HealthDay (2/17, Preidt) reported that research published in Health Psychology suggests that for individuals “age 70 or older who struggle with a chronic illness, loneliness is often a complicating factor.” Investigators “looked at 121 older adults, mostly in their 70s.” The researchers “found that feelings of loneliness rose after the onset of chronic health problems – even among those who had been with the same partner for 50 years or more.”

Related Links:

— “Chronic Illness, Loneliness May Go Hand-in-Hand for Some Elderly,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, February 16, 2015.

The Washington Post (2/18, Ingraham) “Wonkblog” reports that a study published online Feb. 16 in The Lancet Psychiatry suggests that “frequent use of high-potency weed may be linked to an increased risk of having a psychotic episode.” The study also indicates that “milder strains of marijuana, even when used heavily, don’t appear to carry any increased risk of psychosis.” Researchers arrived at this conclusion after comparing data on “410 South London patients sent to the hospital for a first-episode psychotic incident” and “370 control individuals living in the same area.”

The Fox News (2/17) website reports that individuals “who used the potent pot every day had a fivefold increased risk of developing psychosis,” but “the use of hash, a milder form of marijuana, wasn’t linked to a heightened risk of psychosis.” Fox News explained that “hash has a higher concentration of cannabidiol (CBD) than more potent forms, which have a higher percentage of marijuana’s psychotropic ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).” The effects of THC are believed to be “offset” by CBD.

Related Links:

— “Potent weed is worse for you than the mild stuff — and it’s hard to find anything else these days,” Christopher Ingraham, Washington Post, February 17, 2015.

Medscape (2/17, Davenport) reports that a study published online Feb. 3 in the journal Diabetes Care suggests that youngsters “with type 1 diabetes have an increased risk for psychiatric disorders, particularly early on after diagnosis, that appears to be associated with having the disease, rather than a common etiology.” For the study, researchers “included 17,122 children with type 1 diabetes and 18,847 of their healthy siblings and followed them to their 18th birthday.” Investigators found an “increased risk…for mood disorders, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, substance misuse, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, behavioral disorders, autism spectrum disorder, and intellectual disability, at respective hazard ratios of 2.0, 1.6, 2.2, 2.6, 1.5, 2.2, 1.7, and 1.8.”

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

MedPage Today (2/15, Kuznar) reported that research suggests that “exercise may curb depression in adults with arthritis and other rheumatic conditions.” The “finding comes from a systematic review with meta-analysis” published online in Arthritis Research and Therapy.

Related Links:

— “Exercise Helps Battle Depression in Rheumatic Diseases,” Wayne Kuznar, MedPage Today, February 14, 2015.

In an investigatory piece, the Los Angeles Times (2/17, Therolf) reports that officials in Los Angeles County “are allowing the use of powerful psychiatric drugs on far more children in the juvenile delinquency and foster care systems than they had previously acknowledged, according to data obtained by The Times through a Public Records Act request.” The data reveal that “Los Angeles County’s 2013 accounting failed to report almost one in three cases of children on the drugs while in foster care or the custody of the delinquency system.” The Times also notes that “in California, 51% of children on psychiatric medications are taking the most powerful class of the drugs — antipsychotics — which have experienced explosive growth in foster care over the last 15 years, according to data obtained by the National Youth Law Center through a Public Records Act request.”

Related Links:

— “Rampant medication use found among L.A. County foster, delinquent kids,” Garrett Therolf, Los Angeles Times, February 16, 2015.

The New York Times (2/14, Span, Subscription Publication) “The New Old Age” blog reported in depth on a study published in the February issue of JAMA Psychiatry that indicates that among 65- to 80-year-old Americans, almost nine percent use benzodiazepines. The Times said that among older women, almost 11 percent take the sedative-hypnotic medications. The Times wrote that there have been decades of warnings about unhappy consequences of benzodiazepines for older users, including increased risks of fractures and falls, car crashes, and reduced cognition.

Related Links:

— “Continued Questions on Benzodiazepine Use in Older Patients,” Paula Span, New York Times, February 13, 2015.

The Salt Lake (UT) Tribune (2/13, Moulton) reports that a study published this week in the American Journal of Epidemiology suggests that “middle-age men, who already have the highest risk for suicide, are even more likely than others to kill themselves after short-term exposure to air pollution.” Researchers arrived at this conclusion after having studied “10 years of records for Salt Lake County residents who committed suicide.” Then, utilizing “raw data from air-monitoring stations and sophisticated modeling tools, they learned that men between the ages of 36 and 64 had the highest risk of suicide after breathing pollution, particularly nitrogen dioxide.”

Related Links:

— “U. study: Middle-aged men at highest risk of suicide after breathing bad air,” Kristen Moulton, Salt lake Tribune, February 12, 2015.

ABC World News (2/12, story 5, 2:00, Muir) reported that at the White House yesterday, the President signed “a new bill aimed at helping veterans in crisis from invisible wounds, a suicide prevention bill.”

McClatchy (2/12, Clark, Subscription Publication) reports that the President said, “This is one of those areas where we can’t have an argument,” offering a “special acknowledgment” to Sen. John McCain (R). The bill “seeks to improve mental health services and prevent suicide in what is described as a growing epidemic among veterans.” According to the VA in 2012, between 18 and 22 veterans “committed suicide each day from 1999 to 2010.”

Related Links:

— “Obama signs measure to help veterans,” Lesley Clark, McClatchy, February 12, 2015.

HealthDay (2/12, Preidt) reports that a study published Feb. 10 in The Lancet Psychiatry suggests that being without a job “may play a role in about one-fifth of suicides worldwide each year.” After analyzing “data from 63 countries in four regions of the world,” researchers discovered that “unemployment was associated with a 20 percent to 30 percent increased risk of suicide.” The Guardian (UK) (2/12, Boseley) also covers the study.

Related Links:

— “Unemployment May Fuel a Fifth of Suicides Worldwide, Study Says,” Robert Priedt, HealthDay, February 11, 2015.

In an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times (2/12), author Julia Lieblich, who herself faced a mental-health crisis as a college freshman many years ago, advises “college applicants and their parents…to check out the mental health centers on campus as carefully as the dorms and gyms.” According to Lieblich, especially “if a student has experienced psychological problems, parents should delve beyond schools’ idle promises to care for the total person,” asking pointed questions about cost and staffing. Lieblich also urges that institutes of higher education hire “a diverse staff of psychiatrists who can prescribe medication, as well as psychologists, nurses and social workers knowledgeable about the most effective types of therapy.”

Related Links:

— “College students facing depression need more than a list of doctors to call,” Julia Lieblich, Los Angeles Times, February , 2015.11