In an op-ed in the New York Times (7/24, Subscription Publication), Robert Rigo, who recently graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, discusses his experiences with self-harm and depression and even how he has considered suicide. In the classroom, as well as in adult life, people with mental health issues “are suffering – and sometimes dying – in silence because we can’t seem to talk openly about mental health.”

Rigo concludes, “We must push the conversation about mental illness forward whether it be in the classrooms of public schools or with our families and friends.” Mental health “issues are real and lethal, and the first means of prevention is acknowledging their existence.”

Related Links:

— “Let’s Talk About Suicide,” ROBERT RIGO, New York Times, July 24, 2017.

Medscape (7/24, Anderson) reports, “Depression that starts early in life increases the risk for Alzheimer’s disease,” researchers concluded after examining “data from the Prospective Population Study of Women in Gothenburg Sweden, which began almost 50 years ago.” Included in the study sample were some “800 women (mean age, 46 years), born between 1914 and 1930.” The findings were presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2017.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

NBC Nightly News (7/22, story 11, 2:25, Diaz-Balart) reported that the city of Buffalo, New York has implemented a new program through its court system to address the opioid problem, in which intervention is begun “immediately after users are arrested, getting them treatment inside the justice system.”

Correspondent Gabe Gutierrez said Judge Craig Hannah is “presiding over the nation’s first opioid crisis intervention court of its kind. Unlike typical drug courts, this program gets users into treatment within hours of their arrest, not weeks. It requires detox, strict curfews, and checking in with Judge Hannah every day for a month.” Hannah said, “I think the tide is changing in our country that you can’t lock away an addict; you have to give treatment.”

HealthDay (7/21, Preidt) reported, “Nearly one in five American adults deals with a mental illness or substance abuse problem each year,” research from the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) suggests. The study found that “overall, almost 44 million Americans 18 or older had a diagnosable mental, behavioral or emotional disorder in the past year, researchers” found after reviewing “national surveys on drug use and health.”

Related Links:

— “Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. Adults Has Mental Illness or Drug Problem,”Robert Preidt , HealthDay, July 20, 2017.

Related Links:

— “,” , , July , 2017. (7/20, Szabo) reports that people who are “hospitalized for heart attack or chest pain” are approximately “four times” more likely to “develop major depression” than the general population, according to the American Heart Association. The article adds that more health systems are trying “collaborative care,” where “care managers” work with primary care physicians to address physical and mental health conditions together. The article quotes Dr. Anita Everett, president of the American Psychiatric Association, as praising care managers for their ability to reach out to patients and not allow them to “stay at home and get depressed.”

Related Links:

— “Depression in heart attack survivors is common, often untreated,” Liz Szabo, Kaiser Health News, July 20, 2017.

MedPage Today (7/19, Fiore) reported, “An intensive, personalized approach to high-utilizer pain patients that integrated psychiatric and pain care lowered overall healthcare costs at one health system,” investigators found. In fact, “referral to Duke University’s Medical Pain Service saved the system about $9,000 per patient per year,” the 31-patient study revealed. The findings were presented at the American Academy of Pain Medicine’s annual meeting.

Related Links:

— “Integrated Pain-Psych Management Program Saves Dollars,” Kristina Fiore, MedPage Today, July19 , 2017.

ABC World News Tonight (7/19, story 10, 0:25, Muir) reported that a Swedish study is “exploring the possible link between pregnant women using antidepressants and autism.” Investigators found that “mothers taking antidepressants may have a slightly greater risk of having a child with autism.” Nevertheless, the study authors “call that risk very small and say stopping treatments during pregnancy may cause a worse risk in other ways to both mother and baby.”

AFP (7/19) reports that “just over four percent of the children exposed to mood-enhancing medications were diagnosed with autism, while just under three percent of children not exposed to antidepressants – and whose mothers had a history of psychiatric troubles – were found to be on the spectrum.” The findings were published online July 19 in the BMJ.

Related Links:

— “Antidepressants during pregnancy linked to autism in kids: study,” AFP, July 19, 2017.

The Washington Post (7/20, Bahrampour) reports a study presented on Thursday at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in London found that nearly one-third of the world’s dementia cases are preventable through managing “factors such as education, hypertension, diet, hearing loss and depression over the course of a person’s lifetime.” Researchers found that controlling the factors could reduce one’s risk of developing dementia by 35 percent.

Reuters (7/20, Kelland) reports the “wide-ranging analysis” detected nine “particularly important” risk factors, namely “staying in education beyond age 15, reducing high blood pressure, obesity and hearing loss in mid-life, and reducing smoking, depression, physical inactivity, social isolation and diabetes in later life.”

The Guardian (UK) (7/20, Davis) also reports.

Related Links:

— “Healthier living could reduce worldwide dementia by a third, report says,” Tara Bahrampour, Washington Post, July 20, 2017.

Reuters (7/19, Emery) reports, “An effort by the Netherlands to save money on mental health care by raising patient co-pays produced $15 million in short-term savings, but ended up adding $29 million to the costs of treating bipolar and psychotic disorders,” researchers found. What’s more, “the increase in patient cost-sharing led to fewer people seeking regular mental treatment and a simultaneous rise in acute care and involuntary commitments,” the analysis of “1.4 million treatment records” revealed. The findings were published online July 19 in JAMA Psychiatry.

The Philadelphia Inquirer (7/19, Sapatkin) reports on the Netherlands’ 2012 attempt to reduce healthcare costs by implementing “mandatory copayments for mental health care on adults but not children,” reasoning that patients would not “seek unnecessary services” if they had more “skin in the game.” The article says the change caused “adults’ use of regular mental health services” to plummet “13.4 percent for both severe and mild disorders,” with an even starker drop among the poor, but “no appreciable change” for children, “who had no copay.”

Healio (7/19, Oldt) reports the author of an invited commentary wrote, “Without careful planning and oversight, mental health care cost-sharing programs may exact a steep price.”

Related Links:

— “Mental health coverage cuts result in extra costs,” Gene Emery, Reuters, July 19, 2017.

HealthDay (7/18, Preidt) reports that almost three dozen experimental Alzheimer’s medicines are expected to begin clinical trials over the next five years, according to an analysis scheduled for presentation at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference. No medications have been approved to treat Alzheimer’s in the US since 2003.

Related Links:

— “Dozens of Potential Alzheimer’s Meds in the Pipeline,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, July 18, 2017.