Reuters (10/10, Raven) reports that, according to a study published online Sept. 24 in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, there appears to be an increased rate in depression in US women in those states in which there are large variations in personal income. Researchers arrived at this conclusion after analyzing mental health survey data on some 34,653 adults, then calculating income inequality levels for each state. Notably, women resident in the District of Columbia and in New York, appeared to have twice the risk for depression compared to women living in Alaska and Utah, where incomes did not vary so much.

Related Links:

— “Income inequality linked to depression, “Kathleen Raven, Reuters, October 9, 2013.

USA Today (10/10, Jayson) reports that research published in the journal Crisis suggests that “suicide talk on Twitter mirrors state suicide rates closely enough that the social network could prove to be an early-warning system for those at risk.” The researchers “found that Midwestern and Western states and Alaska had a higher proportion of suicide-related tweeters than expected, as well as higher actual rates of suicide.” The investigators found that “the opposite was true for Southern and Eastern states.”

Related Links:

— “Suicide talk on Twitter mirrors state suicide rates, “Sharon Jayson, USA Today, October 10, 2013.

On its “Tell Me More” program, NPR (10/8, Martin) interviewed Annelle Primm, MD, MPH, director of minority and national affairs for the American Psychiatric Association, who discussed “questions about black women’s access to mental” healthcare. Dr. Primm pointed out that blacks are “less likely to get treatment” for mental health disorders than their white peers for many reasons, including cultural stigma, lack of health insurance, and in some areas of the country, a lack of available psychiatric services.

Related Links:

— “Mental Health Care: Why Some Get It And Some Don’t, NPR, October 8, 2013.

In The Hill (10/8) “Congress Blog,” American Psychiatric Association president Jeffrey Lieberman, MD, and former Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), who was the co-sponsor of the 2008 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA), wrote, “We hope that the long-anticipated Final Rule will fill the gap left in the Parity Law so that the millions of Americans with a mental illness are no longer the subject of discrimination and abuse, and will have fair access to evidence-based treatments.” The pair asserted, “We must hold the government, insurers, and providers accountable until every person who is in need has access to affordable” mental healthcare of good quality. Only then will it be possible to achieve “a truly equitable system.”

Psychiatric News (10/9) quotes Dr. Lieberman, who said that “the promise of the MHPAEA remains unfulfilled and will until the Final Rule for its implementation is issued and we are assured of its enforcement.” Kennedy is quoted as saying, “With health exchanges taking
root in all 50 states, we can’t wait another moment for the final rule on this law, which helps to remove the arbitrary distinctions between the brain and the body…when it comes to health care.”

The Time (10/9, Sifferlin) “Healthland” blog reported that “mental illness is an increasingly prominent plot line on television.” However, “portrayals can be a double-edged sword…as they raise awareness of the realities of living with mental illness while frequently focusing on some of the more extreme symptoms and therapies.” Forensic psychiatrist Vasilis Pozios, MD, a spokesperson for the American Psychiatric Association, focused on the positive aspects, explaining that “aside from helping those unfamiliar with mental illnesses to have a more realistic and unbiased view of psychiatric disorders, the depictions may help patients struggling with mental illness as well.”

Related Links:

— “Make good on mental health parity, “Jeffrey Lieberman, The Hill, October 8, 2013.

In an opinion piece in the San Antonio Express-News (10/5), Sally E. Taylor, MD, senior vice president and chief of behavioral medicine at University Health System, wrote, “The US Surgeon General has reported that stigma is a major barrier to people seeking help when they need it.” For that reason, Mental Illness Awareness Week (Oct. 6-12) “is so important.” Taylor concluded that when it comes to awareness of mental illness, “the more people know, the better they can help themselves or their loved ones to get the support they need.”

Related Links:

— “Access a key issue in mental health treatment, “Sally Taylor, San Antonio Express-News, October 4, 2013.

HealthDay (10/5, Mozes) reported that research published in Pediatrics suggests that “a simple, short mental health test already used for pediatric patients has been found effective at predicting post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) risk among preschoolers seriously injured by such things as a burn or car crash.” The “Pediatric Emotional Distress Scale” questionnaire “was retooled into the PEDS-Early Screener (or PEDS-ES), designed to sift through parent-provided information and zero in specifically on long-term PTSD risk among injured preschoolers.” The study indicated that “by establishing an optimal scoring method, investigators achieved an 85 percent success rate at picking up PTSD risk, and a 63 percent success rate at specifically predicting the onset of either full or partial PTSD.”

Related Links:

— “New Test Spots Risk for PTSD in Injured Kids, “Alan Mozes, HealthDay, October 4, 2013.

In an 1,800-word article, USA Today (10/5, Zoroya) reports that the US “Army, which recorded an average of six suicides per week last year, now stands at the edge of a science-driven answer” to the problem of military suicides “as radical as it is uncomplicated: predicting which soldiers are likely to kill themselves so they can be stopped before it’s too late.” The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), along with researchers from several US universities have developed a “computer code…designed to” help predict which soldiers are likely to commit suicide. USA Today added, “NIMH epidemiologist Michael Schoenbaum, a lead scientist in the effort, says he and others on the team applied a complex set of risk factors – such as psychiatric illness, deployment history or drug or alcohol abuse – to a computer assessment of soldiers, producing a rating that’s a ‘flag for whom do you target for special care.’”

Related Links:

— “Army explores predicting suicides as way to prevent them, “Gregg Zoroya, USA Today, October 7, 2013.

The Time (10/2, Park) “Healthland” blog reports that research published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings suggests that statins may be associated with a reduced risk of cognitive decline. Investigators analyzed data from “16 studies that involved people taking statin medications who were also tested on memory, attention and organizational skills,” and found “that longer term use of the drugs may prevent dementia.” Additionally, the researchers “found that use of statins for less than a year did not have any adverse effects on cognitive functions.” The article points out that last year, the FDA said that statins labels must carry warnings about an increased risk of memory problems.

Related Links:

— “Statin Drugs Linked to Lower Risk of Cognitive Decline, “Alice Park, Time, October 1, 2013.

Reuters (10/2, Kelland) reports that, according to a study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, evaluation tools to predict the probability of a psychopathic inmate’s likelihood of committing another offense appear to have little or no value. After analyzing data on some 1,396 incarcerated males in the UK, researchers found that the accuracy rate of three various assessment tools was under 50 percent. The study authors concluded that court officials and probation boards should not rely on these test scores.

Related Links:

— “Predicting violence in psychopaths is ‘no more than chance’, “Kate Kelland, Reuters, October 2, 2013.

The New York Times (10/3, Bakalar) “Well” blog reports that, according to a study published online Oct. 2 in the journal Neurology, “depression may be an independent risk factor for Parkinson’s disease.” For the study, investigators “followed 4,634 patients with depression and 18,544 matched controls for” an entire decade. The study excluded individuals “who received a diagnosis of depression within five years of their Parkinson’s diagnosis.” This exclusion was made to rule out any possibility that depression itself could be an early symptom of Parkinson’s.

On its website, CBS News (10/3, Jaslow) reports that people “who had depression were more than three times more likely to develop Parkinson’s than those who were not depressed.” The study’s lead author “pointed out to CBS News.com that the study showed two groups in particular appeared to be at higher risk for Parkinson’s: elderly people over 65 with depression, and people with difficult-to-treat-depression, who were defined as having to alter their antidepressant treatment regimen two or more times.”

Related Links:

— “Depression Tied to Parkinson’s Risk, “Nicholas Bakalar, The New York Times, October 2, 2013.