HealthDay (4/15, Preidt) reports that a study published in the April issue of the journal Sleep suggests that “depression, insomnia and exhaustion may be major risk factors for frequent nightmares.” The study of approximately 14,000 adults in Finland revealed that “frequent nightmares were reported by about 28 percent of people with severe depression and about 17 percent of those with frequent insomnia.” The study’s lead author suggested in a news release, “It might be possible that nightmares could function as early indicators of onset of depression and therefore have previously untapped diagnostic value.”

Related Links:

— “Depression, Insomnia, Fatigue Are the Stuff of Nightmares,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, April 14, 2015.

The Washington Post (4/15, Swanson) “Wonkblog” reports that approximately “568,000 uninsured people who have been diagnosed with a serious mental health condition would have received treatment in 2014 if their states had chosen to expand Medicaid, according to the American Mental Health Counselors Association.” A report by the AMHCA found that “uninsured, low-income Americans in the east, mid-Atlantic and Pacific are receiving more treatment through the Medicaid expansion, while those in the south and central US are not.” An embedded infographic depicts the report’s findings.

Related Links:

— “These states leave the most mentally ill adults untreated. Guess what else they have in common.,” Ana Swanson, Washington Post, April 14, 2015.

HIT Consultant (4/13) reports that despite physicians’ increased use of information technology, “more than two-thirds (70 percent) of them believe that health IT has decreased the amount of time they spend with patients, according to a new survey by Accenture.” Additionally, while “EMR adoption rates have reached record highs,” the survey “found fewer physicians believe that EMRs has improved treatment decisions (46 percent in 2015 vs. 62 percent in 2012), reduced medical errors (64 vs. 72 percent) and improved health outcomes for patients (46 vs. 58 percent).”

Related Links:

— “#HIMSS15: 70% of Physicians Believe Health IT Decreased Patient Engagement,” Jasmine Pennic, HIT Consultant, April 13, 2015.

The Wall Street Journal (4/14, Landro, Subscription Publication) reports in “The Informed Patient” that US hospitals are paying more attention to the psychological cost faced by families with children struggling with serious or life-threatening illnesses. Some hospitals are now using the Psychosocial Assessment Tool to help screen families after a child receives a diagnosis. The score allows medical professionals to assess if a family needs outside assistance for problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety or depression or could otherwise benefit from counseling to help them deal with a stressful situation.

Related Links:

— “Hospitals Help Families Cope: The Psychological Toll of a Child’s Illness,” Laura Landro, Wall Street Journal, April 13, 2015.

In a 1,300-word story on the front of its Personal Journal section, the Wall Street Journal (4/14, D1, Petersen, Subscription Publication) reports on the advice given by experts to parents for helping adolescents with mental illnesses prepare for life at college, thus ensuring that the teens will be able to handle taking medication and continuing treatment while dealing with the usual challenges the first year at college brings. Experts advise that teens find a mental healthcare professional near or on campus ahead of time if there is any chance that a condition could relapse.

Related Links:

— “Good Mental Health Away From Home Starts Before College,” Andrea Petersen, Wall Street Journal, April 13, 2015.

The Los Angeles Times (4/14, Kaplan) “Science Now” blog reports that a study published online April 13 in the journal Pediatrics “offers fresh support for the idea that teens who see drinking on the big screen are more likely to drink themselves.”

TIME (4/14, Steinmetz) reports the study found that “15-year-olds who have watched more alcohol being consumed in films than their peers are more likely to have tried alcohol, more likely to binge drink and more likely to have alcohol-related problems.” Researchers arrived at that conclusion after using “data from a longitudinal study in the United Kingdom that surveyed 5,163 15-year-olds on a wide variety of topics,” then adjusting for confounding factors.

Related Links:

— “To fight teen drinking, experts call for stricter movie ratings,” Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times, April 13, 2015.

On the front of its Business Day section, the New York Times (4/4, B1, Abrams, Subscription Publication) reported on the state and Federal lawmakers who seek to ban powdered alcohol, Palcohol, “before it even comes to market,” amid concerns that the substance could be easily abused. So far, “six states have passed legislation to ban powdered alcohol outright,” and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) “introduced a bill last month that would ban its sale and manufacture nationwide.” While in the past the FDA “has weighed in on some alcoholic products, like the beverage Four Loko,” the agency has not “become involved with Palcohol,” and “said that the ingredients in Palcohol were typical of those found in many processed foods and that they complied with” regulations.

Related Links:

— “Powdered Alcohol Meets Resistance in U.S. Before It Even Comes to Market,” RACHEL ABRAMS, New York Times, April 3, 2015.

Politico (4/4, Villakorta) reported that with the Germanwings plane crash encouraging discussion about suicide, “National Institute of Mental Health Director Thomas Insel is urging people not to forget about this public health problem once it fades from the headlines.” Dr. Insel stated, “Unlike many of the leading causes of death, the suicide rate has shown no appreciable decline over the last 50 years; indeed, the rate among middle-aged Americans is increasing, and for young people ages 15-34, it is not the tenth, but the second leading cause of death.” He added, “When will we change our national habit of paying brief attention to suicide when circumstances make it newsworthy and start viewing it as the major public health problem it is: one to be addressed by marshaling — and sustaining — research, as we have for other health issues, with the clear goal of saving lives.

Related Links:

— “The downsides to the SGR fix — Obamacare’s next fight: the Cadillac tax — Gruber too high with repeal estimate,” NATALIE VILLACORTA, Politico, April 3, 2015.

The Los Angeles Times (4/6, Healy) reported in a 1,700-word story that “mental health experts say that it was aggression — not just depression — that would have driven 27-year-old Andreas Lubitz to deliberately crash a Germanwings airliner into a mountainside.” But, “unless investigators recognize the toxic role of aggression and hostility in some patients’ depression, they say, such troubled individuals will continue to elude detection — to the public’s peril.” The piece quoted aggression researcher and neuropsychiatrist Jeff Victoroff, MD, of the University of South California’s Keck School of Medicine, who said of Lubitz. “This was a murderous guy who probably had elements of a mood disorder and personality disorders.” Forensic psychiatrist Steven E. Pitt, DO, said, “There has to be a maladaptive character defect, a character disorder here.”

In an essay for Scientific American (4/6) titled “What Should Lufthansa Have Done to Prevent the Germanwings Tragedy?,” psychiatrist Jeffrey Lieberman, MD, immediate past president of the American Psychiatric Association, wrote that “the critical question is not whether someone has had an illness but whether it has been adequately treated and they are actively symptomatic or not.” Dr. Lieberman pointed out, “With some exceptions (commercial pilot licenses are not available to people with type 1 diabetes or epilepsy), we do not prohibit people from jobs just because they have an illness, unless its symptoms impair their ability to function adequately.” Dr. Lieberman concluded, “In general, someone who has a prior history of depression but has been effectively treated and is no longer symptomatic should not be prohibited from working,” and “forcing people to go underground with their mental illness will not make us safer in the air – or anywhere else.”

Related Links:

— “Aggression, not just depression, led copilot to crash plane, experts say,” Melissa Healy, Los Angeles Times, April 5, 2015.

The Wall Street Journal (4/18, McGinty, Subscription Publication) reported that the NCAA, in partnership with the Defense Department, is funding a three-year, $30 million project to study the effects of concussions on about 37,000 student-athletes. The Journal reported that the concussion study seeks to record concussion effects from the initial hit through complete rehabilitation.

Related Links:

— “Short on Concussion Data, NCAA Sets Out to Get Some,” Jo Craven McGinty, Wall Street Journal, April 17, 2015.