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

The Orlando (FL) Sentinel (2/12, Santich) reports that a review published online Feb. 11 in JAMA Psychiatry suggests that individuals “with mental illness face twice the risk of dying early as the rest of the population — even though death is most often due to natural causes.” What’s more, even though “the mortality risk is highest for individuals with serious mental illness — such as major depression or schizophrenia — there is still an elevated death rate for milder, more common illnesses, such as anxiety.” Researchers reached these conclusions after having “analyzed more than 200 studies in 29 countries on six continents that compared death rates among those with mental illness versus a control group or the general population.”

HealthDay (2/12, Norton) reports that the “risk of death from ‘unnatural causes’ – including suicide and accidents – was seven times higher” for people with mental illnesses. However, “their odds of dying from physical health conditions were also elevated, by an average of 80 percent,” the study found.

Related Links:

— “Mental illness doubles risk of dying early, study says,” Kate Santich, Orlando Sentinel, February 11, 2015.

In a segment lasting nearly three minutes, NBC Nightly News (2/10, story 9, 2:50, Holt) reported that on Tuesday, a panel from the Institute of Medicine “declared that” chronic fatigue “syndrome is not only real, but the vast majority of people who suffer from it haven’t even been diagnosed.” NBC News correspondent Ann Thompson explained that the IOM “issued a new set of symptoms to help doctors recognize the disease,” such as “a drop-off in normal activity for more than six months with profound exhaustion, sleep that doesn’t refresh, and symptoms that get worse after physical or mental exertion, plus either cognitive impairment” or symptoms that only improve when patients are lying down.

The New York Times (2/10, Tuller) “Well” blog reported that chronic fatigue syndrome is also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis, and “many experts now refer to the condition as ME/CFS.” However, the IOM panel “recommended that the illness be renamed ‘systemic exertion intolerance disease.’” The blog also points out that the IOM “panel was convened at the request of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and other federal agencies.”

Related Links:

— “Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Gets a New Name,” David Tuller, New York Times, February 10, 2015.

The Washington Times (2/11, Klimas) reported that yesterday, US House and Senate leaders “signed the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act in a rare ceremony to formally acknowledge that the bill passed both chambers.” The measure now heads to “the White House, where President Obama is expected to sign it Thursday afternoon.” Among its provisions, the legislation will initiate “a loan repayment pilot program to recruit and retain mental health professionals and require annual third-party reviews to determine which VA mental health programs are working.”

Related Links:

— “Veteran suicide prevention bill approved by Congress, sent to president,” Jacqueline Klimas, Washington Times, February 10, 2015.

In print and in its “Well” blog, the New York Times (2/10, D6, Parker-Pope) reports, “Numerous scientific studies show that memories can fade, shift and distort over time,” and it is even possible for “entirely new false memories” to “be incorporated into our memory bank, embedded so deeply that we become convinced they are real and actually happened.” Now, “the fallibility and the malleability of the human memory is at the center of a national controversy involving Brian Williams, the ‘NBC Nightly News’ anchor,” who has temporarily stepped down from his anchor responsibilities after his claim of having been in a helicopter that came under fire.

Related Links:

— “Was Brian Williams a Victim of False Memory?,” Tara Parker-Pope, , February 9, 2015.