Reuters (5/20, Kelland) reports that a study published online May 20 in the journal Psychological Medicine suggests that people who are bullied in childhood have an increased likelihood of becoming obese or overweight as adults and may also have a greater risk of developing diabetes or heart disease. Included in the study were 7,102 people who had been bullied in childhood and who were tracked until they became 45 and were examined for obesity and blood markers for inflammation.

Related Links:

— “Bullied kids have higher risk of adult obesity and heart disease,” Kate Kelland, Reuters, May 19, 2015.

HealthDay (5/20, Preidt) reports that a review published May 19 in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that “antidepressants seem to help women deal with postpartum depression.” Researchers arrived at that conclusion after examining the results of “six studies that included nearly 600 women with postpartum depression,” then focusing “their analysis on 72 women with postpartum depression from three of the studies.”

Related Links:

— “Antidepressants Ease Postpartum Depression, Study Finds,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, May 19, 2015.

The Columbus (OH) Dispatch (5/19, Ockerman) reports that “a bill proposed by Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, would require mental-health assessments for incoming recruits to establish a baseline and then also mandate assessments when service members leave the military.” The senator “joined Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-NM, in introducing the Medical Evaluation Parity for Servicemembers Act in March to help detect mental illness among veterans earlier and more effectively.”

Related Links:

— “Portman finds support for military mental-health screening,” Emma Ockerman, Columbus Dispatch, May 18, 2015.

HealthDay (5/19, Doheny) reports that according to a study due for presentation at a medical meeting, “men with undiagnosed, severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) had more than double the risk of depression compared to those without sleep apnea.” The 860-man study also revealed that “men who had both undiagnosed, severe apnea and excessive daytime sleepiness had” up to a “five times greater” risk of depression.

Related Links:

— “Sleep Apnea May Boost Depression Risk in Men, Study Finds,” Kathleen Doheny, HealthDay, May 18, 2015.

The New York Times (5/19, A14, Tavernise, Subscription Publication) reports that the “suicide rate among black children has nearly doubled since the early 1990s, while the rate for white children has declined,” a study published online May 18 in JAMA Pediatrics found. The findings, covering children ages five to 11, surprised researchers, as “suicide rates are almost always lower among blacks than among whites of any age.”

The AP (5/19, Tanner) reports that the study authors theorize that “black kids may experience more violence, stress or school discipline than whites, and are less likely to seek help for depression and other difficulties, but whether those factors explain the results is not known.”

Related Links:

— “Rise in Suicide by Black Children Surprises Researchers,” Sabrina Tavernise, New York Times, May 18, 2015.

In the US News & World Report (5/15) “Policy Dose” blog, Renee Binder, MD, incoming president of the American Psychiatric Association, and Riki Hokoma, president of the National Association of Counties, write that addressing the need to keep people with mental illnesses out of jail “requires bringing together state and county policymakers, heads of behavioral health programs and leaders in the criminal justice system to create the structure to support change.” For that reason, “we partnered with the Council of State Governments Justice Center to launch ‘Stepping Up: A National Initiative to Reduce the Number of People with Mental Illnesses in Jails.’”

Now, “with support from the US Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance and guidance from several national groups dedicated to these issues, counties across the country are joining a call to action and taking specific, research-driven actions to reduce the number of people with mental illnesses in county jails.” The American Psychiatric Foundation is one of the initiative’s collaborators.

Related Links:

— “A Crisis in Our Jails,” Riki Hokama and Renee Binder, U.S. News & World Report, May 14, 2015.

HealthDay (5/15, Dotinga) reports “people with short-term debt, such as overdue bills or credit card debt, are more likely to be depressed than those who carry long-term debt through mortgages and other big loans,” according to a study published in the May issue of the Journal of Family and Economic Issues. For the study, researchers “relied on a national survey of more than 13,000 Americans in 1987-1989 and follow-up interviews of about 10,000 of those people in 1992-1994,” focusing on adults of working age. Investigators found that “a 10 percent increase in short-term debt was associated with a 24 percent increase in depression symptoms.” The study’s lead author suggested that “providing people with protection from debt might lead to mental health benefits.”

Related Links:

— “Short-Term Debt Can Depress More Than Your Finances,” Randy Dotinga, HealthDay, May 14, 2015.

The Huffington Post (5/15, Gregoire) reports that a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry found that with only one exception, there appears to be “no association between most psychiatric disorders and future violent behavior in delinquent youth.” After analyzing “data from over 1,800 adolescents between the ages of 10 and 18 who were arrested and detained in the Chicago area between 1995 and 1998,” then following the study participants over a number of years after they were detained, researchers discovered that even though “some youth suffering from mental illness were violent – young men with mania, a symptom of bipolar disorder, were twice as likely to report violent behavior as those without mania – their illnesses were not predictive of future violence.”

Related Links:

— “The Link Between Mental Illness And Violence Is More Complicated Than You Might Think,” Carolyn Gregoire, Huffington Post, May 15, 2015.

MedPage Today (5/18, Smith) reports, “War veterans with both post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance abuse problems can be treated for the trauma without waiting for a long period of sobriety,” according to research presented at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting. In a 22-patient study, “a majority of vets with both conditions were able to complete a 12-week course of cognitive processing therapy (CPT) with significant improvements on two PTSD measures,” even though none of them “had been sober for more than 90 days – far less time than is usually thought to be needed for effective treatment of PTSD.”

Related Links:

— “PTSD Treatment Can Start Early Despite Addiction,” Michael Smith, MedPage Today, May 17, 2015.

According to the Washington Post (5/16, Layton), about 20 percent of US middle schools and high schools reported that “their students” had been bullied in 2013, the “lowest rate since the federal government began collecting data on bullying in 2005.” The Post pointed out that the data comes from the School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey, which has surveyed students ages 12 to 18 every two years since 2005. “Even though we’ve come a long way over the past few years in educating the public about the health and educational impacts that bullying can have on students, we still have more work to do to ensure the safety of our nation’s children,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a statement.

The AP (5/16, Hefling) reported that the survey from 2013 found that “22 percent of students age 12 to 18 said they were bullied,” a six percentage point drop from the 2011 survey when 28 percent of students said they had been bullied. While “educators and researchers praised the decline,” they also stressed that there are still large numbers of students subject to bullying, which can be magnified “in a world of rampant online social media where malicious statements can be made anonymously and shared quickly and broadly.”

Related Links:

— “Bullying rate among U.S. teens has dropped but remains a problem,” Lyndsey Layton, Washington Post, May 15, 2015.