HealthDay (4/18, Preidt) reported that adolescent “boys who have been a victim of sexual assault are likelier to attempt suicide,” according to a study published online in the journal Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior. After analyzing “data from more than 31,000 American teens, aged 14 to 18, who took part in surveys in 2009 and 2011,” researchers found that among teen “boys, 3.5 percent of those with no history of sexual assault attempted suicide within the past year, compared with more than 33 percent of those who had been sexually assaulted.”

Related Links:

— “1 in 3 Teen Boys Sexually Assaulted Tries Suicide, Study Finds,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, April 17, 2015.

The Wall Street Journal (4/20, A3, Palazzolo, Subscription Publication) reports that across the US, there is a growing number of inmates with serious mental health disorders who are incarcerated awaiting trial due to mental competency issues. Unfortunately, there are not enough mental healthcare professionals or state psychiatric hospital beds available to help restore these inmates to competency so they can stand trial. Some states are now addressing the problem by creating restoration programs in jails or by establishing mental-health courts.

Related Links:

— “Mental-Health Treatment for Defendants Dogged by Delays,” Joe Palazzolo, Wall Street Journal, April 19, 2015.

The Pittsburgh (PA) Post-Gazette (4/12, Smydo) reported that at a “gathering of mental health advocates,” New York Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall discussed his struggle with mental illness and how he “pursued treatment for his borderline personality disorder, which is characterized by emotional instability.” Now Marshall has become “a high-profile advocate for mental health care and ending the stigma around mental illness.”

Related Links:

— “NFL player Brandon Marshall speaks out on tackling stigma of mental illness,”Joe Smydo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 12, 2015.

Think Progress (4/11, Collins) reported that a new Urban Institute report found that “a shortage of in-house mental health services for a growing mentally disabled population, variations in the definition and management of psychological ailments, and lack of support for former inmates has created a national criminal justice system that has shortchanged millions of mentally ill inmates.” However, the report indicated that “there may be some hope in mental health courts and other diversion services that aim to provide mentally ill offenders with alternatives to incarceration that tackle the root of why they committed crime in the first place.”

Related Links:

— “Introducing Mental Health Courts,”SAM P.K. Collins, Think Progress, April 10, 2015.

HealthDay (4/11, Norton) reported that a study published online Feb. 16 in the journal Anxiety, Stress & Coping suggests that “service members who have to deal with trouble at home when they’re deployed may be at increased risk of suicidal thoughts.” After conducting a survey involving “more than 1,000 Iraq and Afghanistan vets, researchers found that about 14 percent said they’d had suicidal thoughts in recent months.” What’s more, “the odds were greater for those who’d dealt with family stress or felt unsupported by family members during their deployment.”

Related Links:

— “Family Stress May Figure in Soldiers’ Suicide Risk,”Amy Norton, HealthDay, April 10, 2015.

NPR (4/12, Martin) reported on its website and on its “Weekend Edition Sunday” program that the National Institute of Mental Health estimates that “16 million Americans had at least one major depressive episode in the past year. Of that number, many struggle with whether and how to talk about their depression in the workplace.”

Related Links:

— “Working Through Depression: Many Stay On The Job, Despite Mental Illness,”Rachel Martin , NPR, April 12, 2015.

HealthDay (4/10, Reinberg) reports that a study published online April 10 in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology suggests that people “who are overweight or obese in middle age may be less likely to develop dementia than their normal and underweight peers.” The study, which included almost two million people, revealed that “overweight and obese people were about 30 percent less likely to develop dementia 15 years later than people of a healthy weight.” In contrast, “underweight people were 34 percent more likely to develop dementia than those whose weight was normal.” Also covering the story are BBC News (4/10, Gallagher), The Guardian (UK) (4/10, Boseley) and the Daily Mail (UK)(4/10, Hope).

Related Links:

— “Could Obesity Help Protect Against Dementia?,”Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, April 10, 2015.

In a nearly 3,700-word story on the front of its New York section, the New York Times (4/12, MB1, Winerip, Schwirtz) reports on the issue of prison inmates who suffer from mental illness, noting some “are more likely than other inmates to be the victims as well as the perpetrators of violence.” Using the story of Rikers Island inmate Michael Megginson as an example, the piece shows how the prison system is unequipped to handle complicated psychiatric problems. It reports that “unlike jail, psychiatric hospitals treated his behavior as a symptom of illness,” though “that option has all but disappeared. For the last four decades, the push in the mental health field has been to close these hospitals.”

Related Links:

— “For Mentally Ill Inmates at Rikers Island, a Cycle of Jail and Hospitals,”Michael Winerip, The New York Times, April 10, 2015.

HealthDay (4/8, Preidt) reports that research published online in European Psychiatry suggests that “hospital patients who are alcoholics have an increased risk of dying in the hospital.” The study indicated that “one in five of the patients with alcoholism died while in the hospital, compared with one in 12 patients in” a “control group.” The investigators also “found that, on average, those with alcoholism were likely to be about eight years younger when they died than people without a drinking problem.”

Related Links:

— “Alcoholics Face Greater Death Risk When Hospitalized,”Robert Preidt, HealthDay, April 07, 2015.

USA Today (4/8, Guynn) reports that research published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology suggests that “liking other people’s status updates and photos on Facebook could make you like yourself less.” The study’s lead author pointed out that “people with emotional difficulties” appear to be “most vulnerable.”

The Washington Post (4/7, Moyer) “Morning Mix” blog reported that in arriving at these conclusions, researchers “completed two experiments with more than 100 subjects designed to measure their Facebook usage, depressive symptoms and tendency to compare themselves with others.” Participants “completed questionnaires and/or kept diaries, self-reporting their behavior and states of mind.” The study revealed that “spending a great deal of time on Facebook (or viewing Facebook more frequently) is positively related to comparing one’s self to others…which in turn is associated with increased depressive symptoms.”

Related Links:

— “Your Facebook friends’ fabulous lives can leave you down,”Jessica Guynn, USA Today, April 10, 2015.