HealthDay (9/11, Preidt) reports that, according to a study published Sept. 10 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, “when high school students learn how their thinking affects their well-being, they may boost their grades and reduce their risk of obesity, severe depression and substance use.” In a study of 800 high school students, half of whom were randomized to a control group and the other half to a “program based on the concepts of so-called cognitive behavioral therapy, with an emphasis on skills building,” researchers found that the teens assigned to the Creating Opportunities for Personal Empowerment Program “were less likely to be overweight, had better social behaviors, higher health class grades, lower levels of depression and drank less alcohol.”

Related Links:

— “Boosting Teens’ Mental Well-Being Is Goal of New Skills Program, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, September 10, 2013.

NBC Nightly News reported that “a growing number of retired Americans are in for a shock from some of America’s largest companies,” who are telling them that “they will have to buy their own health insurance.” For example, “IBM is turning its healthcare coverage for 110,000 retirees over to a private Medicare exchange in which insurers compete for the retiree’s business,” and 40 million Americans are predicted to “be on similar plans” by 2018.

According to the National Institute on Aging, about 5.1 million Americans have Alzheimer’s and the number is expected to increase as the population ages, CNBC (9/6) reported on its website. Many families and individuals are “overwhelmed” and “unprepared to deal with the consequences, financial and otherwise,” of “caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s.” Experts suggest that families research their options and “consult with a financial advisor.”

Related Links:

— “Money matters: A road map for Alzheimer’s patients, “Sharon Epperson, CNBC, September 6, 2013.

MedPage Today (9/9, Walsh) reports that research published in Pediatrics indicated that “teens who were adopted in early childhood had approximately four times the risk for attempted suicide in late adolescence compared with offspring living with their biological parents.” Researchers found, “among 1,165 adolescents whose mean age was 18, the odds ratio for a reported suicide attempt was 4.23 (95% CI 2.06-8.68, P<0.001) for those who were adoptees.” The study indicated that, “even after adjustment for multiple factors that could exacerbate risk, such as psychiatric disorders, family difficulties, and problems in school, the adopted teens still had an almost four-fold increase in risk (OR 3.70, 95% CI 1.70-8.04, P<0.001). Related Links:

— “Adopted Teens Face High Suicide Risk, “Nancy Walsh, MedPage Today, September 9, 2013.

USA Today (9/9, Healy) reports on new research, published online in the journal Pediatrics, which found that teens who were previously overweight or obese “are at a significant risk of developing an eating disorder as they lose weight.” Moreover, “identification and treatment of the condition is often delayed because of their weight history.”

Related Links:

— “Teens who beat obesity at risk for eating disorders, “Michelle Healy, USA Today, September 9, 2013.

The Washington Post (8/30, Dennis) reports that, according to a study (8/30) published Aug. 30 in the journal Science, “poverty consumes so much mental energy that people struggling to make ends meet often have little brainpower left for anything else, leaving them more susceptible to bad decisions” that just make their plight worse.

The AP (8/30, Borenstein) reports that after administering intelligence tests to 400 New Jersey shoppers and to 464 farmers in India, researchers found that individuals worried “about having enough money to pay their bills tend to lose temporarily the equivalent of 13 IQ points.”

The Huffington Post UK (8/29) reports that people “overwhelmed with worries about rent, feeding and clothing children, and paying household bills can suffer a genuine mental handicap,” which “in turn may lead to poor decisions, such as racking up debt” and making matters worse. One of the study authors suggested that services aimed at helping the poor “should take account of the mental effect of poverty” by making it easier for people to get assistance.

Related Links:

— “Poverty strains cognitive abilities, opening door for bad decision-making, new study finds, “Brady Dennis, The Washington Post, August 29, 2013.

The Huffington Post (8/30, Wood) reports that the number of suicides in veterans and active duty military personnel is increasing, “and experts fear it will continue to rise despite aggressive suicide prevention campaigns by the government and private organizations.” Officials with the Department of Defense and the various branches of the service are broadening “suicide-prevention campaigns to include servicemen and women who may be struggling with mental health issues, substance abuse, family dysfunction, financial problems and other issues that can be difficult to manage, but do not necessarily lead to suicide.” US military culture, however, “is resistant to change” when it comes to stigma associated with mental healthcare. And, even though the Department of Veterans Affairs has added some 1,600 additional mental healthcare professionals in recent months, there is still a shortage of clinicians.

Related Links:

— “Military And Veteran Suicides Rise Despite Aggressive Prevention Efforts, “David Wood, The Huffington Post, September 3, 2013.

Politico (9/6, Gavin) reports that “since leaving office in 2011, former Rep. Patrick Kennedy has a new campaign he’s focusing on: mental health.” The former lawmaker “says that his primary hope for Washington lawmakers is to reassess mental injuries endured in combat.” He “said that the federal government should change ‘both its language and its action around these signature wounds to the war’ and treat them the same as other” types of injuries.

Related Links:

— “Patrick Kennedy: ‘Speak up’ for mental illness, “Patrick Gavin, Politico, September 5, 2013.

Reuters (9/5, Harding) reported that, according to a new study conducted by Stanford University, trauma therapy could relieve feelings of depression and distress among mothers whose children are born prematurely. The study targeted 105 mothers whose children were born at 24 to 35 weeks’ gestation and focused on the elements of COPE (Creating Opportunities for Parent Empowerment) neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), proven in clinical trials to ease parental anxiety. The study was published in the journal Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Trauma therapy may ease distress for mothers of preemies, “Anne Harding, Reuters, September 5, 2013.

HealthDay (9/6, Thompson) reports that two studies published in JAMA Psychiatry suggest that “cognitive behavioral therapy can be a powerful tool for preventing depression, equaling or exceeding the effectiveness of antidepressants and other types of care.” In the first study, which involved 241 adults, researchers found that “follow-up cognitive therapy can be as effective as antidepressant medications in preventing a relapse for patients at high risk for another bout of depression.” In the other study, which involved 316 teenagers, investigators “found that cognitive behavioral therapy did better than usual forms of care in preventing depression in at-risk teens.”

Related Links:

— “Psychotherapy a Powerful Tool to Fight Depression, Studies Show, “Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, September 5, 2013.