The New York Times (8/17, Bakalar, Subscription Publication) “Well” blog reports that research indicates “suicide rates are higher in rural counties…and the reason is firearm use by men.” The findings were published in the American Journal of Public Health.

Kaiser Health News (8/17) reports that “in 2015, rural communities saw 19 people per 100,000 kill themselves, compared with 11 per 100,000 in urban areas, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s injury statistics database.” Investigators “analyzed a sample of about 6,200 Maryland residents, age 15 and older, and found that when gun-related suicides were excluded, there was no significant difference in rates between rural and urban areas.”

Healio (8/17) also covers the story.

Related Links:

— “Guns Play Oversize Role in Rural Suicides,” NICHOLAS BAKALAR, New York Times, August 17, 2017.

U.S. News & World Report (8/15, Levine) contributor David Levine discusses how to safely stop using antidepressants. Levine writes that “deciding to go off antidepressants ‘should be considered thoughtfully and made with the support of your physician or therapist to make sure you’re not stopping prematurely,’ according to Harvard Health Publications, from Harvard Medical School.”

However, “There may in fact be no need to stop.” Dr. Anita Everett, president of the American Psychiatric Association, said, “People have been on antidepressants for 20 or 30 years, with no evidence of any harm.”

Related Links:

— “How to Stop Antidepressants Safely,” David Levine, U.S. News & World Report, August 15, 2017.

The Wall Street Journal (8/15, Fontana, Subscription Publication) reports that a growing number of companies are attempting to remove the stigma from mental illness and are encouraging the use of mental-health days. Nonetheless, many workers continue to hide their issues with mental illness. Clare Miller, director of the Center for Workplace Mental Health at the American Psychiatric Association Foundation, says, “Silence often equals shame.” She adds, “It adds power to the stigma by not feeling free to share all of yourself at work.”

Related Links:

— “Some Companies Want You to Take a Mental-Health Day,” Francesca Fontana, Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2017.

CNN (8/15, Nedelman) reports on its website that medical researchers are discussing how to differentiate between Munchausen syndrome by proxy – a disorder in which parents falsify, agitate, or induce an illness in children to secure “their role as the desperate, knowledgeable parent,” one researcher said – and medical child abuse.

CNN follows the story of one woman who faked her own cancer scare and then “infected her daughter with harmful bacteria” and allegedly “removed blood from her daughter so that she would become anemic.” One researcher termed the behaviors “disorders of deception,” while others say it is an intentional form of abuse rather than a psychological condition.

The American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic manual includes a diagnosis of a “factitious disorder imposed on another,” although the medical community has not reached a consensus on how to characterize it.

Related Links:

— “A ‘disorder of deception’: When a mom makes her child sick,” Michael Nedelman, CNN, August 15, 2017.

NBC Nightly News (8/15, story 8, 0:30, Holt) reported, “New numbers out from the CDC show about one in eight Americans over age 12 reports taking antidepressants.”

According to TIME (8/15, Sifferlin), the report from the National Center for Health Statistics indicates “that from 2011 through 2014, the most recent data available,” nearly “13% of people 12 and older said they took an antidepressant in the last month.” This “number is up from 11% in 2005-2008.”

Medscape (8/15, Brooks) reports, “For the period 2011-2014, women were about twice as likely as men to report past-month antidepressant medication use (16.5% vs 8.6%).” Meanwhile, “Overall, antidepressant use increased with age, from 3.4% among people aged 12 to 19 years to 19.1% among those aged 60 years and older.” Medscape adds, “Increased use with age occurred in both men and women.” HealthDay (8/15, Mundell) also covers the story.

Related Links:

— “13% of Americans Take Antidepressants,” Alexandra Sifferlin, Time, August 15, 2017.

Medscape (8/14, Yasgur) reports that research suggests “clozapine…reduces mortality and protects against self-harm in patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia.” Researchers “found a nearly twofold higher mortality rate among patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia who were not being treated with clozapine, compared with those treated with the” medication. The findings also “suggest a deleterious effect of other antipsychotics on self-harm compared to clozapine.” The research was published online July 28 in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (8/14, Preidt) reports that research suggests “smoking during pregnancy is on the rise among American women with depression.” Investigators looked at data on approximately “8,500 mothers-to-be who took part in an annual government health survey.” The data showed “a 2.5 percent rise in smoking rates among pregnant women with depression between 2002 and 2014.” The findings were published online in the October issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

Related Links:

— “Smoking on the Rise Among Pregnant Women With Depression,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, August 14, 2017.

Reuters (8/14, Rapaport) reports that while “pain and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are among the most common reasons people use medical marijuana in the U.S., there isn’t much proof cannabis works for either one of these conditions, two research reviews” published in Annals of Internal Medicine suggest. In one review, investigators “examined 27 previously published studies on this topic,” and “found too little information to determine whether the drug helps most types of pain.”

The other “analysis of five previous studies of cannabis for PTSD found too little data to determine whether this would help relieve symptoms.” Also covering the story are CNN (8/14, Scutti), MedPage Today (8/14, Boyles), Healio (8/14), and HealthDay (8/14, Dotinga).

Related Links:

— “Little evidence shows cannabis helps chronic pain or PTSD,” Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, August 14, 2017.

STAT (8/11, Ross) reported “the cost of treating opioid overdose victims in hospital intensive care units” increased by 58 percent “between 2009 and 2015,” according to a study published Friday in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society. The average cost spiked from $58,500 to $92,500 over the seven-year period, which “far outpaced the overall medical inflation rate in the U.S.,” the article says.

HealthDay (8/11, Preidt) reported the study’s authors said the findings demonstrate the US “has reached a ‘new level of crisis’ and that opioid-related demand for acute medical care has exceeded the available supply.”

MedPage Today (8/13, Boyles) and Healthcare Finance News (8/11, Sanborn) also covered the story.

Related Links:

— “The cost of treating opioid overdose victims is skyrocketing,” CASEY ROSS, STAT, August 11, 2017.

In continuing coverage, Medical Daily (8/10, Delzo) reports, “Women and older adults in the United States are drinking a concerning amount of alcohol,” a finding that is “leading researchers” at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism “to label the problem a ‘public health crisis.’” NIAAA investigators arrived at the study’s findings after examining research “carried out in 2001-02 and 2012-13” that “involved about 43,000 and 36,000 participants, respectively.” The findings were published online Aug. 9 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Psychiatric News (8/10) reports that “a related editorial…described the costs associated with alcohol-related problems and noted that the populations that appear to be at greatest risk may also be least likely to have access to care.” The editorialist wrote that the study “makes a compelling case that the United States is facing a crisis with alcohol use, one that is currently costly and about to get worse.”

Related Links:

— “Alcoholism Among Americans Deemed A Public Healt,” Janissa Delzo, Medical Daily, August 10, 2017.