In a front-page article, the Washington Post (4/9, A1, Chandrasekaran) reports that “according to a poll conducted by The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation,” more than 56% of “the 2.6 million service members dispatched to…Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001…say their physical or mental health is worse than before they deployed.” But Chandrasekaran adds that “almost eight in 10 of those reporting health problems – about 1 million of them – say they were not seriously injured in combat.” Chandrasekaran also notes that “rates of health problems are significantly higher in those who deployed for three or more years.”

Related Links:

— “The other wounds,”Rajiv Chandrasekaran, The Washington Post, April 8, 2014.

USA Today (4/9, Ollove) reports that 24 states have chosen “not to expand their Medicaid programs, offered under the Affordable Care Act,” thus leaving approximately “3.7 million Americans with serious mental illness, psychological distress or a substance abuse disorder without health insurance, according to a recent report from the American Mental Health Counselors Association (AMHCA), a group that represents mental health professionals.” In those states that have expanded “Medicaid, about three million people who have those conditions and were uninsured are now eligible for coverage, according to the report.”

Related Links:

— “Nearly 4M mentally ill still lack insurance,”Michael Ollove, USA Today , April 8, 2014.

In a special piece and embedded video for Medscape (4/7), American Psychiatric Association president Jeffrey A. Lieberman, MD, of Columbia University, wrote about the “Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act,” legislation proposed by Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA), which “is a very important piece of legislation and would no doubt advance our field and serve our patients very well.”

According to Dr. Lieberman, the proposed measure “calls for the creation of an interagency coordinating committee on serious mental illness, which would comprise representation at the highest levels of government,” including the “Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the Department of Justice, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

Dr. Lieberman voiced his hope that it will gain Congressional and stakeholder group support.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

The Washington Times (4/7, Wolfgang) reports that former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen said Sunday that “the nation must prepare for growth in the number of veterans dealing with mental health issues and other challenges as they return from Iraq and Afghanistan.” On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Mullen said that “it will be critical in the coming years for the US to do all it can to help the nation’s fighting men and women transition back into society,” adding, “I think our force, because it has been away so much, has not had to deal with those [mental health and other issues] as directly as they may have in the past and now that we’re going to be home more, I think we’re going to actually see an increased number of challenges associated with that.”

Related Links:

— “Military hitting the breaking point on mental health problems,” Ben Wolfgang, Washington Times, April 6, 2014.

Politico (4/4, Bade) reported that “mental health does not make gun control easier to talk about.” Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA), author of mental health legislation and who chairs the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations, “says the two topics – guns and mental health – should be addressed separately.” The congressman, who is a trained psychologist, “said linking gun control to mental health does a ‘disservice’ to the bigger problem at hand: trying to get people treatment.”

Related Links:

— “D.C. shift: Gun control to threat detection,” Rachael Bade, Politico, April 3, 2014.

Medscape (4/4, Brauser) reports that in order “to improve and reinvigorate the development of treatments for psychiatric disorders, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has made several changes to its funding policies for future clinical trials, according to a recent article (4/4) and a series of announcements published on the organization’s Web site.” Changes to the funding policies “include requiring that all new trials meet new efficiency, transparency, and reporting standards and that they must now examine possible mechanisms of action.”

American Psychiatric Association president Jeffrey Lieberman, MD, told Medscape Medical News that “he is particularly pleased with the NIMH’s commitment to having all new trials examine mechanisms.” Dr. Lieberman stated, “I think that model is a powerful and important one to emphasize.”

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

WBUR-FM Boston (4/4, Zimmerman) provides an overview of “the history of legislation to put mental health services on equal footing with all other medical care,” noting that “parity efforts began in earnest in the late 1990s, but still aren’t fully implemented today, despite widespread support, including from notable advocates like former Congressman Patrick Kennedy.” The article quotes extensively from a policy brief published April 3 in the journal Health Affairs.

Related Links:

— “Mental Health Parity: If Not Now, When?,” Rachel Zimmerman, WBUR-FM Boston, April 3, 2014.

USA Today (4/4, Zoroya) reports, “The Pentagon said Thursday that more than 155,000 US troops have PTSD and that more than three-quarters of them are combat veterans.” Approximately “1,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan war era are diagnosed each week with post-traumatic stress disorder and more than 800 with depression, according to VA statistics.”

The National Journal (4/4, Vasilogambros, Subscription Publication) reports that Craig Bryan, executive director of the National Center for Veterans Studies, believes that soldiers can “get PTSD without actually seeing combat,” and the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, “changed its criteria for PTSD to no longer require that a person must have been in a life-threatening situation.” In fact, “the APA found that many members of the military and veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, even though they didn’t think they were going to die, manifested the problems associated with PTSD.”

Related Links:

— “Military playing catch-up on PTSD,” Gregg Zoroya, Military Times, April 3, 2014.

In a 1,200-word entry in the New York Times (4/3, Fagan) “Opinionator” blog, novelist Jenni Fagan discusses her experiences with mental illness. She writes that “one in four of us directly experiences mental health problems,” but she points out that “mental health services remain underfunded” and “misunderstood.”

Related Links:

— “An Illness, Inherited?,” Jenni Fagan, New York Times, April 2, 2014.

WWJ-TV Detroit (4/3) reports that President Obama has signed Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s (D-MI) “Excellence in Mental Health Act” into law. The new legislation is “expected to expand access to community mental health services, and strengthen the quality of care provided for those living with mental illness,” funding pilot programs in eight separate states to improve mental healthcare.

Related Links:

— “http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2014/04/02/passage-of-stabenows-mental-health-bill-gains-applause/,” WWJ-TV CBS Detroit, April 2, 2014.