The Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal (9/23, Kenning, Ungar) reports that across the US, “access to insurance and limits on services, therapy visits and hospital stays have left those with mental illness feeling treated like second-class citizens in a health system built to handle physical ailments, according to patients, providers and advocates.” Now, however, under the Affordable Care Act, health “insurers will soon be required to give mental illness coverage equal to that for physical ailments.” Beginning in 2014, “the ACA calls for one of the largest expansions of mental health and substance abuse coverage in a generation, requiring that all new small-group and individual market plans offer mental health services and cover them at a par with medical benefits.”

Related Links:

— “Obamacare pushes for parity in mental health coverage, “Chris Kenning, The Louisville Courier-Journal, September 22, 2013.

HealthDay (9/23, Preidt) reports that research published in Social Science & Medicine suggests that children and teens who have been victimized by racism may have “poor mental health, depression and anxiety.” Researchers came to this conclusion after studying “461 cases of links between racism and the health and well-being of youngsters.”

Related Links:

— “Racism Takes a Toll on Kids’ Mental Health, Research Shows, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, September 23, 2013.

Modern Healthcare (9/19, Zigmond, Subscription Publication) reports that the Excellence in Mental Health Act, introduced in February by Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Roy Blunt (R-MO), “now has the support of 19 other senators and more than 50 mental health, veterans and law enforcement organizations, such as the American Psychiatric Association, the National Sheriffs Association, the National Council for Behavioral Healthcare, the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems, and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.” Among its provisions, the measure “would establish criteria for federally qualified community behavioral health centers based on evidence-based quality standards and reporting measures to make sure that those facilities cover a broad range of outpatient and crisis services.”

Related Links:

— “In wake of Navy Yard tragedy, advocates push for improved mental health services, Modern Healthcare, September 19, 2013.

The Atlantic Wire (9/20, Jones) provides an overview of mental health legislation currently pending in Congress. Bills that would train teachers to recognize and deal with mental illness, provide more services and care for the mentally ill, and provide mental health background checks for would-be gun purchasers are not expected to pass because “there is little momentum to fix the system.”

Related Links:

— “Three Things Congress Could Actually Do About Mental Health, “Allie Jones, The Atlantic Wire, September 19, 2013.

CQ (9/20, Attias, Subscription Publication) reports that yesterday, Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee, announced “he will be introducing legislation soon to boost treatment options and address other challenges, saying that Monday’s deadly shooting” at the Washington Navy Yard “again ‘raised the issues of how we are handling mental health to stop this terrible violence.’” Murphy’s proposal, which is “expected to be introduced in a couple of weeks, appears to offer a different approach to mental health than the legislation (S 689) that was approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and incorporated into a gun control package (S 649) by a vote of 95-2.” Murphy “said his bill will increase the options available for individuals who need inpatient and outpatient treatment.”

Reuters (9/20, Raven) reports that research published in The Lancet Oncology suggests that individuals who had cancer when they were children may have a higher likelihood of being treated for a mental health disorder later on. The study included more than 7,000 individuals who had been treated for cancer as children.

Related Links:

— “Mental disorder treatment common after childhood cancer, “Kathleen Raven, Reuters, September 19, 2013.

CNN (9/19, Wilson) reports that currently, about 35 million individuals worldwide have dementia, but by “2050, that number is expected to more than triple,” with most in need of “constant care,” which can “can impact their loved ones in unmeasurable ways,” according to a new report from Alzheimer’s Disease International.

The AP (9/20, Neergaard) reports that “cognitive impairment is the strongest predictor of who will move into a care facility within the next two years…the report found.” The report points out that the needs of patients with dementia differ from the needs of other individuals with chronic ailments, and it “said families need early education about what services are available to help before they’re in a crisis.” Reuters (9/20) reports that the group calls for an increase in funding for research on dementia.

Related Links:

— “Overwhelming burden, cost of Alzheimer’s to triple, report says, “Jacque Wilson, CNN, September 19, 2013.

The AP (9/24, Ritter) reports that research suggests that daytime naps may help preschool-age children learn. The study included “40 children, ages 3 to 5.”

The US News & World Report (9/24, Bidwell) reports that researchers “studied the effects of daytime naps on” the “children by measuring their performance on a simple memory game.” Participants, “in the morning…played a visual-spatial game in which they must try to remember the locations of different images and were then either kept awake during their regular naptime or encouraged to sleep.”

The ABC News (9/24, Quinsey) “Medical Unit” blog reports that the researchers found that “memory performance was better for children who took a midday nap than those who did not, even when tested 24 hours later.”

On its website, CBS News (9/24, Castillo) reports that the investigators “also asked 14 additional children to come to a sleep lab and had them undergo a polysomnography, or a sleep study.” The investigators “linked the nap-induced memory boosts with an increase in the amount of sleep spindles seen on the tests.” The article points out that “sleep spindles are bursts of activity that occur when the brain keeps new information it learns.”

Related Links:

— “Midday naps help preschoolers learn, study says, “Malcolm Ritter, Associated Press, September 24, 2013.

USA Today (9/22, Painter) reported, “Anti-psychotic medications should not be the first treatments doctors or patients think of when dealing with dementia in an elderly person, behavior problems in a child or insomnia in an adult, a leading group of psychiatrists says in a new statement.”

The Cleveland Plain Dealer (9/21, Zeltner) reported that on Sept. 20, the American Psychiatric Association released a “list of five common uses of” antipsychotic medications “that are potentially unnecessary and could cause harm.”

Medscape (9/21, Cassels) reported that the new “list is part of an initiative from the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Foundation called Choosing Wisely, which has brought together leading specialty societies to develop 30 new evidence-based lists of tests and procedures that may be overused in their specific field.” APA president Jeffrey Lieberman, MD, stated, “The recommendations from APA released today provide valuable information to help patients and physicians start important conversations about treatment options and make informed choices about their healthcare.”

Related Links:

— “Doctors: Anti-psychotic meds overused for dementia, kids, “Kim Painter, USA Today, September 23, 2013.

Medwire (9/19, Piper) reports that, according to a study published online Sept. 9 in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, “researchers have identified clinical and psychologic characteristics that could help predict the risk for suicide in patients with bipolar disorder [BD].” The study of 3,083 patients with BD revealed that “a positive history of suicide attempt was the strongest predictor of a future suicidal event, increasing the risk 2.6-fold.” In addition, “having a score above 36 on the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire and spending a high percentage of days depressed in the preceding year…increased the risk for future suicide events 1.96-fold and 1.01-fold, respectively.”

Related Links:

— “Bipolar suicide characteristics found, “Lucy Piper, Medwire News, September 19, 2013.