The Kaiser Health News (8/20, Gold) reports that the City of San Antonio, TX and surrounding Bexar County “have completely overhauled their mental health system into a program considered a model for the rest of” the US. Their “effort has focused on an idea called ‘smart justice’ – basically, diverting people with serious mental illness out of jail and into treatment instead.”

This effort “is possible because all the players in the system that deal with mental illness – the police, the county jail, mental health department, criminal courts, hospitals and homeless programs – pooled their resources to take better care of people with mental illness.”

Related Links:

— “San Antonio Police Have Radical Approach To Mental Illness: Treat It,” Jenny Gold, Kaiser Health News, August 19, 2014.

In her column in the Los Angeles Times (8/16), Sandy Banks wrote, “Mental illness can undermine logic and overwhelm good intentions.” She asserted that “the best way to honor” Robin Williams “may be to drag depression out of the closet and place it center stage.” She suggested that “instead of saying ‘Are you OK?’ to a friend who seems hopeless or depressed, we ought to ask directly, ‘Have you felt so bad you wanted to die?’”

Related Links:

— “Time to shine a light on suicide, and banish the shame,” Sandy Banks, Los Angeles Times, August 15, 2014.

USA Today (8/18, Healy) reports that according to research published online Aug. 18 in the journal Pediatrics, “more parents – especially upper-income ones – are reporting that their children have a physical, developmental or mental health disability.” An analysis revealed that “the number of non-institutionalized children age 17 and younger with disabilities rose 16% between 2001 and 2011, with nearly six million children (8% of the population) reported as having a disability.”

The AP (8/18) reports, “The increases may partly reflect more awareness and recognition that conditions, including autism, require a specific diagnosis to receive special services, the researchers say.”

Related Links:

— “Parent-reported cases of disability in children rise,” Michelle Healy, USA Today, August 18, 2014.

HealthDay (8/15, Preidt) reports that according to a study published online Aug. 14 in the American Journal of Public Health, “when large numbers of workers lose their jobs, suicide attempts increase among certain groups of teens.” After analyzing “the results of a survey of more than 403,000 American teens conducted from 1997 to 2009, along with nationwide data about layoffs,” researchers “found that when one percent of a state’s workers lost their jobs, suicide attempts and other suicide-related behaviors jumped two…to three percent among girls during the following year.”

Related Links:

— “Worker Layoffs Tied to Rise in Teen Suicides, Study Finds,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, August 14, 2014.

Major television networks, newspapers, wire sources and Internet media outlets continue coverage of comedian and actor Robin Williams’ suicide, focusing on the revelation by his widow, Susan Schneider, that Williams was in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease, but he was not yet ready to share his diagnosis with the public.

ABC World News (8/14, story 3, 2:20, Muir) reported that Susan Schneider released “a statement thanking everyone for the outpouring of good wishes, but she added something else, revealing that Robin Williams had received a Parkinson’s diagnosis.” In another segment on ABC World News (8/14, story 4, 0:30, Muir), senior medical contributor Jennifer Ashton, MD reported that it is “very difficult to treat depression in a patient with Parkinson’s, but there is excellent treatment now and there is reason for hope.”

The New York Times (8/14, Sanger-Katz, Subscription Publication) reports in “The Upshot” that “there’s a strong body of evidence that suicide is…contagious,” and that “publicity surrounding a suicide has been repeatedly and definitively linked to a subsequent increase in suicide, especially among young people.”

For that reason, “suicide prevention advocates have developed guidelines for news media coverage of suicide deaths.” The goal is not to glamorize suicide “or to make it seem like a simple or inevitable solution for people who are at risk.”

Related Links:

— “The Science Behind Suicide Contagion,” Margot Sanger-Katz, New York Times, August 13, 2014.

NBC Nightly News (8/13, story 6, 2:25, Holt) reported in the aftermath of the suicide of comedian and actor Robin Williams on “an outpouring for people who face similar struggles with depression and suicide.” Correspondent Kate Snow was shown saying, “People struggling with depression turned to social media, strangers supporting each other sharing deeply personal stories.” Snow emphasized the importance of the “dialogue about suicide that’s happening because of Robin Williams,” citing her own personal experience with the loss of a family member to suicide.

The Washington Post (8/14, Kunkle) reports that a study published online Aug. 13 in JAMA Psychiatry suggests that “difficulty sleeping may contribute to a risk of suicide in older adults.” The study “examined data on 420 people who were an average of about 75 years old and living in the community.” The participants, made up of “400 control patients and 20 who died by suicide…were tracked over a 10 year period.”

The Boston Globe (8/14, Rice) mentions the study’s findings and adds that “according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, sleep complaints are actually one of the top 10 warning signs for suicide.”

Related Links:

— “Poor sleep appears linked to higher suicide risk in older adults, study shows,” Fredrick Kunkle, Washington Post, August 13, 2014.

Medscape (8/13, Brauser) reports that the “Behavioral Health Kiosk is the United States’ first mental health screen of its kind,” allowing “members of the public to use a mounted tablet to access information about mental health in general and help determine whether they may have symptoms of a mental health disorder that warrants referral to a clinician.” The do-it-yourself screening is available in a retail setting. Philip R. Muskin, MD, chair of the 2014 and 2015 Scientific Program Committee for the American Psychiatric Association, believes there are benefits and drawbacks to this approach.

Dr. Muskin said that while “anything that destigmatizes mental disorders is good,” he is still worried that “there has not yet been any research about the program or anything piloted to determine possible benefits and problems. ‘And that always concerns me because we don’t know if it’ll have the desired effect,’” he added.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

Major television network newscasts, newspapers, and Internet media sources continue coverage of the suicide of comedian and actor Robin Williams, nearly all mentioning the fact that Williams suffered from severe depression. All three television networks led their nightly newscasts with the story. Some sources point out that older white men who are depressed are in a group at a higher risk for suicide, while others note that despite heightened awareness, stigma remains surrounding depression and its treatment, which may make some people reluctant to reach out for help.

In its lead story, ABC World News (8/12, lead story, 3:55, Muir) reported that Williams appeared to have committed suicide by hanging. Marin County, California Assistant Deputy Chief Coroner Keith Boyd Keith Boyd was shown saying that Williams “had been seeking treatment for depression,” while in its lead story, NBC Nightly News (8/12, lead story, 2:55, Williams) pointed out that toxicology testing is now underway to determine what, if any, “chemical substances were in Mr. Williams’ system at the time of his death.” The CBS Evening News (8/12, lead story, 2:35, Pelley) led its newscast with similar coverage.

In a different segment, NBC Nightly News (8/12, story 6, 2:45, Williams) quoted American Psychiatric Association president Paul Summergrad, MD, who addressed the stigma of mental illnesses, including depression, saying, “It’s very important that we stop seeing these illnesses as faults and blames, and see them as what they are, medical conditions, genetic conditions, brain disorders which require appropriate diagnosis, treatment, care and support.” Medical editor Nancy Snyderman, MD, reached out to people who need help, saying, “If you have concerns about suicide, call this national number, 1-800-273-TALK.”

In another segment, the CBS Evening News (8/12, story 2, 2:40, Pelley) reported that according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are “more than 39,000 suicides each year. That’s an average of 108 each day.” Correspondent Jim Axelrod mentioned that US suicide prevention hotlines experienced a big increase in the number of calls following the announcement of Williams’ suicide.