Category Archives: In The News

Fifth Circuit Halts Execution Of Texas Inmate With Severe Mental Illness

USA Today (12/3, Jervis, Bacon) reports from Austin, TX that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on Wednesday “halted the execution of Texas killer Scott Panetti, whose case has sparked a global debate over whether people with severe mental illnesses should be put to death for their crimes.” Panetti’s attorneys “say he is too delusional to be executed,” and the appeals court “granted a reprieve less than eight hours before Panetti was scheduled to receive a lethal injection,” saying “it needed more time to ‘allow us to fully consider the late-arriving and complex legal questions at issue in this matter.’” Meanwhile, “Paul Appelbaum, of the American Psychiatric Association, which has lobbied against Panetti’s execution, said he was ‘pleased and relieved’ by the ruling.”
Related Links:

— “Court halts execution of mentally ill Texas inmate,” Rick Jervis and John Bacon, USA Today, December 4, 2014.

First-Ever State-By-State Ranking Of Mental Health Services Released.

The Washington Post (12/4, Bernstein) “To Your Health” blog reported that on Dec. 3, the advocacy group Mental Health America released the first-ever “state-by-state ranking of mental health services.” The states of “Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, North Dakota, and Delaware received the highest overall scores when prevalence of mental illness is compared to access to care,” while “Arizona, Mississippi, Nevada, Washington, and Louisiana received the lowest marks.”

The report also found that “42.5 million Americans (18 percent) report some kind of mental illness – from mild, short-term disturbances to severe, long-term illness.”

Related Links:

— “Less mental illness among southerners, less access to treatment, too,” Lenny Bernstein, Washington Post, December 4, 2014.

NYTimes Says Newtown Report Shows Need For Gun Control

In an editorial, the New York Times (12/4, A30, Subscription Publication) says that a report on the Newtown shooting by Connecticut’s Office of the Child Advocate found that the mother of Adam Lanza failed to take appropriate action to treat her son’s mental illness. The report also “noted that severe mental illness is roughly stable around the world — schizophrenia, for example, occurs in one percent of developed countries — while gun violence varies.”

It also says in its summary that the “conclusion that access to guns drives shooting episodes far more than the presence of mental illness is inescapable. Those countries that have tight gun controls in general experience less overall gun violence and have fewer episodes per capita of mass shootings.” The Times says that shows that the “gun lobby” assertion that containing mental illness alone is enough is false.

Related Links:

— “Mental Illness and Guns at Newtown,” New York Times, December 3, 2014.

Kaiser Permanente Accused Of Understaffing Mental Healthcare Services

Modern Healthcare (12/5, Rubenfire, Subscription Publication) reports that Kaiser Permanente has been accused by members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) “of understaffing its mental-health services.” Now, NUHW is threatening to strike because of that. For its part, “Kaiser has responded that patients with urgent needs can be seen immediately, and it accuses the union in turn of sullying the system’s reputation for its own organizing purposes.” Last month, “NUHW members, who represent about 2,500 of Kaiser’s mental-health workers in California, voted…to strike if the system doesn’t make improvements.”

Related Links:

— “Kaiser mental-health staffing under fire again,” Adam Rubenfire, , December 4, 2014.

Request To Congress For Alzheimer’s Funding Faces Competing Budget Priorities

The Congressional Quarterly (12/4, Attias, Subscription Publication) reports that the Alzheimer’s Association is urging “Congress to provide an additional $200 million in fiscal 2015 funding, on top of a $100 million boost last fiscal year.” The association maintains that “the extra funds are necessary to meet the goal of developing effective prevention and treatment by 2025, as laid out in the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease.” However, “myriad competing priorities in a tough budget environment make fulfilling the request difficult.”

Related Links:

— Congressional Quarterly (requires login and subscription)

CDC: Majority Of Americans With Depression Not Getting Treatment

The Los Angeles Times (12/4, Kaplan) “Science Now” blog reports that according to a report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), approximately “one in 13 Americans was suffering from depression at some point between 2009 and 2012, yet only 35% of people with severe depression and 20% of those with moderate depression said they had sought help from a mental health professional.” The report’s findings come from “interviews with a nationally representative group of American adults and teenagers who participated in the federal government’s ongoing National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.”

The New York Daily News (12/4, Engel) points out that the report, called “Depression in the US Household Population, 2009-2012,” also reveals that “depression was most common among women and people ages 40 to 59.” Other findings from the report: “Women of all ages were more likely to be depressed than men — 9.5% of females reported moderate or severe symptoms, whereas only 5.6% of men did,” and “rates of depression” did not differ much “across racial lines.”

Related Links:

— “7.6% of Americans are depressed, but few seek mental health treatment,” Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times, December 3, 2014.

Murphy Pledges To Revive Comprehensive Mental Health Legislation Next Year

Congressional Quarterly (12/3, Attias, Subscription Publication) reports that the 113th Congress is most likely not going to act “on comprehensive mental health legislation,” but Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA), “the sponsor of a bipartisan House bill, is pledging to ‘revise and revive’ his proposal next year.” Murphy “said he is reviewing the wide-reaching measure (HR 3717) to see what needs to be clarified after getting feedback from lawmakers, families and professionals,” with the aim of introducing “an updated version early next year, he said.”

Related Links:

— Congressional Quarterly (requires login and subscription)

Some Evangelical Pastors Working To Change Views Of Mental Illness

The New York Times (11/29, Hoffman, Subscription Publication) reported that some evangelical church leaders are reaching out to congregants suffering from mental illness. It described efforts by some pastors and noted the knowledge gap between secular psychologists and psychiatrists, who often have little training regarding the role of religious beliefs, and “the culture of conservative Christianity,” which tends to view “mental illness…as mental weakness.”

Related Links:

— “More Pastors Embrace Talk of Mental Ills,” Jan Hoffman, New York Times, November 28, 2014.

Study: More Than Half Of Americans With Dementia Have Never Undergone Thinking, Memory Screening

HealthDay (11/27, Preidt) reported that research published online (12/1) in Neurology suggests that “more than half of Americans with dementia have never undergone screening of their thinking and memory skills.” The research “included almost 300 people with dementia, aged 70 and older, who were taking part in the national Health and Retirement Study.”

The Medscape (12/1) reported that investigators “found that about 5% of those 70 years or older with cognitive impairment not dementia (CIND), and less than half of those with frank dementia, received a” clinical cognitive evaluation.

Related Links:

— “Too Few Americans Undergo Dementia Screening,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, November 26, 2014.

War Veterans Face Shortage Of Mental Health Services As Number With PTSD Increases

The Wall Street Journal (11/29, A1, Ansberry, Subscription Publication) reported on its front page on the hundreds of thousands of aging veterans who are finding themselves looking for post-traumatic stress disorder treatment after several decades. The Veterans Administration reported nearly double the number of veterans receiving treatment for PTSD from VA hospitals and clinics through March of 2014 compared with 2006. This total was largely Iraq and Afghanistan veterans but also included vets from previous wars such as Vietnam.

Related Links:

— “Vets Seek Help for PTSD Decades After War,” Clare Ansberry, Wall Street Journal, November 29, 2014.
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