In a 2,469-word story, the Wilmington (DE) News Journal (1/14, Miller) reports that following an alarming number of suicide deaths among young people in Delaware’s “Kent and Sussex counties” last spring, state officials asked the CDC to conduct a review. The agency identified a “suicide cluster” in the two counties, where between January and May, “11 residents ages 12-21 took their own lives” and about 116 people within the same age group made suicide attempts. The CDC found no indicators for “suicide contagion” in the two counties, but it did conclude that mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety, were factors in “at least seven of the 11 cases.” The Journal focuses primarily on the Krueger family’s struggle to come to terms with the suicide of their son Anthony, who was one of the 11 cases noted in the CDC report.

Related Links:

— “Recovery in a suicide zone, “Beth Miller, The News Journal, January 13, 2013.

The Washington Times (1/11, Sherfinski) reports, “Vice President Joseph R. Biden hinted Friday that a federal weapons trafficking statute and more readily available mental health assistance could be included in a set of recommendations to address gun violence in the country that he plans to deliver to President Obama by a self-imposed Tuesday deadline.”

The Los Angeles Times (1/12, Mason) reports, “Vice President Joe Biden culminated a week of meetings on gun policy Friday, telling representatives of the video game industry that ‘there’s no silver bullet’ when it comes to confronting gun violence.” The story notes that the meeting “included executives from major video game producers such as Electronic Arts and the Entertainment Software Assn. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. and Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius also attended.”

The Wall Street Journal (1/11, Lejacq) reports on the meeting noting the presence of Secretary Sebelius.

Democrats Urge Attention To Mental Health In Recommendations.The Hill (1/14, Baker) reports in its “Healthwatch” blog, “A pair of Senate Democrats on Friday pressed Vice President Biden to include expanded access to mental-health services in his recommendations for addressing gun violence. … Sens. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) called for Biden to include mental-health parity in his recommendations to curb gun violence.”

The Hill (1/14, Viebeck) reports in its “Healthwatch” blog that Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) “urged Vice President Biden Friday not to ignore mental health issues as his panel grapples with U.S. gun violence.”

Related Links:

— “Biden broaches gun-trafficking statute, more mental health aid, “David Sherfinski, The Washington Times, January 11, 2013.

HealthDay (1/12, Norton) reported that Americans who “develop depression after surviving a stroke may die sooner than those without the mental health disorder,” according to study results that the American Academy of Neurology released in advance of annual meeting in March. The researchers “found that of more than 10,000 Americans followed for two decades, those who developed depression after suffering a stroke were about three times more likely to die of any cause during the study period, versus people without either condition.” The study team noted that previous research has shown a “similar link” among survivors of heart attacks who develop depression.

MedPage Today (1/13, Neale) noted that lead study author Amytis Towfighi, MD, of the University of Southern California, “pointed out that stroke rehabilitation guidelines from the Department of Veterans Affairs/Department of Defense include recommendations on screening for depression, but said that ‘there are no guidelines that I am aware of that emphasize outpatient screening for depression.'”

According to Medscape (1/12, Hughes), Dr. Towfighi emphasized that she and her colleagues think physicians should be required to routinely screen stroke survivors for depression.

Related Links:

— “Depressed Stroke Survivors May Face Higher Early Death Risk, “Amy Norton, HealthDay, January 14, 2013.

CQ (1/11, Attias, Subscription Publication) reports that yesterday, “a trio of Democrats…released a Government Accountability Office [GAO] report [pdf] that shows children in foster care take psychotropic medications at higher rates than other youngsters, while many in the foster system may not be receiving needed mental health services. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Tom Harkin of Iowa and Reps. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and Lucille Roybal-Allard of California requested the report to look into those medications’ effects on foster children.” According to the GAO, “18 percent of children in foster care took at least one psychotropic” medication, and 30 percent of foster kids who could have used mental healthcare did not receive it over the course of a one-year period.

In an opposing viewpoint for USA Today (1/11), Wayne Lindstrom, CEO of Mental Health America, contends, “Rather than forcing more people into treatment, we should dedicate adequate resources toward prevention and early identification of emotional disturbances in children and fund cost-effective community-based interventions that work.” Lindstrom points out that “just two-thirds of those with severe mental illness and one-third with moderate illness receive appropriate services.” He concludes, “Expanding access to care under the Affordable Care Act and mental health parity law will serve people better than changing commitment laws that will change nothing.”

Related Links:

— “Opposing view: Don’t link violence with mental illness, “Wayne Lindstrom, USA Today, January 10, 2013.

USA Today (1/11) editorializes, “From a classroom at Virginia Tech to a strip mall in Tucson to a movie theater in Colorado, a common thread runs through many of the nation’s tragic mass murders: severe and untreated mental illness.” USA Today asserts, “Many states have become so strict that it is almost impossible to get people committed until they are in deep crisis, or try to commit suicide or harm someone. Just a third of the states permit commitment if a person could emotionally or psychologically harm themselves — a more sensible standard that allows earlier intervention.” According to USA Today, the shortage of psychiatric beds makes problems worse, and not enough community-based mental healthcare programs exist to help those in need of treatment.

The Daily Caller (1/11, Howley) reports that on Jan. 8, 52 “medical organizations…sent a letter to the White House on Tuesday invoking the Newtown, Conn. school shooting tragedy to request increased federal and state funding for medical programs, such as psychiatric care and an educational campaign that ‘reduces the stigma of seeking mental health services.'” Signatories to the letter included “the American Medical Association, followed by 51 other organizations that would benefit from increased government funding, including the American Psychiatric Association.” In addition to calling for increased funding for the prevention of violence, the letter states, “While the overwhelming majority of patients with mental illness are not violent, physicians and other health professionals must be trained to respond to those who have a mental illness that might make them more prone to commit violence.”

Related Links:

— “Medical organizations invoke Newtown to request more funding from Obama,”Patrick Howley, Daily Caller, January 10, 2013.

Medscape (1/11, Brauser) reports that Paul Appelbaum, MD, past president of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and current chair of the APA Committee on Judicial Action, “met with members of Vice President Joe Biden’s Task Force on Gun Violence yesterday at the White House to discuss changes to the country’s mental health system.” Dr. Appelbaum “presented a four-part outline designed to address” the improvement of mental health in the US, including: “Appointing a presidential commission to ‘develop a vision’ for a better system of mental healthcare; designating a White House staffer as point person for facilitating responses from the Administration; improving early identification of those with mental health problems; and developing ‘sensible, nondiscriminatory approaches to keeping firearms out of the hands of dangerous people.'”

Psychiatric News (1/11) reports that Dr. Appelbaum told the Task Force that “despite evidence of the effectiveness of mental health treatment, funding for mental health services has plunged in the last few years, particularly in the public sector.” He also “stressed as well APA’s willingness to work with the administration and Congress in efforts to improve access to and the quality of mental health services and public safety.”

Related Links:

— “APA Participates in White House Gun-Violence Meeting,Psychiatric News Alert, January 10, 2013.

HealthDay (1/11, Reinberg) reports, “Prescription painkillers are second only to marijuana when it comes to drug abuse,” according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health Report: State Estimates of Nonmedical Use of Prescription Pain Relievers: 2010-2011, sponsored by the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). “Some 22 million Americans have misused prescription painkillers since 2002, according to” SAMHSA. “The report is based on data from the SAMHSA National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which is a survey of approximately 67,500 people across the” US.

Related Links:

— “Prescription Painkillers Trail Only Marijuana in Abuse Rates, Report Shows,”Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, Janueary 10, 2013.

The New York Times (1/10, A3, Tavernise, Subscription Publication) reports that a study by a panel of experts convened by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council found that deaths before the age of 50 “accounted for about two-thirds of the difference in life expectancy between males in the United States and their counterparts in 16 other developed countries, and about one-third of the difference for females.” The panel referred to the “pattern of higher rates of disease and shorter lives” as “the US health disadvantage,” noting that the panelists were “surprised at just how consistently Americans ended up at the bottom of the rankings.” Americans has the second highest death rates of lung disease, heart disease and the highest diabetes rates. Additionally, “Americans also had the lowest probability over all of surviving to the age of 50.”

The report claims that Americans “have a long-standing pattern of poorer health that is strikingly consistent and pervasive” over the course of their lifetimes, and the “tragedy is not that the United States is losing a contest with other countries…but that Americans are dying and suffering from illness and injury at rates that are demonstrably unnecessary,” writes USA Today (1/9, Szabo). Steven Woolf, a researcher who directs the Center for Human Needs at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA and the chair of the panel that wrote the report, said the report’s purpose is to warn Americans about its findings. The report found that the USA “ranks at or near the bottom in nine key areas of health: low birth weight; injuries and homicides; teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections; HIV and AIDS; drug-related deaths; obesity and diabetes; heart disease; chronic lung disease; and general disability.” CNN (1/9, Wilson) reports that “America does rank well in some health measures.” The US “has higher cancer survival rates, lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels and lower smoking prevalence rates than many of its peer countries. Those Americans who make it to age 75 will survive longer than their peers in the comparison countries.”

Related Links:

— “For Americans Under 50, Stark Findings on Health, “Sabrina Tavernise, The New York Times, January 9, 2013.