The AP (6/8, Cheng) reports, “Scientists say most antidepressants don’t work for children or teenagers with major depression, some may be unsafe, and the quality of evidence about these” medicines “is so bad the researchers cannot be sure if any are truly effective or safe.”

TIME (6/8, Park) reports that in order to find out “how effective” antidepressants “are in treating depression among younger people,” researchers from Oxford University “conducted an analysis of 34 trials of antidepressants involving more than 5,000 children or teens taking 14 different antidepressants.” In a meta-analysis published online June 8 in The Lancet, investigators found that “ratings of the depression before and after taking the medications did not change significantly.” Just one medication, fluoxetine, which is already approved by the Food and Drug Administration for children and adolescents, “improved their depression.”

Related Links:

— “Teen Depression Treatment Is an Increasingly Thorny Issue,” Alice Park, Time, June 8, 2016.

Reuters (6/7, Taylor) reports that about a third of children between the ages of three and four growing up in developing countries “are failing to meet basic mental development milestones, which could adversely affect their health, success in adulthood, and education levels,” research conducted by the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Grand Challenges Canada. Researchers arrived at this conclusion after analyzing data from UNICEF and the US Agency for International Development.

Related Links:

— “A third of children in poor nations fail to meet mental development milestones: research,” Lin Taylor, Reuters, June 7, 2016.

The Washington Post (6/7, Johnson) “Wonkblog” reports that even though “people with mental illness were more likely to be arrested for violent crime than the general population over the study period, from 2002 to 2011,” a study published in the June issue of Health Affairs “found they actually had a slightly lower arrest rate for gun-related crimes.” Researchers arrived at this conclusion after following some “81,704 adults with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or depression who were receiving treatment through the public behavioral health systems in two Florida counties.”

The Atlantic (6/7, Beck) points out that the study also “emphasizes that suicide, not homicide, is the major public health problem for” people with mental health disorders who possess firearms.

Related Links:

— “The problem with trying to solve gun violence by going after the mentally ill,” Carolyn Y. Johnson, Washington Post, June 7, 2016.

In a greater than 2,300-word story, the Washington Post (6/7, Morse) reports that “in 25 states surveyed this year by the nonprofit Treatment Advocacy Center based in Arlington, Va., 1,956 inmates were in local jails waiting for psychiatric hospital slots, leaving them in facilities that were not designed to meet their needs at what can be triple the cost of tending to other inmates.”

One factor behind long waits for psychiatric beds, “say corrections officials and the Treatment Advocacy Center, is that more people with profound mental illness are being arrested and booked into jails, while the number of beds at state hospitals is not growing.” Meanwhile, “patients in the hospitals…are more acutely sick and more dangerous than in years past, which extends their stays.”

Related Links:

— “Mental-health crisis ensnares inmates, judges, jailers and hospitals,” Dan Morse, Washington Post, June 7, 2016.

Kaiser Health News (6/6, Luthra) reports that in a study published online June 6 in Health Affairs, investigators “analyzed National Survey on Drug Use and Health data from 2005 to 2014 and predicted how many people were likely to face ‘serious psychological distress.’” Next, “they measured how many people received mental health care treatment – at least one inpatient, outpatient or pharmacy visit – during those years, comparing whites, Hispanics, blacks and Asians.” The study authors then found that since implementation of the Affordable Care Act, “whites were still the only racial group in which a majority of people with severe psychological distress get treatment.”

Related Links:

— “Factors Beyond Coverage Limit Mental Health Care Access,” Shefali Luthra, Kaiser Health News, June 6, 2016.

HealthDay (6/6, Mozes) reports that even though “suicide rates have been increasing among all active US Navy, Air Force and Army personnel…those in the Army appear to be most at risk,” research published online June 6 in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggests. In fact, the “analysis of all US military suicides between 2005 and 2011 revealed that the suicide rate among Army members was roughly double that seen among the second highest risk group, the Marines.”

Related Links:

— “Among U.S. Military, Army Members Face Highest Suicide Risk,” Alan Mozes, HealthDay, June 6, 2016.

BBC News (UK) (6/6) reports that a global review of 48 studies on anxiety conducted by researchers from the University of Cambridge estimated that “four out of every 100 people are affected by anxiety.” The report said “women, young people under 35 and those with health problems were particularly affected.” The findings were published in the journal Brain and Behavior.

The Guardian (UK) (6/5, Davis) reports that the research revealed “women are nearly twice as likely to experience anxiety as men.” Additionally, those “suffering from diseases including cancer, stroke and multiple sclerosis have a higher chance of experiencing symptoms of anxiety than healthy individuals.”

Related Links:

— “Women ‘nearly twice as likely to have anxiety’ as men,” BBC News, June 6, 2016.

The AP (6/1, Golen) reports, “Researchers are moving ahead with efforts to develop a diagnostic test for chronic traumatic encephalopathy – even without the NFL’s help.” Researchers gathered on Wednesday at the Boston University School of Medicine “for the start of a seven-year, $16 million research project designed to find a test for CTE and identify its risk factors.” The DIAGNOSE CTE project “had originally been set to receive money that the NFL earmarked for concussion research” but the league’s “complaints about Boston University researchers led the National Institutes of Health to pay for it with other funds.”

The Boston Globe (6/2, Lazar) reports that the DIAGNOSE CTE study “will be the largest to date of living former football players and includes 240 men ages 45 to 74.” Researchers “say findings from the seven-year study, paid for by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, might be used to help veterans with brain injuries and others who suffer repetitive head traumas.” The researchers “pledge to share their data monthly with researchers around the world.”

Related Links:

— “Can brain damage be found in retired football players?,” Kay Lazar, Boston Globe, June 1, 2016.

Medical Daily (5/31, Bushak) reports, “Maintaining a social media presence that depicts a lifestyle that revolves around drinking and partying may predict future drinking problems among college students,” the findings of a study published in the June issue of the Journal of Health Communication: International Perspectives suggest.

In the study, which included 364 undergraduate students over the age of 18, researchers found that “a social media account that detailed a student’s drinking escapades was more closely correlated to alcoholism than simply having a drink.” The National Institutes of Health has found that “four in five college students drink alcohol, half of whom take part in binge-drinking,” Medical Daily adds.

Related Links:

— “Social Media Can Help Us Spot College Students With Potential For Drinking Problems,” Lecia Bushak, Medical Daily, May 31, 2016.

The Tampa Bay (FL) Times (5/30, Neuhaus) reports that research “published online in a journal produced by the American Psychiatric Association” suggests “the VA is up to 30 percent better at providing medication to veteran patients than the private sector is for its patients.” This “was largely due to the VA’s ability to provide a one-stop shop for timely medication to patients with appropriate follow-up care, like therapy and blood-level checks to ensure proper medication dosages.”

The Times points out that “Dr. Katherine Watkins, a primary author of the study at the RAND Corporation, said the study compared more than 830,000 veterans against 545,000 non-veterans.” The study “compared data from veterans and patients in the private sector who were being treated for five mental health disorders: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, PTSD, major depression and substance abuse disorders.”

Related Links:

— “Study finds that VA treats PTSD better than the private sector,” Les Neuhaus, Tampa Bay (FL) Times, May 30, 2016.