On its front page, the New York Times (12/11, A1, Schwarz, Subscription Publication) reports in a nearly 1,300-word story on the “rapid” rise of cases in which youngsters “age two or younger are prescribed psychiatric medications to address alarmingly violent or withdrawn behavior.”

Figures from the prescription data company IMS Health reveal that nearly “20,000 prescriptions for risperidone (commonly known as Risperdal), quetiapine (Seroquel) and other antipsychotic medications were written in 2014 for children two and younger, a 50 percent jump from 13,000 just one year before.

Many physicians are concerned that these medications, which are “designed for adults and only warily accepted for certain school-age youngsters, are being used to treat children still in cribs despite no published research into their effectiveness and potential health risks for children so young.” Some experts attribute the increased use of psychiatric medications in kids of all ages to the “scarcity of child psychiatrists.”

Related Links:

— “Still in a Crib, Yet Being Given Antipsychotics,” Alan Schwarz, New York Times, December 10, 2015.

MedPage Today (12/10, Clark) reports that the issue of post-operative cognitive decline (POCD) was addressed at a presentation given at the American Society of Anesthesiology’s annual meeting. The condition affects possibly “as many as 15% of patients 60 and older.” Patients with POCD “experience some memory or problem-solving declines within three months of surgery.”

Although some surgeons still remain “skeptical about the syndrome…there is greater recognition among cardiac surgeons, who have dealt for years with the possibility that cardio-pulmonary bypass machines used during heart surgery may be associated with post-op cognitive problems.”

Related Links:

— “Is Surgery a Risk Factor for Cognitive Dysfunction?,” Cheryl Clark , MedPage Today, December 9, 2015.

USA Today (12/10, Szabo) reports that the Treatment Advocacy Center, an organization focusing on the “needs of people with serious mental illness,” is set to release a report today estimating that “people with mental illness are 16 times more likely than others to be killed by police.” The report points out that approximately “one in four fatal police encounters involves someone with mental illness.” This problem is not only “due to a lack of police training,” but also due to the “lack of treatment” for people with serious psychiatric disorders.

Related Links:

— “People with mental illness 16 times more likely to be killed by police,” Liz Szabo, USA Today, December 10, 2015.

Reuters (12/9, Rapaport) reports that approximately 5.8 million US youngsters have received a diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), according to a study published online Dec. 8 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

The Washington Post (12/9, Cha) reports in “To Your Health” that the study “shows a surprising 55 percent increase in prevalence of diagnoses among girls – from 4.7 percent to 7.3 percent from 2003 to 2011.” During that same time period, investigators “found an increase in cases across all races and ethnicities but especially in Hispanic children.”

HealthDay (12/9) reports that “in 2011, an estimated 12 percent of US kids aged 5 to 17 had ever been diagnosed with AD/HD,” the study found, an increase of “43 percent from 2003.”

Related Links:

— “Sharp rise in ADHD diagnoses in girls challenges myth that the condition is mostly a boy thing,” Ariana Eunjung Cha, Washington Post, December 9, 2015.

In “To Your Health,” the Washington Post (12/8, Sun) writes that a report by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) reveals that “only 23 states increased mental health spending in 2015, compared to 36 states in 2013 and 29 in 2014.” The remaining states “have been ‘treading water’ or going backwards by cutting funding for services, according to the report.”

The AP (12/8, Ronayne) points out that the NAMI report “shows New Hampshire is one of 11 states that has increased mental health funding every year since 2013.” That state’s increased mental health “spending is due in part to a legal settlement New Hampshire signed with the US Department of Justice in 2013 over inadequate community mental health services.” Currently, the New Hampshire “budget includes $23 million for the settlement over the next two years.

Related Links:

— “Three years after Sandy Hook, more states cut mental health funding,” Lena H. Sun, Washington Post, December 8, 2015.

In an opinion piece in the Arizona Republic (12/7), Gurjot K. Marwah, MD, president-elect of the Arizona Psychiatric Society, a district branch of the American Psychiatric Association, writes that “bipartisan” mental health reform legislation in the House and Senate, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act (HR 2646) and the Mental Health Reform Act of 2015 (S.1945), would benefit Americans with mental illnesses and their families by “ensuring coordination of federal mental health resources, more strongly monitoring and enforcing the existing mental health parity law, establishing a national plan to boost the mental health workforce, and increasing research funding for the National Institute of Mental Health.”

If signed into law, “these provisions and others in the two bills will help patients and families struggling with serious mental illness, but who lack access to needed care.” Dr. Marwah called upon the political leadership in Congress to “seize this rare opportunity” to enact mental health system reform.

Related Links:

— “My Turn: Time for a new mental-health approach,” Gurjot K. Marwah, MD, AZ, Arizona Republic, December 7, 2015.

The Alaska Dispatch News (12/5, Demer) reported, “Alaska’s suicide rate of 23 for every 100,000 people in 2013 was the second highest” in the US, falling behind that of “Montana, according to data reported to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” with “young Alaska Native men” being “particularly vulnerable.” The Dispatch News explained that “a multitude of factors usually contribute to a decision to take one’s own life, not a single bad thing like a lost job or broken relationship, but also mental illness, a lack of jobs and opportunity, alcohol abuse and among Native people, cultural loss.”

Related Links:

— “In rural Alaska, a new approach to fighting suicide emerges,” Lisa Demer, Alaska Dispatch News, December 5, 2015.

In a nearly 1,200-word piece, STAT (12/5, Dolgin) reported that “a small but growing number of surgeons…are pushing to introduce formal screening tools in cosmetic surgery clinics” across the US. They argue that “psychiatric questionnaires offer a way both to protect patients from unwarranted medical treatment and to preemptively defend plastic surgeons from legal and physical attacks.” Estimates indicate that body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) may affect “up to 15 percent of patients in cosmetic surgery clinics.” While BDD “is best managed with antidepressants and talk therapy…around half of all people with BDD” instead seek “appearance-enhancing treatments.” After such treatments, “few are happy with the outcomes.”

Related Links:

— “Plastic surgeons, fearing violence, turn to psychiatry to screen patients,” Ellie Dolgin, STAT, December 4, 2015.

The Washington Times (12/7, Scarborough) reports that a new study conducted by psychologists from the National Center for Veterans Studies at the University of Utah concludes that the US military’s suicide rate “is more a generational trait than a wartime offshoot.” Researchers found that 18- to 24-year old veterans are more likely to be products of single-parent homes, have “more adverse childhood experiences,” and have “diminished social integration.”

Related Links:

— “U.S. military’s millennials at greatest risk for suicide,” Rowan Scarborough, Washington Times, December 6, 2015.

HealthDay (12/4, Thompson) reports that “mass shootings and the accompanying carnage” that happen all too often in the US now have some “mental health experts” warning of possible “major consequences for the nation’s psyche.” But, people “struggling to cope with these violent events would do well to remember that it’s still very unlikely that you or yours will become directly involved in a shooting, said” Renee Binder, MD, president of the American Psychiatric Association. Dr. Binder suggested that people “do a reality check and consider that the chances of this happening to someone you love is still very rare.”

Related Links:

— “Making Sense of the Senseless Violence,” Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, December 3, 2015.