MD Magazine (6/19, Bender) reports researchers “found that 46 percent of patients receiving antidepressant medication for major depression experience emotional blunting.” Investigators arrived at this conclusion after conducting an Internet-based survey among “66,000 individuals in the US, 40,000 in the UK and 98,000 in Canada.” The findings, which appear online, will be published in October 15 issue of the Journal of Affective Disorders.

Related Links:

— “Half of Patients on Antidepressants Experience Emotional Blunting,”Kenneth Bender, MD Magazine, June 19, 2017.

Vox (6/19, Belluz) reports there appears to be “relatively strong evidence linking a mother’s infection with the rubella virus during pregnancy to an increased risk of autism in her baby,” but the “evidence for other viruses – such as influenza, or herpes – is much less clear.” Alice Kau, PhD, program director for research on autism at the National Institutes of Health, said, “Some studies show some associations [between infections and autism] and others don’t. … The findings are mixed.”

Related Links:

— “Researchers have ditched the autism-vaccine hypothesis. Here’s what they think actually causes it,”Julia Belluz, Vox , June 19, 2017.

The AP (6/19, Johnson) reports that “only 1 in 4 teens and young adults with opioid addiction receive recommended treatment medication despite having good health insurance,” according to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics. The study “suggests doctors are not keeping up with the needs of youth caught up in the worst addiction crisis in U.S. history.”

Reuters (6/19, Rapaport) reports that the study also found “younger teens, females, and black and Hispanic youth were less likely to get medication for opioid use disorder than older youth, males and white people.”

HealthDay (6/19, Reinberg) and MedPage Today (6/19, Walker) also cover the story.

Related Links:

— “FEW OPIOID-ADDICTED YOUTH GET STANDARD TREATMENT MEDICATION,”Carla K. Johnson, AP, June 19, 2017.

Healio (6/15, Oldt) reports, “Chronic physical illness in childhood,” particularly cancer, “was associated with increased risk for depression and anxiety in adulthood,” researchers found in a meta-analysis of 34 studies including 45,358 youngsters. The findings were published online April 27 in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Childhood chronic illness increases risk for adult depression, anxiety,”Amanda Oldt, Healio, June 15, 2017.

USA Today (6/14, Weichselbaum) reports, “Suicides, post traumatic stress disorder and other mental-health problems that afflict corrections officers as well as police officers are an underreported sector of the criminal justice system.” Now “an awakening of sorts – from the halls of Congress to the prisons of California – is under way.” Recently, “the California peace officers association completed the first major step of a partnership with the University of California, Berkeley, by analyzing the results of a 61-question survey from more than 8,600 corrections and parole officers statewide.” The survey “responses serve as the basis for an ambitious plan to develop, test and implement a range of mental health services for officers across the state’s prison system.” Meanwhile, last month on Capitol Hill, “the Senate unanimously passed the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act.”

Related Links:

— “,”Simone Weichselbaum, USA Today, June 14, 2017.

Kaiser Health News (6/14, Allen) reports many people are concerned that proposed cuts to Medicaid could restrict access to treatment for drug addiction. The article highlights the situation in Pennsylvania where more than 124,000 people used Medicaid “to get help for their drug or alcohol addiction last year.”

Related Links:

— “People In Recovery Worry GOP Medicaid Cuts Would Put Treatment Out Of Reach,” Ben Allen, Kaiser Health News, June 14, 2017.

HealthDay (6/13, Norton) reports, “Older adults with evidence of ‘plaques’ in the brain are more likely to see their memory and thinking skills wane over the next few years,” researches found after studying “445 older US and Canadian adults (average age 74) who had no signs of dementia at” the start of the study. About 200 of these people did “have elevated levels of beta-amyloid in the brain,” however, that “were detected either in spinal fluid samples, or by specialized PET scans of the brain.” The study revealed that individuals “with elevated beta-amyloid showed a steeper decline in their memory and other mental skills over the next three years.” The findings were published June 13 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

MedPage Today (6/13, Fiore) reports the study supports “the idea that amyloid plaques presage eventual dementia, even in people with no signs of clinical impairment.”

Related Links:

— “Sticky Brain ‘Plaques’ Implicated in Alzheimer’s Again,”Amy Norton, HealthDay, June 13, 2017.

CNN (6/12, Emanuel) reports that teens with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) appear to be “36% more likely than other adolescent drivers to get into a car accident,” researchers found after examining data from some “18,500 electronic health records for young people, including nearly 2,500 with” AD/HD. The findings were published online June 12 in JAMA Pediatrics. Reuters (6/12, Seaman) and HealthDay (6/12, Mozes) also cover the story.

Related Links:

— “Young drivers with ADHD 36% more likely to have an accident, study says,”Daniella Emanuel, CNN, June 13, 2017.

On its “Morning Edition” program and in its “Shots” blog, NPR (6/12) reports that some first responders who handled casualties at last year’s Pulse Nightclub mass shooting in Orlando, FL are now dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder. While only a few have come forward to discuss their PTSD diagnoses, such as police officer Gerry Realin who has been unable to work since the mass shooting, many others have not wanted to “come forward because they don’t want to be seen as weak or unfit for duty.”

Related Links:

— “A Pulse Nightclub Responder Confronts A New Crisis: PTSD,”Abe Aboraya, NPR, June 12, 2017.

TIME (6/12, Tweeten) reports that almost “10 million American adults have a serious mental illness, and a similar number have considered suicide during the past year, according to a new government report on the nation’s behavioral ills.” That report also found that some “15.7 million Americans abuse alcohol and 7.7 million abuse illicit drugs.”

HealthDay (6/12, Reinberg) reports the study found “mental illness is a growing problem among adolescents.” In 2015, “three million teens from 12 to 17 had major depression,” with “the problem” being “particularly acute among girls, the researchers found.”

According to Healio (6/12, Oldt), Beth Han, MD, PhD, MPH, of SAMHSA, and colleagues arrived at these conclusions after analyzing data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health and the National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services for 2015. The report, called the “Behavioral Health Barometer: United States,” can be downloaded here.

Related Links:

— “Teens Are Getting More Depressed But Using Fewer Drugs,”Lon Tweeten, TIME, June 12, 2017.