Reuters (8/8, Crist) reports, “About 61 percent of firearm owners in the US have received formal training in handling their guns, but only one in seven say it included prevention of suicide,” which is the primary cause of deaths from guns, researchers found after analyzing nearly 4,000 responses from a “web-based survey that included questions about firearm ownership, storage, training and use.” The findings were published online July 11 in the journal Injury Prevention.

Related Links:

— “Few U.S. gun owners get training that includes suicide prevention,” Carolyn Crist, Reuters, August 8, 2017.

The Los Angeles Times (8/7, Holland) reports in a piece focused on alleviating homelessness in greater Los Angeles that approximately “half of homeless people with severe mental illness also have problems with alcohol or drugs,” homelessness researcher Dennis Culhane, PhD, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, has found. Substance use “does not cause severe mental illness,” however. Instead, “homeless people with untreated mental illness” use substances to medicate themselves to alleviate symptoms.

Related Links:

— “Q&A Mental illness and homelessness are connected. But not how you might think,” Gale Holland, Los Angeles Times, August 7, 2017.

Reuters (8/7, Rapaport) reports, “Middle-aged people with risk factors for heart attacks and stroke may be more likely to develop dementia in old age than people with healthy cardiovascular systems,” researchers concluded. The study revealed that smoking, diabetes, hypertension, and prehypertension were associated with “higher odds of dementia.”

HealthDay (8/7, Thompson) reports that “investigators tracked nearly 15,800 participants in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study,” which is “a US National Institutes of Health-funded project designed to track the effect of hardened arteries on people’s long-term health.” All participants were followed for about 25 years. The findings were published online Aug. 7 in JAMA Neurology. Healio (8/7, Miller) also covers the study.

Related Links:

— “Heart disease risk in middle age tied to dementia later,” Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, August 7, 2017.

Healio (8/4) reported, “Clozapine use in treatment-resistant schizophrenia was associated with lower all-cause mortality and self-harm rates,” researchers found after evaluating “a population-based cohort of 2,370 individuals with treatment-resistant schizophrenia from January 1996 until death, first episode of self-harm, emigration, or June 2013.” The findings were published online July 28 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Mortality, self-harm lower with clozapine use in schizophrenia,” Wimberley T, et al., Healio, August 4, 2017.

The Washington Post (8/4, Chandler) reported, “At least one in seven women experience anxiety or depression during pregnancy or in the first year after birth,” figures indicate. Still, “maternal depression remains vastly underdiagnosed and undertreated, with just 15 percent of women affected seeking professional help.” In 2015, “the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommended…that women be screened at least once for depression during pregnancy and again in the postnatal period.” In 2010, the American Academy of Pediatrics “recommended that pediatricians screen mothers for postpartum depression at well-baby visits during the first six months.”

Related Links:

— “Maternal depression is getting more attention — but still not enough,” Michael Alison Chandler, Washington Post, August 4, 2017.

The New York Times (8/4, Span, Subscription Publication) reported on the social isolation that often results when caregivers focus their energies on caring for individuals with dementia. The article said the Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias Family Support Program at New York University, which offers counseling and support groups, “has been adopted throughout New York and in several other states” with success. Moreover, according to the article, “other initiatives, like Savvy Caregiver and REACH, have demonstrated similar effectiveness,” and some “program developers are also testing online versions.”

Related Links:

— “Caregiving Is Hard Enough. Isolation Can Make It Unbearable.,” Paula Span, New York Times, August 4, 2017.

USA Today (8/7, Vanden Brook) reports a study by the RAND Corp. and commissioned by the Pentagon found, “Just 30% of troops with depression and 54% with PTSD received appropriate care after they were deemed at risk of harming themselves.” The report, titled “Quality of Care for PTSD and Depression in the Military Health System,” also determined “that one third of troops with PTSD were prescribed a medication harmful to their condition.”

Related Links:

— “Troops at risk for suicide not getting needed care, report finds,” Tom Vanden Brook, USA Today, August 7, 2017.

The AP (8/4, Izaguirre) reports many homeless people who are addicted to illicit substances are denied treatment for lack of valid photo identification. According to 2016 data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, less than one of every 10 of the US’ “substance abuse treatment facilities offer certified opioid treatment programs.”

A SAMHSA spokesman said ID requirements are aimed at preventing people from enrolling in multiple programs and selling opioid medications, although one expert said some facilities deny applicants who present alternate forms of identification, despite the fact that such documents are in fact acceptable.

Related Links:

— “For homeless on heroin, treatment can be elusive with no ID,” ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE, Associated Press via Washington Times, August 4, 2017.

NBC Nightly News (8/3, story 7, 2:20, Holt) reported on “an alarming rise in girls taking their own lives.” NBC’s Rehema Ellis said that “disturbing new numbers from the CDC” indicate “too many teenagers are not getting the help they need, especially girls aged 15 to 19.”

On its website, NBC News (8/3, Fox) reports that the analysis, from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, indicates that “the suicide rate among teenaged girls continues to rise and hit a 40-year high in 2015.” Researchers found that “suicide rates doubled among girls and” increased “by more than 30 percent among teen boys and young men between 2007 and 2015.”

CNN (8/3, Scutti) also covers the story.

Related Links:

— “Suicides in Teen Girls Hit 40-Year High,” MAGGIE FOX, NBC News, August 3, 2017.

NPR examines the suicide of Madison Holleran, a track runner at the University of Pennsylvania, and her hidden struggle with anxiety and depression.

Related Links:

— “Trying To Understand ‘What Made Maddy Run’,” Ailsa Chang, NPR, August 2, 2017.