The Gadsden (AL) Times (8/2) editorialized, “The American Psychiatric Association predicted a shortage of about 22,000 child psychiatrists and 2,900 geriatric psychiatrists by” 2015. Meanwhile, “the US Department of Health and Human Services designated 4,000 Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas in the nation,” including all 67 counties in the state of Alabama.

The Times concluded that “when a shortage of trained professionals numbering in the tens of thousands is expected within a year, and when every county in a state is facing a shortage of services, ‘crisis’ is not a strong enough word.”

Related Links:

— “OUR VIEW: Alabama faces crisis in mental health care,” The Gadsen Times, August 1, 2014.

The New York Times (8/2, Graham) reported that a study presented to the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry found “older adults contemplating suicide do not cite depression as the primary reason.” Rather, more often reasons for suicidal ideation included “struggles with illness, disability, financial concerns, family difficulties and bereavement.” The conclusions suggest “treatment of depression alone may not be sufficient to reduce suicide rates among the elderly.”

Related Links:

— “Many Problems Lead to Thoughts of Suicide, Study Finds,” Judith Graham, New York Times, August 1, 2014.

The AP (8/4, Rubinkam) reports on “the hazards mental health professionals face on the job.” Mental health professionals “are at far greater risk of assault than workers as a whole, an occupational hazard at the best of times and one that’s been made worse by a persistent lack of funding for mental health services, the loss of thousands of inpatient psychiatric beds and the increasing use of hospitals to temporarily house criminals with mental illness.”

Safety guidelines published by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for healthcare workers, including mental health professionals, recommend “metal detectors, enclosed nurses’ stations, multiple exits, furniture bolted to the floor in crisis treatment rooms, curved mirrors at hallway intersections and a variety of other steps.”

Related Links:

— “Hospital Killing Shows Safety Gap in Mental Health,” Michael Rubinkam, Associated Press, August 3, 2014.

The Hill (8/1, Cox) “Floor Action” blog reports that last night, the Senate approved HR 4631, the Autism CARES Act, a measure reauthorizing “federal support for autism programs.” The bill “requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to designate an official to oversee national autism spectrum disorder…research.” In addition, it “extends autism education programs through 2019.” The bill now goes to President Obama for his signature.

Related Links:

— “Senate passes autism bill,” Ramsey Cox, The Hill, July 31, 2014.

In a 7,300-word piece to appear this weekend, the New York Times (8/3, MM20, Padawer, Subscription Publication) Sunday Magazine features the stories of three children diagnosed with autism who appear to have overcome the condition. Recently, two studies were released that provide “the best evidence yet that…a small but reliable subset of children really do overcome autism.”

The first study confirmed that 34 people with documented diagnoses of autism “now no longer met autism’s criteria, a trajectory…called ‘optimal outcome.’” Several months ago, another “study that tracked 85 children from their autism diagnosis (at age two) for nearly two decades…found that about nine percent of them no longer met the criteria for the disorder.”

Related Links:

— “The Kids Who Beat Autism,” Ruth Padawer, New York Times, July 31, 2014.

BBC News (7/31) reports that the George Washington Bridge, which spans the Hudson River between New Jersey and New York, “will be getting a safety fence designed to prevent suicides, after an increase in deaths this year.” The new fence, which is estimated to cost up to $47 million, will be nine feet tall and will be put up on both sides of the bridge. The project is expected to be completed in 2022. The move to install a fence to prevent suicides “comes a month after officials at the Golden Gate Bridge in California voted to install suicide-prevention nets along the bridge.”

Related Links:

— “George Washington Bridge to get suicide prevention fence,” BBC News, July 30, 2014.

HealthDay (7/31, Norton) reports that according to a review published online in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, “spending time in a garden might help soothe the agitation that commonly strikes people with dementia.” Evidence suggests that “watering plants, or sitting or strolling in a garden can help soothe some dementia patients’ anxiety.” Researchers arrived at these conclusions after analyzing data from 17 studies.

Related Links:

— “Gardens a Center of Calm for People With Dementia,” Amy Norton, HealthDay, July 30, 2014.

Reuters (7/31, Doyle) reports that according to a study published online July 30 in the journal Neurology, depression appears to contribute to faster cognitive decline in seniors with dementia or mild cognitive impairment.

TIME (7/31, Sifferlin) reports that for the study, investigators “looked at 1,764 people with no memory problems around age 77 and followed them for about eight years.” Researchers then “discovered that people with mild cognitive decline as well as people with dementia were likely to have higher levels of depression symptoms before they were diagnosed, and that having these symptoms was associated with a greater decline in memory.” The study authors went on to estimate that symptoms of depression “accounted for 4.4% of the difference in memory decline that could not be caused by brain damage.”

Related Links:

— “Depression linked to faster cognitive decline in old age,” Kathryn Doyle, Reuters, July 30, 2014.

The Wall Street Journal (7/30, Beck, Subscription Publication) reports that according to a study published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, people who are problem drinkers in mid-life may have double the likelihood of having late-life memory problems.

BBC News (7/30, Briggs) reports that the study of 6,500 Americans found that “men and women in their 50s and 60s with a history of alcohol abuse were more likely to have memory problems up to two decades later.”

Related Links:

— “Heavy Drinkers Are Prone to Memory Problems in Old Age,” Melinda Beck, Wall Street Journal, July 29, 2014.

HealthDay (7/30) reports that a new review shows that “quitting smoking is harder for people with depression.” The scientists discovered that “depression can make it more difficult to ride out the anxiety, cravings or lack of sleep that come with trying to quit cold turkey,” although “extra exercise – even just a walk – could help people quit faster, they said.” The study was published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research.

Related Links:

— “Extra Exercise Could Help Depressed Smokers Quit: Study,” Mary Elizabeth Dallas, HealthDay, July 29, 2014.