The Hill (4/11, Wong) “Defcon Hill” blog reports that on March 27, a group of Democratic and Republican legislators “introduced a bill calling for mental health screening for recruits before they can join the military,” which they hope may help prevent shooting sprees on military bases in the future. The measure, which is called “The Medical Evaluation Parity for Service Members Act,” will “institute a preliminary mental health assessment at the time recruits are first joining the military.” On April 9, a companion measure was introduced in the Senate.

Related Links:

— “Mental health screening for soldiers picks up steam,”Kristina Wong, The Hill, April 10, 2014.

Reuters (4/10, Jegtvig) reports that according to the results of a 2,257-patient study published online April 7 in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, women with a history of binge eating, anorexia nervosa or bulimia appeared to have an increased risk of complications related to their pregnancies. For example, expectant mothers with anorexia may become anemic and deliver babies with a low birth weight, while mothers with bulimia may deliver babies with a low Apgar score. Babies born to mothers who binge eat may be large, and the women themselves may have an increased likelihood of hypertension during pregnancy. The study authors recommended that such women be monitored more closely during pregnancy.

Related Links:

— “Women with eating disorders may have more pregnancy complications,”Shereen Jegtvit, Reuters, April 9, 2014.

HealthDay (4/10, Salamon) reports that research published online in Neurology suggests that individuals “with declining memory and thinking skills may be significantly less likely to die from cancer.” Researchers looked at data on “more than 2,600 Spaniards over the age of 65.” The investigators “found that people experiencing the fastest decline in mental skills were about one-third less likely to die of cancer over an average of 13 years.”

Related Links:

— “A Failing Mind May Mean Lower Cancer Death Risk, Study Suggests,” Maureen Salamon, HealthDay, April 9, 2014.

The Congressional Quarterly (4/10, Adams, Subscription Publication) reports that Sen. Bernard Sanders (I) introduced a bill yesterday intended to protect funding for community health centers. Such Centers were seen as being made redundant by the passage of the Affordable Care Act, but Sanders and some lawmakers from both sides would like to see funding restored. Sanders’ bill is seen as unlikely to become law.

FOX News (4/8, Ferry) reports on its website that according to data from the CDC, more young people are dying from opioid consumption. Addiction psychiatrist Andres Huberman, MD attributes this partly to “the increased availability of prescription painkillers,” identifying a recent trend in which physicians have become more “liberal” in prescribing such medications. Another problem he identified is patients pursuing multiple prescriptions from more than one physician.

Related Links:

— “More opioid-related deaths occurring among young people,”Shannan Ferry, FOX News, April 8, 2014.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek (4/9, Moroney) reports, “Ten times as many people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other acute forms of brain disease reside in prisons and county jails than in state hospitals, according to the Treatment Advocacy Center [TAC].”

The MSNBC (4/9, Clark) website reports that the TAC report, which was released yesterday, “found that state prisons and county jails house approximately 356,268 people with mental illnesses, while state mental hospitals hold only 35,000.” What’s more, this disparity is “a nationwide problem – only six states have psychiatric hospitals with more people in them than” in “prisons or jail.”

Psychiatric News (4/9), a publication of the American Psychiatric Association, reported, “The report also contains several recommendations, including use of court-ordered outpatient treatment – deemed by the Department of Justice to be an evidence-based practice for reducing crime and violence – to help at-risk individuals live more safely and successfully in the community.” TAC founder and psychiatrist E. Fuller Torrey, MD, who is the report’s lead author, said, “The lack of treatment for seriously ill inmates is inhumane and should not be allowed in a civilized society.” The Kaiser Health News (4/8, Gold) “Capsules” blog also covers the story.

Related Links:

— “America’s Mentally Ill Prisoners Outnumber Hospital Patients, Tenfold,”Tom Moroney, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, April 8, 2014.

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.