HealthDay (9/28, Dallas) reported, “For middle school students, witnessing school violence can be as bad as being bullied,” researchers concluded in a study that “involved nearly 4,000 students in Quebec.” The study revealed that children “who had seen physical assaults or someone carrying weapons in the eighth grade had a higher risk of drug use and delinquency later on.” The findings were published online Sept. 5 in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Related Links:

— “Just Witnessing School Violence Can Leave Psychic Scars, “Mary Elizabeth Dallas, HealthDay, September 28, 2018.

STAT (9/28, Robbins) reported that “several dozen companies” are now “probing patients’ DNA in search of insights to help inform decisions about what psychiatry medications patients should take,” and are even “touting applications for depression, bipolar disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.” Now, “some top psychiatrists say the evidence doesn’t support the commercial rush.” In fact, in a review published online April 25 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, “a task force of the American Psychiatric Association’s research council concluded that such genetic testing is not ready for prime time in their field.” The members of the task force wrote, “Although some of the preliminary published data sound promising…there is insufficient evidence to support widespread use of combinatorial pharmacogenetic decision support tools at this point in time.”

Related Links:

— “In the race to use genetic tests to predict whether antidepressants will work, science might be getting left behind, “Rebecca Robbins, STAT, September 28, 2018.

CNBC (9/27, LaVito) reports data from Aetna Behavioral Health show that the amount spent by employers on mental health “has been rising at a rapid clip – with annual costs increasing twice as fast as all other medical expenses in recent years.” Darcy Gruttadaro, director of the American Psychiatric Association Foundation’s Center for Workplace Mental Health, said, “We all have a point at which stress can creep into negatively impacting our overall health and wellness,” and “employers are increasingly recognizing … the importance of taking care of health, well-being and mental health, and also the role stress, isolation, loneliness and some of these other factors can play in overall mental health and well-being.”

Related Links:

— “Anxiety is expensive: Employee mental health costs rise twice as fast as all other medical expenses, “Angelica LaVito, CNBC, September 27, 2018.

According to the Wall Street Journal (9/26, Kesling, Subscription Publication), the most recent Department of Veterans Affairs National Suicide Data Report reveals suicides have increased in veterans aged 18 to 34. Click here (pdf) to read the report.

Related Links:

— “More Young Veterans Committing Suicide, VA Data Show, ” Ben Kesling, The Wall Street Journal, September 26, 2018.

According to The Hill (9/26, Bonn), on Sept. 26, Dr. Anne Schuchat, “the principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), warned…that suicide is on the rise in the U.S. among almost every age group.” Speaking with “Rising” Hill. TV co-hosts Krystal Ball and Buck Sexton, Dr. Schuchat said, “Suicide – in all ages except for young children and the elderly – is one of the few conditions that’s getting worse instead of better around the country.” Currently, “suicide is a leading cause of death in the” United States, “and suicide rates have spiked more than 30 percent in half of states across the country since 1999, according to the CDC.”

Related Links:

— “Suicides in the US are up, says CDC official, “Tess Bonn, The Hill, September 26, 2018.

Reuters (9/25, Rapaport) reports a study published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology suggests that patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) may feel relief from antidepressants or psychotherapy. Researchers looked at data from 53 trials which “compared the effects of antidepressants or psychotherapy, either alone or in combination, versus placebo treatments or ‘usual management’ in people with IBS” and concluded that “rates of ‘no relief’ were highest with placebo treatments.” Patients were 34 percent “less likely to have no relief from antidepressants and 31 percent less likely to get no relief from psychotherapy.”

Related Links:

— “Antidepressants, psychotherapy may help ease irritable bowel syndrome, “Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, September 25, 2018.

Healio (9/25, Demko) reports there appear to be “significant disparities in treatment across race/ethnicity among college students with” mental illnesses. After examining “the prevalence of [mental illness] and treatment utilization among more than 13,000 college students of color using data from 43,375 undergraduate and graduate students at 60 institutions that participated in the survey-based Healthy Minds Study from 2012 to 2015,” investigators found that “college students of color had greater levels of unmet mental health needs relative to white students.” The findings were published in the September issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Related Links:

— “College Students color more likely to have unmet mental health needs, “Savannah Demko, Healio, September 25, 2018.

Reuters (9/25, Weinstock) reports a 21-study review reveals that “talk therapy for anxiety disorders can be effective even when done via video-conference.” The findings were published online Sept. 4 in the journal Family Practice. According to Reuters, “nearly one in three U.S. adults suffer from an anxiety disorder at some time in their lives, according to the National Institute of Mental Health,” but, the US Department of Health and Human Services has found that “55 percent of U.S. counties have no psychiatrists.”

Related Links:

— “Video-conferencing brings therapists to patients with anxiety, “Cheryl Platzman Weinstock, Reuters, September 25, 2018.

The Chicago Tribune (9/24, Pattani) reports that more than ever before, students “are entering college with pre-existing mental health conditions, and medication can be an important component of their care.” Many students, however, “stop taking medications when they arrive on campus – the exact moment their stress” increase. As a result, there “can be a resurgence of mental illness symptoms, side effects students don’t realize can occur from the sudden stop, and in the worst cases, self-harm and even suicide.” As to why the students stop taking medications, reasons range from stigma, lack of daily parental supervision to ensure the medication is taken, and “facing a new environment with new schedules and priorities.”

Related Links:

— “Some students quit mental health medication when they get to college. Here’s why that’s so dangerous, “Aneri Pattani, The Chicago Tribune, September 24, 2018.

Healio (9/24, Demko) reports, “Patients with panic disorder who responded to treatment with either panic-focused psychodynamic psychotherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy or applied relaxation training maintained improvement one year after end of therapy,” research indicated. The findings of the 91-patient study were published online Sept. 11 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Patients with panic disorder maintain long-term improvement after treatment, “Savannah Demko, Healio, September 24, 2018.