USA Today (9/4, Hellmich) reports on the findings of a new study published in the journal Child Development that found parents who engage their teens by “shouting…yelling, screaming, swearing, insulting or calling them names,” can “increase the risk that the adolescent will misbehave and suffer symptoms of depression.” Exposure to prolonged stress, and ongoing discipline and criticism can lead to mental health and physical problems, fueling “difficulties and rebellion in kids.” Experts note a better method is constructive consequences, which educate rather than cause humiliation.

Related Links:

— “Parents: Yelling and swearing at teens can backfire, “Nanci Hellmich, USA Today, September 4, 2013.

HealthDay (8/31, Reinberg) reported that, according to a study published Aug. 30 in the journal BMC Medicine, “alcohol in moderation may benefit mental health.” Researchers arrived at that conclusion after following “more than 5,500 light-to-moderate drinkers for up to seven years,” none of whom had drinking problems or depression at the start of the study. After adjusting for confounding factors, researchers found that “participants who drank two to seven glasses a week were the least likely to suffer from depression,” compared to people who did not drink at all.

Related Links:

— “Glass of Wine a Day May Ward Off Depression, Study Suggests, “Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, August 30, 2013.

Reuters (8/29, Doyle) reports that research published in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery suggests that depression may be common among individuals who have survived head and neck cancer, but these patients rarely seek help for the mental health. Investigators looked at questionnaire responses from more than 200 survivors of head and neck cancer who had undergone radiation treatment. The researchers found that while a small proportion of the individuals found to report the highest levels of depression took antidepressants or underwent psychotherapy one year after completing radiation treatments, none of these patients were receiving such mental health treatments five years after radiation.

Related Links:

— “Few head and neck cancer survivors seek mental help, “Kathryn Doyle, Reuters, August 28, 2013.

MedPage Today (8/29, Gever) reports that, according to a study published online Aug. 28 in JAMA Psychiatry, “suspicions that psychiatric medications increase the mortality risk associated with mental illness were not borne out in a review of clinical trial data.” In the majority of cases, “death rates among more than 90,000 adult participants in trials of drugs for depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) were, for the most part, the same or lower in those assigned to active” medications versus placebo, with the sole exception of “heterocyclic antidepressants, a class of old-line agents such as imipramine and amitryptiline.”

Related Links:

— “Psych Drugs Don’t Raise Death Risk in Mental Illness, “John Gever, MedPage Today, August 29, 2013.

HealthDay (8/29, Dallas) reports that, according to a study from the Global Burden of Disease Study published online Aug. 29 in The Lancet, in 2010, “mental and substance abuse disorders were the leading cause of nonfatal health issues” globally. A separate study in the same issue found that “opioid dependence causes the greatest health burden of all illicit drugs.” An accompanying commentary “noted that the ‘relative lack of information about the prevalence of mental and drug use disorders, and the harms associated with these disorders, emphasizes the need…for increased efforts to quantify both the prevalence of mental and drug use disorders and the risks posed by these conditions.”

The NPR (8/29, Knox) “Shots” blog reports that two legal substances, smoking and alcohol, “account for around 10 percent of the worldwide burden of illness and death.”

Related Links:

— “Mental and Substance Disorders Major Cause of Nonfatal Illnesses, “Mary Elizabeth Dallas, HealthDay, August 28, 2013.

USA Today (8/29, Szabo) reports that, according to a study published online Aug. 28 in JAMA Psychiatry, “depression may be far more common in men than previously estimated.” When symptoms such as “anger, aggression, substance abuse or risk taking, such as gambling or womanizing,” were factored in, in addition to traditional symptoms such as trouble sleeping and crying, investigators discovered that approximately “30% of both men and women had been depressed at some point in their lives.”

In a front-page story, the Los Angeles Times (8/29, A1, Healy) reports that the study’s conclusion upends “long-accepted statistics indicating that, over their lifetimes, women are 70% more likely to have major depression than men.” What’s more, when depression’s “symptoms are properly recognized in men, major depression may be even more common in men than in women.”

Related Links:

— “New criteria increase number of men with depression, “Liz Szabo, USA Today, August 28, 2013.

USA Today (8/28, Zoroya) details the effects of sequestration on military medical workers, reporting that “nearly 3,400 military medical workers quit this year in the months when furloughs were threatened or being carried out,” with most of the losses being incurred by Army medical facilities. The majority of people “leaving went to work for the Department of Veterans Affairs which was not included in the budget cuts,” Army surgeon general Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho explained to USA Today. Horoho “says she was forced to furlough about 60% of her doctors and nurses.” Furloughs and job uncertainty created a climate in which medical personnel felt devalued, which Horoho attributed to so many people leaving.

Related Links:

— “Military civilian medical workers quit after furloughs, “Gregg Zoroya, USA Today, August 28, 2013.

HealthDay (8/28, Norton) reports that, according to a study recently published in the North American Journal of Science and Medicine, youngsters with autism, when allowed to choose how they play, tend to “pick games that engage their senses and avoid games that ask them to pretend.” After spending “six months observing children who attended a local museum’s Au-some Evenings, a monthly program designed for children with autism,” researchers discovered that youngsters with autism “were naturally drawn to activities that got them moving, or allowed them to watch moving objects.”

Related Links:

— “What Is ‘Play’ to a Child With Autism?, “Amy Norton, HealthDay, August 27, 2013.