In a story titled “Pain Pills’ Littlest Victims,” the Wall Street Journal (12/28, A3, Campo-Flores, Subscription Publication) reports how US hospitals, particularly those in Florida and Kentucky, are struggling to cope with infants born with an addiction to opioid-based prescription painkillers or anti-addiction medications. These babies must be hospitalized in the NICU because of powerful, long-lasting withdrawal symptoms. Adding to the difficulty of the situation is that there is no specific medical protocol for weaning these babies from such medicines, and hospitals are learning as they go. What’s more, nobody knows what the long-term effects will be on the babies.

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— “Pain Pills’ Littlest Victims,”Arian Campo Flores, The Wall Street Journal, December 28, 2012.

The Tennessean (12/27, Ammenheuser) reports, “The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that 25 percent of college students have eating disorders. The same percent of college women report managing weight by binging and purging, says the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders.” While the “problem’s more widespread among women,” about “10 percent to 15 percent of anorexics and bulimics are male,” the association explained.

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— “Eating disorders boom as kids enter college,”Maura Ammenheuser, The Tennessean, December 27, 2012.

On the front of its Business Day section, the New York Times (12/22, Lieber, B1, Subscription Publication) reported , “Insurance covers more mental health care than many people may realize, and more people will soon have the kind of health insurance that does so.” However, “coverage goes only so far when there aren’t enough practitioners who accept it – or there aren’t any nearby, or they aren’t taking any new patients.” This may pose a particular “challenge for people who live far from major cities or big medical centers and need treatment for mental illnesses like severe depression or schizophrenia or disorders like autism.”

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— “Walking the Tightrope on Mental Health Coverage, “Ron Leiber, The New York Times, December 21, 2012.

The Denver Post (12/23, O’Connor) reported that a report published last February in the journal Emergency Physicians Monthly found a 60% decrease in the number of psychiatric beds available for inpatients in the US between the years 1970 and 2002. Bed counts at hospitals run by counties and states plummeted by 90%, the article said. A 2008 study [pdf] conducted by the American College of Emergency Physicians revealed that Colorado has only 11.8 inpatient psychiatric beds per 100,000 persons, which appears to be one of the worst rates in the US.

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— “Parents’ burden: Lack of resources adds to challenges of caring for the mentally ill, “Colleen O’Connor, The Denver Post, December 23, 2012.

In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal (12/26, A11, Subscription Publication), Peter M. Marzuk, MD, of the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, asserts that while the vast majority of people with mental illnesses are not violent and do not commit suicide or murder, nearly all people who do commit murder-suicides have underlying serious mental illness. He calls for systematic studies of the brains of those who perpetrate murder-suicides in order to better understand any underlying neurobiology that could be targeted for specific medicines or therapies. He would also like to see a US-wide registry of information on murder-suicides.

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— “Unlocking the Mystery of Murder-Suicide, “Peter M. Marzuk, The Wall Street Journal, December 25, 2012.

The Hill (12/21, Viebeck) “Healthwatch” blog reported, “The governing body of the US Catholic Church is calling for lawmakers to tighten gun regulations and improve access to mental healthcare in the wake of” the “mass shooting in Newtown, Conn.” On Friday, “the US Conference of Catholic Bishops released a statement” that also “called for greater sensitivity toward people with mental illnesses and their families.”

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— “Catholic bishops call for gun control, mental health reforms, “Elise Viebeck, The Hill, December 21, 2012.

The Time (12/26, Rochman) “Healthland” blog reports, “Nearly half of kids with food allergies say they’ve been bullied, and a third report that the bullying was food-related.” Lead author Dr. Eyal Shemesh, associate professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at Mount Sinai Medical Center, and colleagues “looked at 251 children ages 8 to 17 who came to Mount Sinai’s allergy clinic with a parent. Both children and parents answered detailed questions about bullying.”

The Huffington Post (12/24, Pearson) reports, “Overall, 45 percent of the children and teens – who were between the ages of 8 and 17 – said they’d been bullied, and 31.5 percent said it was because of their food allergy.” The researchers found that “the bullying was most likely to happen while they were in school and included others teasing them, waving food in their face, throwing food at them, or forcing them to touch the food that triggers their allergies.”

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— “Bullying over Food Allergies,”Bonnie Rochman, TIME, December 25, 2012.

The Time (12/20, Szalavitz) “Healthland” blog points out, “While it’s not clear whether mental illness — alone or in combination with a developmental disorder — played any role in the devastating tragedy in Newtown, CT, the shootings have triggered a much-needed discussion about how we care for psychiatric patients. The debate has thrown a harsh light on the piecemeal nature of America’s mental health system, which is leaving too many children and young adults…without the resources they need.”

APA’s Jeste Sends Letter To Congressional Leaders On Issues Raised By Connecticut Tragedy. Psychiatric News (12/20) reported that on Dec. 20, “APA President Dilip Jeste, MD, sent a letter…on behalf of the Association to leaders of both the Senate and House of Representatives responding to the massacre in Newtown, Conn., and emphasizing that psychiatrists ‘stand ready to do whatever we can to help alleviate the suffering caused by the tragedy and to help the survivors cope with life after a trauma of this unimaginable magnitude.'” In addition, Dr. Jeste “expressed APA’s concern about proposals that have been voiced that target the mentally ill and media accounts that inaccurately portray people with mental illness.” Finally, Dr. Jeste “called on Congress to address the abundance and easy availability of guns, saying that APA believes that ‘any discussion on fostering a robust mental health delivery system must not be isolated from discussions of strategies to reduce gun violence.'”

Related Links:

— “America’s Failing Mental Health System: Families Struggle to Find Quality Care, “Maia Szalavitz, , December 20, 2012.

The CBS Evening News (12/20, story 5, 0:55, Garrett) reported that Biden “met with police chiefs and county sheriffs from around the country and he talked about the comprehensive approach to crime fighting he wrote into the 1994 crime bill. … White House officials say the Vice President will be comprehensive this time as well. Gun control will be included. There will also be efforts to expand access to mental healthcare services and create a national dialogue on violent movies and video games.”

The AP (12/21, Thompson) reports, “In response to the killing of schoolchildren in Connecticut, the federal government should consider California’s strategy for dealing with mental illness, experts and lawmakers said Thursday.” In California, “the Mental Health Services Act passed by voters in 2004 levied a special tax on high-income residents to pay for housing, medication, therapy and other services,” a tax that “has helped more than 60,000 Californians.”

The San Francisco Chronicle (12/21, Buchanan) reports, “In a letter to Vice President Joe Biden, state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, wrote that the nation needs to address the root causes of mental illness and expand access to services.” Steinberg “has asked the federal government to adopt the state’s model for mental health treatment and to match state funding for services nationwide.” Steinberg also “said he estimates the cost to the federal government would be about $20 billion annually if other states adopted California’s model.”

Related Links:

— “California offered as national mental health model, “Don Thompson, Associated Press, December 21, 2012.