Medwire (6/3, Lyford) reports, “Poor sleep increases women’s risk for depression by reducing their experience of positive affect in daily life, thereby leading to increased negative reactivity,” according to a study published online May 9 in the British Journal of Psychiatry. Researchers arrived at that conclusion after studying “553 women who were monitored for sleep and affect for five days using the experience sampling method (an ambulatory diary technique).” Next, “471 participants who were free of depression at baseline were then periodically assessed for depressive symptomatology over a mean follow up of 432 days.”

Related Links:

— “Pathway from poor sleep to depression elucidated, “Joanna Lyford, Medwire, June 03, 2013.

Bloomberg News (6/1, Hallam) reported, “Older people who undergo general anesthesia for major surgery have a 35 percent higher risk of developing dementia later in life,” according to research to be presented at the European Society of Anaesthesiology’s annual meeting. “The findings are based on information from the Three-City Study, which included thousands of people age 65 and older in Bordeaux, Dijon and Montpellier starting in 1999.” Bloomberg News added, “In a subpopulation of 7,008 citizens, 632 participants developed dementia over the course of the study, and those patients were more likely to have had general anesthesia than those who didn’t develop mental deterioration.” Also covering the story were the Daily Telegraph (UK) (6/1, Donnelly) and the Daily Mail (UK) (6/1, Hope).

Related Links:

— “Dementia Risk Raised 35% by General Anesthesia in Study, ” Kristen Hallam, Bloomberg News, May 31, 2013.

MedPage Today (5/31, Boyles) reports, “Women who experience both sexual and physical abuse during childhood had a more than twofold increased risk for food addiction in adulthood,” according to a study published online in the journal Obesity and sponsored by grant money from the National Institutes of Health. “The analysis of data on 57,321 women enrolled in the Nurses Health Study II (NHSII) revealed that severe physical and sexual abuse were each associated with a roughly 90% increased risk for food addiction (physical abuse relative risk [RR] 1.92, 95% CI 1.76-2.09; sexual abuse RR 1.87, 95% CI 1.69-2.05),” and “suffering both severe physical and sexual abuse during childhood was associated with a 2.40 relative risk (95% CI 2.16-2.67) for food addiction later in life.”

Related Links:

— “Abused Girls May Binge on Food as Adults,” Salynn Boyles, MedPage Today, May 30, 2013.

HealthDay (5/31) reports that, according to research published in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine, individuals “who experience post-traumatic stress disorder following a heart attack may find it hard to get a good night’s sleep.” Investigators “examined the link between PTSD and sleep in almost 200 patients who suffered a heart attack.” The researchers “found that the more PTSD symptoms people experienced following a heart attack, the worse their self-reported sleep was in the month after their heart attack.”

Related Links:

— “ PTSD After Heart Attack Linked to Poor Sleep , ” Mary Elizabeth Dallas, HealthDay, May 30, 2013.

The New York Times (5/30, A17, Schwarz, Subscription Publication) reports that according to a meta-analysis published online May 29 in JAMA Psychiatry, “children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [AD/HD] who take stimulant medication do not have a lower risk over all for later substance abuse, contradicting the longstanding and influential message that such medicines tend to deter those with the disorder from abusing other substances.” The analysis “determined that, on average, medications like Adderall [amphetamine, dextroamphetamine mixed salts] and Ritalin [methylphenidate] had no effect one way or the other on whether children abused alcohol, marijuana, nicotine or cocaine later in life.”

Related Links:

— “No Link Seen Between Child Stimulant Use and Later Drug Abuse, ” Alan Schwarz, New York Times, May 29, 2013.

HealthDay (5/29, Dallas) reports, “A father’s depression may not have a negative effect on his children if he has a strong marriage, according to a new study” published online in the journal Developmental Psychology. “In conducting the study, the researchers examined information on 606 children and their parents enrolled in a study on early child development done by the US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.” The study found that even though “depressed dads may have difficulty addressing the emotional needs of their children…if these fathers have a supportive spouse who listens they may be able to improve their interactions with their children.”

Related Links:

— “A Strong Marriage Can Shield Kids From Dad’s Depression: Study, “Mary Elizabeth Dallas, HealthDay, May 28, 2013.

HealthDay (5/29, Norton) reports, “Various forms of ‘talk therapy’ can help people with depression, but no single type stands out as better than the rest, according to a new analysis” published online May 28 in PLoS Medicine. After analyzing “nearly 200 clinical trials testing seven different types of psychotherapy for major depression,” researchers found that “overall…all of the therapies were better than no treatment. The typical effect was ‘moderate to large,’ they say – which means that the average patient who received the therapy was doing better than half of the patients in the untreated, comparison group.”

Related Links:

— “Talk Therapy Can Ease Depression, But No Single Type Deemed ‘Best’, “Amy Norton , HealthDay, May 28, 2013.

Medscape (5/29) reports that research published in JAMA Psychiatry indicates that “that psychogenic pain, back pain, and migraine, but not arthritis or neuropathy,” may be “associated with an increased risk for suicide.” Investigators came to this conclusion after looking at data from “treatment records of all patients (n = 4,863,036) who were seen in the Veterans Health Administration system in fiscal year 2005 and who were alive at the start of fiscal year 2006.” While “some of this risk appears to be due to co-occurring mental health problems, there may be something about the experience of pain that also contributes directly to suicide risk, lead author Mark A. Ilgen, PhD, told Medscape Medical News.”

“In the wake of… high-profile killings,” such as the Denver theater and Sandy Hook Elementary massacres, theColumbus (OH) Dispatch (5/26, Johnson, Candisky) reported, “America’s political leaders promised a grieving nation an examination of both guns and mental health.” However, “the discussion again has focused on a firefight over guns, with little real emphasis on the shortcomings of the nation’s underfunded, overwhelmed mental-health system.” The Dispatch notes, “President Barack Obama’s proposed $150 million-plus ‘mental-health first aid’ and similar programs for schools have stalled, while federal funding for the National Institute of Mental Health is being cut by $12 million on top of a 5 percent reduction already targeted from cutbacks known as the sequester.”

In a second article, the Columbus (OH) Dispatch (5/27, Johnson, Candisky) highlighted how access to mental healthcare is “woeful” in Ohio, adding, “With an estimated 57.7 million people in the U.S. suffering from some type of mental illness – approximately 1 in 4 adults – there are no easy answers on how to deal with this complex disease.” However, “one theme is cited again and again, both by experts and families involved in the struggle: Americans simply lack access to adequate mental-health care.”

Related Links:

— “Mental-health system overwhelmed, underfunded, “Alan Johnson, The Columbus Dispatch, May 26, 2013.

The Washington Post (5/25, McCrummen) offers a gripping, 4,165-word report that details a mother’s attempts to help and guide her 19-year-old son through a complex form of schizophrenia. The report follows Naomi Haskell of Houston and her son Spencer through the rolling changes typical of his illness, including hallucinations, depression, and, once, a suicide attempt. The Post says, “This is what it is like to be the mother of a son with a severe mental illness – an hour-to-hour, minute-to-minute vigil. At a time of increasing public concern about the role mental illness might have played in mass shootings in places like Newtown, Conn., and Aurora, Colo., Naomi’s worry on a Tuesday in Texas is different. It’s about keeping her son well.”

Related Links:

— “A mother helps son in his struggle with schizophrenia, “Stephanie McCrummen, The Washington Post, May 25, 2013.