Medwire (2/20, McDermid) reports that according to a meta-analysis published online Feb. 14 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association, “there are small but robust differences in the effects of different psychotherapies on psychosis symptom.” After examining 48 studies including 3,295 participants, researchers “found that cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), which focuses on reducing positive symptoms through cognitive restructuring, had a larger effect than other therapies on positive symptoms.” For positive symptoms, however, “social skills training, which aims to improve patients’ social functioning to help them cope with social situations, had the largest effect.”

Related Links:

— “Psychotherapies have specific effects on psychosis symptoms, ” Eleanor McDermid, medwireNews, February 20, 2014.

The Los Angeles Times (2/20, Kaplan) reports that headaches may be triggered by stress, but according to study to be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting later this spring, “the more intense a person’s stress, the more time he or she will spend in pain.” For the study, investigators “interviewed 5,159 adults about their headache history and other health factors once every three months from 2010 to 2012.” In addition, “volunteers were asked to rate the intensity of their stress on a 100-point scale.”

The CBS News (2/20, Castillo) website reports the study found “for every 10-point increase on the stress scale, tension-headache sufferers had 6.3 percent more headaches per month or about 3.3 hours more of headaches each month.” People with migraines experienced “a 4.3 percent increase in incidents, or about 4.6 extra headache hours per month.”

Individuals who had “both types of headaches had a 4 percent increase in the length of their headaches, or 3.5 hours per month.

Related Links:

— “Stress makes headaches last longer, study finds, ” Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times, February 19, 2014.

The Dallas Morning News (2/20, Benning) reports that yesterday, “former President George W. Bush…called for a fundamental shift in the perception and treatment of one of the country’s most high-profile military injuries: post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD].” At a summit the former Republican President convened at the George W. Bush Presidential Center to discuss issues faced by veterans, Bush “said that the condition has been mislabeled as a ‘disorder’ and that calling it just ‘post-traumatic stress’ would go a long way in erasing the stigma that affects many vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.” The Morning News points out, however, that when the American Psychiatric Association produced its fifth editionRelated Links:

— “Bush wants change in how PTSD is handled, ” Tom Benning, Dallas Morning News, February 19, 2014. of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) last year, the DSM-5 retained “the ‘disorder’ in PTSD.”

CNN (2/20, Caldwell) quotes Bush as saying, “Employers would not hesitate to hire an employee getting treated for a medical condition like diabetes or high blood pressure and they should not hesitate to hire veterans getting treated for post-traumatic stress.”

HealthDay (2/19, Preidt) reported that antidepressant Celexa (citalopram hydrobromide) “shows promise in easing the agitation people with Alzheimer’s disease often suffer,” potentially offering “a safer alternative to antipsychotic drugs,” according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The new study, headed by Constantine Lyketsos, director of the Johns Hopkins Memory and Alzheimer’s Treatment Center in Baltimore, involved 186 Alzheimer’s patients “with agitation symptoms such as emotional distress, aggression, irritability, and excessive movement.”

MedPage Today (2/19, Smith) reported some safety concerns with the study noting the medicine “was associated with an increase in QT interval prolongation and a slight worsening of cognition,” citing the Feb. 19 issue of JAMA. Anton Porsteinsson, of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in New York, pointed out that when treating agitated Alzheimer’s patients clinicians should be “judicious,” and probably prescribe a dosage below 20 mg a day. In an accompanying editorial, Gary Small, MD, of the University of California Los Angeles, “argued that research is needed to determine the duration of adverse effects and benefits beyond the studied 9 weeks, dose ranges that influence mortality risk as well as QT prolongation, and predictors of response,” according to MedPage.

The news was also covered by Medscape (2/19) and the Rochester (NY) Democrat & Chronicle (2/18).

Related Links:

— “Antidepressant Celexa May Help Ease Alzheimer’s-Linked Agitation,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, February 18, 2014.

Kaiser Health News (2/18, Andrews) reports that some health insurance policies refuse to provide coverage for suicide-related injuries, despite allegations that such rescissions are forbidden by Federal law. Kaiser quotes Sara Rosenbaum, a professor of health policy at The George Washington University: “Suicide is a common exclusion. Insurers are all over the place on this, and state law varies tremendously.”

Related Links:

— “Some Plans Refuse To Cover Medical Costs Related To Suicide Despite Federal Rules, ” Michelle Andrews, Kaiser Health News, February 18, 2014.

USA Today (2/18, Hellmich) reports that research presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting suggests that individuals “who feel consistently lonely have a 14% higher risk of premature death than those who don’t.” Investigators found that “the impact of loneliness on early death is almost as strong as the impact of being poor, which increased the chances of dying early by 19%.”

AFP (2/18, Santini) reports that the study, which was “carried out on a group of 20,000 people revealed adverse health effects of feeling alone, including sleep problems, high blood pressure, impaired immune cells and depression.” FOX News (2/17) also covers the story on its website.

Related Links:

— “Feeling lonely? It may increase risk of early death, ” Nanci Hellmich, USA Today, February 17, 2014.

The Boston Globe (2/18, Bender) reports that the Department of Defense “is exploring a novel way to extend troops’ attention spans and sharpen their reaction times: stimulate the brain with low levels of electricity.” Electricity has been used to treat some psychiatric conditions before, notably major depression, in techniques “embraced by the National Institute of Mental Health, the American Psychiatric Association, and the US Surgeon General. “ So far, early research shows that non-invasive brain stimulation in healthy sleep-deprived volunteers appears to improve “both alertness and acuity.”

Related Links:

— “Pentagon considers using electricity to stimulate troops’ brains, ” Bryan Bender, Boston Globe, February 18, 2014.

USA Today (2/17, Healy) reported, “Intervening early to stop bullying is important because the health effects – including anxiety, depression and impaired self-worth – can persist even after bullying stops,” according to a study published online Feb. 17 in the journal Pediatrics.

On its website, NBC News (2/16, Goldbach) reported that after following 4,297 youngsters “in Los Angeles, Birmingham and Houston at three points: fifth, seventh, and 10th grades,” researchers found that the kids “who were being bullied had high levels of depressive symptoms, low self-worth and more problems with basic physical activity.”

Related Links:

— “Harm can continue even after bullying stops, ” Michelle Healy, USA Today, February 17, 2014.

The Time (2/14, Hoder) “Healthland” blog reports that according to a study published in the February issue of the journal World Psychiatry, “teens who use tons of media, don’t get enough sleep and have a sedentary lifestyle” may have a higher risk for serious mental health issues, including depression. Researchers arrived at that conclusion after surveying “12,395 students between the ages of 14 and 16 from 11 European countries,” then analyzing “nine risk behaviors: excessive alcohol use, illegal drug use, heavy smoking, reduced sleep, being overweight, being underweight, having a sedentary routine, high media use and truancy.”

Related Links:

— “Surprising Behaviors That Put Teens At Serious Risk of Depression, ” Alexandra Sifferlin, Time, February 13, 2014.

Reuters (2/13, Doyle) reports that according to a study published online Feb. 12 in JAMA Psychiatry, filing for monetary compensation following an injury from an accident appears to be tied to poorer physical and mental health a few years later. The research was based on the experiences of some 1,000 Australians who underwent hospitalization for injuries from 2004 to 2006. In 2010, 332 participants who ended up having to file for workers’ comp told the investigatory team of the stress they had experienced during the process. Those who had the highest level of stress in general appeared to be more disabled and suffered from increased levels of depression and anxiety as well as from a poorer quality of life.

Related Links:

— “Stress of filing injury claims linked to poorer health later, ” Kathryn Doyle, Reuters, February 12, 2014.