Kaiser Health News (2/18, Andrews) reports that some health insurance policies refuse to provide coverage for suicide-related injuries, despite allegations that such rescissions are forbidden by Federal law. Kaiser quotes Sara Rosenbaum, a professor of health policy at The George Washington University: “Suicide is a common exclusion. Insurers are all over the place on this, and state law varies tremendously.”

Related Links:

— “Some Plans Refuse To Cover Medical Costs Related To Suicide Despite Federal Rules, ” Michelle Andrews, Kaiser Health News, February 18, 2014.

USA Today (2/18, Hellmich) reports that research presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting suggests that individuals “who feel consistently lonely have a 14% higher risk of premature death than those who don’t.” Investigators found that “the impact of loneliness on early death is almost as strong as the impact of being poor, which increased the chances of dying early by 19%.”

AFP (2/18, Santini) reports that the study, which was “carried out on a group of 20,000 people revealed adverse health effects of feeling alone, including sleep problems, high blood pressure, impaired immune cells and depression.” FOX News (2/17) also covers the story on its website.

Related Links:

— “Feeling lonely? It may increase risk of early death, ” Nanci Hellmich, USA Today, February 17, 2014.

The Boston Globe (2/18, Bender) reports that the Department of Defense “is exploring a novel way to extend troops’ attention spans and sharpen their reaction times: stimulate the brain with low levels of electricity.” Electricity has been used to treat some psychiatric conditions before, notably major depression, in techniques “embraced by the National Institute of Mental Health, the American Psychiatric Association, and the US Surgeon General. “ So far, early research shows that non-invasive brain stimulation in healthy sleep-deprived volunteers appears to improve “both alertness and acuity.”

Related Links:

— “Pentagon considers using electricity to stimulate troops’ brains, ” Bryan Bender, Boston Globe, February 18, 2014.

USA Today (2/17, Healy) reported, “Intervening early to stop bullying is important because the health effects – including anxiety, depression and impaired self-worth – can persist even after bullying stops,” according to a study published online Feb. 17 in the journal Pediatrics.

On its website, NBC News (2/16, Goldbach) reported that after following 4,297 youngsters “in Los Angeles, Birmingham and Houston at three points: fifth, seventh, and 10th grades,” researchers found that the kids “who were being bullied had high levels of depressive symptoms, low self-worth and more problems with basic physical activity.”

Related Links:

— “Harm can continue even after bullying stops, ” Michelle Healy, USA Today, February 17, 2014.

The Time (2/14, Hoder) “Healthland” blog reports that according to a study published in the February issue of the journal World Psychiatry, “teens who use tons of media, don’t get enough sleep and have a sedentary lifestyle” may have a higher risk for serious mental health issues, including depression. Researchers arrived at that conclusion after surveying “12,395 students between the ages of 14 and 16 from 11 European countries,” then analyzing “nine risk behaviors: excessive alcohol use, illegal drug use, heavy smoking, reduced sleep, being overweight, being underweight, having a sedentary routine, high media use and truancy.”

Related Links:

— “Surprising Behaviors That Put Teens At Serious Risk of Depression, ” Alexandra Sifferlin, Time, February 13, 2014.

Reuters (2/13, Doyle) reports that according to a study published online Feb. 12 in JAMA Psychiatry, filing for monetary compensation following an injury from an accident appears to be tied to poorer physical and mental health a few years later. The research was based on the experiences of some 1,000 Australians who underwent hospitalization for injuries from 2004 to 2006. In 2010, 332 participants who ended up having to file for workers’ comp told the investigatory team of the stress they had experienced during the process. Those who had the highest level of stress in general appeared to be more disabled and suffered from increased levels of depression and anxiety as well as from a poorer quality of life.

Related Links:

— “Stress of filing injury claims linked to poorer health later, ” Kathryn Doyle, Reuters, February 12, 2014.

Medscape (2/12, Lowry) reports that according to a review published in the February issue of Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association, “despite recommendations made more than a decade ago by a US Surgeon General report, little progress has been made in developing a more racially diverse workforce to provide mental health services for racial and ethnic minorities.” For the study, researchers examined data from clinical trials and “data on the mental health workforce…from a work group comprising research staff from the American Psychiatric Association…as well as representatives of professional psychiatric nursing and staff from the National Institute of Mental Health,” among others. The review found that “with the exception of Asian-American psychiatrists, minority groups are still poorly represented among mental health professionals, with only very small improvements over time.”

Related Links:

— “Progress in Improving Mental Health Services for Racial-Ethnic Minority Groups: A Ten-Year Perspective, ” Catherine DeCarlo Santiago, Ph.D.; Jeanne Miranda, Ph.D., PsychiatryOnline, February 1, 2014.

HealthDay (2/11, Norton) reports that according to a RAND Corp. study published online Feb. 10 in the journal Pediatrics, “the cost of services for children with autism averages more than $17,000 per child each year – with school systems footing much of the bill.” Investigators “found that compared to kids without autism, those with the disorder had higher costs for doctor visits and prescriptions – an extra $3,000 a year, on average.” The study also revealed that “‘non-health care’ services averaged $14,000 per child, and special education at school accounted for more than 60 percent of those costs.” In arriving at these conclusions, the RAND researchers examined data derived from two US-wide surveys involving 19,000 families with children without autism and 246 families with youngsters with autism.

Related Links:

— “Autism Costs Average $17,000 Yearly for Each Child, Study Finds, ” Amy Norton, HealthDay, February 10, 2014.

In a column for the New York Times (2/9, Subscription Publication), Nicholas Kristof notes that as humane, cost-effective ways of treating mental illnesses have been cut back, the US is increasingly resorting to detaining individuals with mental illnesses in jails and prisons. Kristof notes that while people are not “officially incarcerated” for psychiatric ailments, many “are brought in for offenses that flow from mental illness,” and argues that the US, as a society has “in effect, returned to the 1800s.”

Related Links:

— “Inside a Mental Hospital Called Jail, ” Nicholas Kristof, New York Times, February 8, 2014.

MedPage Today (2/8, Hartman) reported that late last year, “to mark the one-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy, Vice President Joe Biden announced the executive branch would invest $100 million in the nation’s mental health system,” with the funds being “used to expand mental health services at community health centers and in rural America.” The Vice President’s “announcement was welcome news since the American Psychiatric Association estimates that in 2015 the nation will face a shortage of 22,000 child psychiatrists and 2,900 geriatric psychiatrists, and many of them are aging out of the profession according to the National Institute of Mental Health website (2/10), which notes that 55% of all psychiatrists are older than 55.”

Related Links:

— “Mental Health: Parity Yes, Providers No
, ” Ben Hartman, MD, MedPage Today, February 7, 2014.