In a letter to the editor of the New York Times (11/6, A26, Subscription Publication) regarding a front-page article called “Rise in Deaths for US Whites in Middle Age,” Maria A. Oquendo, MD, president-elect of the American Psychiatric Association, observes that “death rates due to suicide and poisoning” are a “tragedy.” Dr. Oquendo calls for “routine screening and treatment for common psychiatric conditions like depression and substance use disorders, crucial antecedents of suicide and poisonings” in order to “stem the tide of deaths in what could be the prime of life.”

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— “,” Maria A Oquendo, New York Times, November 6, 2015.

HealthDay (11/4, Dotinga) reports that an 87-participant study published in Health Psychology indicates that a patient’s doubts about the effectiveness of a medication may actually influence the medicine’s effectiveness. Researchers found that a placebo pain medication that was labeled with a brand name provided as much headache relief as ibuprofen, but placebo pills with a generic label appeared not to have the same effect. The study, “although small and only in college students,” suggests that the branding on a placebo could influence its effect.

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— “People Have Less Faith in Generic Drugs, Study Suggests,” Randy Dotinga, HealthDay via U.S. News & World Report, November 5, 2015.

Modern Healthcare (11/3, Muchmore, Subscription Publication) reports that a provision “keeping a House mental health reform bill from relatively easy passage involves assisted outpatient treatment [AOT].” Some organizations “and about 20 Democrats in the House Energy & Commerce Committee say…AOT is not proven to be helpful and the law as currently written would punish the five states that don’t have AOT laws on the books.” But, “John Snook, executive director of the Treatment Advocacy Center, said AOT treatment is necessary.” In fact, “the practice is supported by the US Justice Department, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, American Psychiatric Association and National Alliance on Mental Illness, he said.”

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— “Congress wrestles with court-ordered mental health treatment,” Shannon Muchmore, Modern Healthcare, November 2, 2015.

The Boston Globe (11/3, Albernaz) reports that a report issued in September by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reveals that “rates of major depressive episodes among teens have risen in recent years, and many of those affected are not receiving treatment.” Conclusions of the report were “based on survey data from a nationally representative sample of more than 17,000 12- to 17-year-olds.”

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— “Depressive episodes on rise among teens, many not being treated, report says,” Ami Albernaz, Boston Globe, November 3, 2015.

On its “Morning Edition” program and in its “Shots” blog, NPR (11/2, Silberner) reported that “nearly three times as many Americans die from suicide as from homicide” annually. Last month, as Thomas Insel, MD, “prepared to step down from his job” as director of the National Institute of Mental Health, “he cited the lack of progress in reducing the number of suicides as his biggest disappointment.” Even though the US “homicide rate…has dropped 50 percent since the early 1990s, the suicide rate is higher than it was” 10 years ago.

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— “What Happens If You Try To Prevent Every Single Suicide?,” Joanne Silberner, NPR, November 2, 2015.

On the front of its Science Times section, the New York Times (11/3, D1, Beil, Subscription Publication) reports that “rural adolescents commit suicide at roughly twice the rate of their urban peers, according to a study published in the May issue of the journal JAMA Pediatrics.” Unfortunately, not only young people are experiencing an increase in suicide rates. In fact, “rates over all rose 7 percent in metropolitan counties from 2004 to 2013, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” but “in rural counties, the increase was 20 percent.” Isolation and exposure to firearms factor into the increased rates, as does an acute shortage of mental healthcare professionals, including psychiatrists, in rural areas.

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— “Small Towns Face Rising Suicide Rates,” New York Times, November 3, 2015.

In a nearly 1,300-word article, the NPR (11/1) “Shots” blog and “Weekend Edition” program examined the experience of postpartum depression from the perspective of Paige and Bjorn Bellenbaum. The definition of postpartum depression is “broad,” but, according to the CDC, between eight and 19 percent of women experience postpartum depression. In recent years, awareness has increased as more public figures have come forth with their experiences.

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— “Know The Signs: For Some, Post-Pregnancy Is Anything But Magical,” NPR, November 1, 2015.

MedPage Today (10/31, Bender) reported that a research letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that “increasing numbers of people with opioid dependence use both prescription opiates and heroin concurrently, and shift between them depending on availability.” Investigators found, “in a study of more than 15,000 individuals diagnosed with opioid dependence, the percentage using prescription opioids and heroin together peaked at nearly 42%” last year, “up from 24% in 2008.”

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— “Heroin, Prescription Opioids Interchangeable for Abusers,” Eve Bender, MedPage Today, October 30, 2015.

In a 2,500-word article on its front page, the New York Times (10/31, A1, Seelye, Subscription Publication) discussed how the usage of heroin “has skyrocketed among whites” and prompted a “growing army of families of those lost to heroin” to unite “their influence, anger and grief to cushion the country’s approach to drugs, from altering the language around addiction to prodding government to treat it not as a crime, but as a disease.”

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— “In Heroin Crisis, White Families Seek Gentler War on Drugs,” Katherine Q. Seeleye, New York Times, October 30, 2015.

The Los Angeles Times (10/30, Kaplan) reports in “Science Now” that a new study published Thursday in JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery suggests that “a face-lift may make you look younger, but it won’t necessarily improve your self-esteem.”

The Huffington Post (10/30, Adams) reports that Dr. Andrew Jacono, a New York City-based plastic surgeon, “partnered with Ryan P. Chastant, MD, and Greg Dibelius, MD, to perform” the study. They had “50 patients between the ages of 37 and 73 (48 of whom were women) fill out the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, a questionnaire social scientists use to measure self-esteem, just before they had the procedure done and again six months after the procedure.” HealthDay (10/30, Alan) also covers the story.

Related Links:

— “A face-lift won’t help with your sagging self-esteem, study says,” Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times, October 29, 2015.