As part of its documentary series called Retro Report, which looks back at major stories that “shaped” the world, the New York Times (9/22, Haberman, Subscription Publication) explores, along with a video, “the enormous influence, both chemical and cultural,” that antidepressant Prozac (Fluoxetine HCl) “and its brethren have had in treating depression.” The concern gained “new resonance with the recent suicide of the comedian Robin Williams,” the piece notes.

The piece examines how Eli Lilly’s medication in the late 1980s and the 90s “was widely viewed as a miracle pill,” but over the years “backlash” developed due to concerns of potentially increased suicide risk in some, although no “definite” link was established. The Times wonders “whether the medical establishment, and perhaps society in general, has gone too far in turning normal conditions, like sadness, into pathologies.”

Related Links:

— “Selling Prozac as the Life-Enhancing Cure for Mental Woes,” Clyde Haberman, New York Times, September 21, 2014.

Although “some states have moved to curb long-term ‘solitary confinement’ in prisons, where research shows it can drive those with mental illnesses further over the edge,” little has been done to address the issue “in the country’s 3,300 local jails,” the AP (9/21, Geller) reported. The time that jail inmates spend in “lockdown” is usually “limited,” but those “with serious mental illnesses are more likely to break rules and stay jailed longer,” which increases the risk of “additional psychological damage.”

Related Links:

— “,” Adam Geller, Associated Press, September 22, 2014.

Reuters (9/18, Seaman) reports a new study published in JAMA has found that women exhibiting symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are more likely to be addicted to food than women without the disorder. The study does not state that PTSD is the cause of food addiction but may help explain a link between experienced trauma and obesity.

HealthDay (9/18, Dotinga) reports the study found women with PTSD are “almost three times more likely to develop an addiction to food.” The researchers came to this conclusion after examining “the results of Nurses’ Health Study II surveys of more than 49,400 female nurses in the United States in 2008 and 2009.”

Related Links:

— “PTSD symptoms tied to food addiction in women: study,” Andrew Seaman, Reuters, September 17, 2014.

The Los Angeles Times (9/17, Mohan) reports a study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry has found that “violence prone children who went through a decadelong intervention program grew up to have fewer psychiatric, drug-related and legal problems.” The study was launched in 1991 when “Congress wanted the National Institute of Mental Health to do something about youth violence” amid the crack epidemic occurring during that time.

Results “show modest improvement in psychological markers that predict long-term antisocial behavior and criminality. Program graduates also had fewer legal problems, substance abuse issues and risky sexual behaviors,” the Times reports. Moreover, “the data suggest that intervention can work, and effects can persist over many years.”

Related Links:

— “Intervention lowers drug, crime and behavior problems, but not by much,” Geoffrey Mohan, Los Angeles Times, September 16, 2014.

CNN (9/17, Tinker) reports that Alzheimer’s Disease International has issued its sixth annual World Alzheimer’s Report in which it reveals that “an estimated 44 million people worldwide are living with dementia,” and that figure “is expected to nearly double by 2030 and more than triple by 2050” due to rising life expectancies. The report also notes that “there is now ‘persuasive evidence that dementia risk…can be modified through reduction in tobacco use and better control and detection for hypertension and diabetes, as well as cardiovascular risk factors. “ Figures from the CDC put Alzheimer’s in sixth position on the top 10 causes of mortality in the US.

TIME (9/17, Oaklander) quotes Maria Carrillo, Alzheimer’s Association vice president of medical and scientific relations, who said in a statementr047 “Other lifestyle aspects that may contribute to healthy brain aging are eating a brain-healthy diet, being mentally active, and being socially engaged.”

Related Links:

— “Reduce your risk of dementia right now,” Ben Tinker, CNN, September 16, 2014.

In the TIME (9/12) “Ideas” column, Mary Jane Rotheram-Borus, director of the UCLA Global Center for Children and Families, and Mark Tomlinson, a psychology professor at the Stellenbosch University in South Africa, wrote about the impact of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, which are a direct result of a pregnant woman drinking alcohol during pregnancy. “According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost all of these children will have mental health problems as adults and 82 percent will not live independently.” In their teens years, these children will also “face an increased risk of drug and alcohol addiction.”

The pair encouraged readers to “make a personal pledge to watch out for yourself, your friends, and people you encounter casually who may be at risk of creating a child with the disorder.”

Related Links:

— “This Is Your Child’s Brain on Alcohol,” Mary Jane Rotheram-Borus and Mark Tomlinson, Time, September 12, 2014.

USA Today (9/15, Szabo) reports that according to research funded by the National Institutes of Health and published online Sept. 15 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association, “schizophrenia is not a single disease, but a group of eight distinct disorders, each caused by changes in clusters of genes that lead to different sets of symptoms.”

After comparing “the DNA of 4,200 people with schizophrenia to that of 3,800 healthy people,” researchers also “found that certain genetic profiles matched particular symptoms.”

Related Links:

— “Schizophrenia is eight different diseases, not one,” Lisa Szabo, USA Today, September 15, 2014.

The Today Show Online (9/12, Carroll) reports research suggests that, as we sleep our brains are “organizing and storing away memories of events,” as well as “open to other activities.” a study of 18 people published Thursday in Current Biology found “that the brain can be started on a task just as a person is dropping off to sleep and then, during slumber, take in new auditory information and then process it.”

However, Dr. Alon Avidan, a professor of neurology at the University of California, Los Angeles and director of the UCLA Sleep Disorders Center, warned that having the mind deal with additional tasks while asleep could affect its processing of memories or impair its restorative properties.

Related Links:

— “To sleep, perchance to study: New research shows how brain learns while dozing,” Linda Carroll, Today Show, September 11, 2014.

HealthDay (9/12, Dallas) reports a new study suggests brain chemistry may make “obese people…more vulnerable to environmental food cues than thin people.” The brain imaging study, published in the online edition of Molecular Psychiatry, included 43 men and women, and “found those who were obese had increased activity in the habit-forming part of their brain and reduced activity in the area that controls reward.”

Dr. Griffin Rodgers, director of the NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, said in an institute news release, “These findings point to the complexity of obesity and contribute to our understanding of how people with varying amounts of body fat process information about food.”

Related Links:

— “Obese People May Be More Vulnerable to Food Cues,” Mary Elizabeth Dallas, HealthDay, September 11, 2014.

The AP (9/11) reports on New Yorkers who are increasingly seeking treatment for the long-term psychological problems that arose after 9/11, most of whom rely on the New York City hospital system’s World Trade Center Environmental Health Center. The article details the delayed psychological effects of many 9/11 survivors, as well as the increase in enrollment in the program in the past five years.

“Even though it’s 13 years later, we’re really appreciating that there’s a long wake and legacy of the World Trade Center disaster,” said the program’s mental health director, Dr. Nomi Levy-Carrick. The AP also notes that the program’s Federal funding through the James L. Zadroga 9/11 Compensation Act is set to expire next year, although “New York legislators said this week” that they would propose extension legislation.

Related Links:

— “Seeking Help After Years of 9/11 Survivor Guilt,” Michael R. Sisak, Associated Press, September 11, 2014.