2, 2:25, Williams, 7.86M) reported, “A stunning new assessment of national numbers came out today. … It’s about “the extraordinary number of cases” of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) now being diagnosed.” New figures “show a 16% rise in cases just since 2007,” begging the question whether the condition is being overdiagnosed.

On its front page, the New York Times (4/1, A1, Schwarz, Cohen, Subscription Publication, 1.68M) reported, “Nearly one in five high school age boys in the United States and 11 percent of school-age children over all have received a medical diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, according to new data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” The data indicate that “an estimated 6.4 million children ages four through 17 had received an AD/HD diagnosis at some point in their lives.” Approximately “two-thirds of those with a current diagnosis receive prescriptions for stimulants like Ritalin [methylphenidate] or Adderall [amphetamine, dextroamphetamine mixed salts], which can drastically improve the lives of those with AD/HD, but can also lead to addiction, anxiety and occasionally psychosis.” For his part, CD Director Thomas R. Frieden, MD, “likened the rising rates of stimulant prescriptions among children to the overuse of pain medications and antibiotics in adults.”

The New York Daily News (4/2, Miller, 543K) reports, “The findings come from a cellphone and landline survey of more than 76,000 parents between February 2011 and June 2012.” Currently, “the American Psychiatric Association estimates in its…diagnostic manual that 3 to 7% of children have AD/HD, though other studies have calculated higher rates.” Dr. Xavier Castellanos, professor in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Child Study Center, NYU Langone Medical Center, said, “Many of these kids probably do have AD/HD, but my guess is that in some cases it is not the most appropriate or fitting diagnosis and that some things are being left out.”

The Deseret (UT) News (4/2, Baker, 105K) reports, “Doctors are concerned that the AD/HD diagnosis is overused, the Times said, and some say the rising number of diagnoses suggests that millions may be taking the medications to calm behavior and improve school performance.” Currently, “there is no single test to diagnose AD/HD, according to the CDC. Psychiatrists look for patterns of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity before making a subjective judgment about the diagnosis.”

The Huffington Post (4/1, Pearson) reports, “The New York Times report on the CDC figures is not the only one in recent months to suggest that AD/HD diagnoses are on the rise. A January study in the Journal of the American Medical Association that relied on electronic records from 5 to 11 year olds treated at Kaiser Permanente in California found that the rate at which kids are being diagnosed with the disorder has increased by almost 25 percent in the past decade.” Now, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, AD/HD is “one of the most common childhood disorders.”

MedPage Today (4/2, Neale) reports, “The rise in diagnosis rates has been seen in other datasets, as well, and it may accelerate when the American Psychiatric Association releases the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) at its annual meeting in May.” In fact, “some of the proposed changes would open up the diagnosis of AD/HD to a greater number of children.”

Frieden: AD/HD medication misuse seems to be “growing at an alarming rate.” The CBS News (4/2, Castillo) website quotes CDC Director Frieden, who said, “The right medications for AD/HD, given to the right people, can make a huge difference. Unfortunately, misuse appears to be growing at an alarming rate.” Frieden called for the “need to ensure balance.”

In light of the potential for medication abuse for AD/HD and possible causes behind that, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (4/2, Downey, 263K) “Get Schooled” blog asks, “Are we over-diagnosing attention-deficit/hyperactivity [disorder], especially in boys, because we have less tolerance of what were once understood and accepted as normal kid behaviors? Have we become a nation that spots a fidgety five-year-old and thinks a pill is the answer?” And, “are parents buying the pharmaceutical industry’s promise that it can turn a restless student into a focused scholar?”

Related Links:

— “A.D.H.D. Seen in 11% of U.S. Children as Diagnoses Rise, “Alan Schwarz , The New York Times, April 1, 2013.

Medscape (4/2, Lowes) reports, “One in three psychiatrists say they are burned out, but that makes them one of the more engaged, satisfied specialties in a profession with a serious case of the blues, according to the 2013 Medscape Physician Lifestyle Report. Fewer hassles with third-party payers and a greater sense of control over their work world may explain why a smaller percentage of psychiatrists walks around like extinguished matchsticks, say observers of the specialty.” Medscape notes, “among all physicians, nearly 40% experience at least one of three symptoms used to define burnout for the survey: a loss of enthusiasm for work, cynicism, and a low sense of accomplishment.”