MedPage Today (7/13) reports that a study supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health found that “chronic panic, phobia, and similar anxiety disorders may contribute to premature aging by shortening telomeres.” Olivia Okereke, MD, MS, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said, “The magnitude of this difference was comparable to that for women 6 years apart in age.” She added that telomeres shortening, a gradual process of loss of the repetitive DNA sequences capping off chromosomes that occurs when cells divide, “isn’t reversible.”

The Daily Mail (UK) (7/13, Bates) reports, “Researchers found that a common form of the stress, known as phobic anxiety, could trigger cellular damage leading to premature ageing.” Dr. Okereke says, “This study is notable for showing a connection between a common form of psychological stress – phobic anxiety – and a plausible mechanism for premature aging,” but it cannot “prove cause and effect” of which came first.

Reuters (7/13, Begley) reports that the rate of anxiety disorder diagnoses has grown drastically over the past 30 years. Many doctors say that advances in medicine, screen procedures, and proper training have led to the rise in the number of people being diagnosed with some forms of mental disorders. However, this also means that more people are being treated and helped by medical professionals.

Related Links:

— “Chronic Anxiety Speeds Aging, ” Crystal Phend, Medpage Today, July 12, 2012.

The Military Times (7/12, Kime) reports, “Diagnoses for mental disorders among active-duty troops have risen 65 percent in the past 12 years, with adjustment disorders the most common condition, according to a new Defense Department report.” Authors of the report “noted that the increase in mental health diagnoses in the military coincides with a similar rise in the general population. Researchers said it also might reflect a growing willingness in the military to seek treatment for emotional or behavioral problems.”

Related Links:

— “Mental disorders among troops up 65% since 2000, “Patricia Kime, Military Times, July 11, 2012.

The AP (7/11, Neergaard) reports, “A new report finds as many as one in five American seniors has a mental health or substance abuse problem.” What’s more, “as the population rapidly ages over the next two decades, millions of baby boomers may have a hard time finding care and services for mental health problems such as depression — because the nation is woefully lacking in doctors, nurses and other health workers trained for their special needs, the Institute of Medicine said Tuesday.” Rather, the US “is focused mostly on preparing for the physical health needs of what has been called the silver tsunami.”

According to the CNN (7/11, Young) “The Chart” blog, “‘The Mental Health and Substance Use Workforce for Older Americans: In Whose Hands?’ report concludes that Medicare and Medicaid payment codes must be revised to ensure counseling care and other critical services are covered so that doctors are willing to treat patients with these conditions.” The piece quotes one of the report’s authors, Dan G. Blazer, MD, PhD, of the Duke University Medical Center, as saying, “There is a conspicuous lack of national attention to ensuring that there is a large enough health care work force trained to care for older adults with mental health and substance use conditions.” Blazer added, “This report is a wake-up call that we need to prepare now or our older population and their extended families will suffer the consequences.”

The report concludes that “a continued lack of specialists and other trained [clinicians] including primary care physicians and nurses will likely make it difficult for aging patients to receive treatment for depression, dementia and other conditions,”

Related Links:

— “Report: Too little mental health care for seniors, “Lauran Neergaard, USA Today, July 11, 2012.

In the “Mind” column in the New York Times (7/10, D6, Subscription Publication), Richard A. Friedman, MD, a professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, writes, “Now comes the Affordable Care Act combining parity with the individual mandate for health insurance. As Dr. Dilip V. Jeste, president of the American Psychiatric Association, told me, ‘This law has the potential to change the course of life for psychiatric patients for the better, and in that sense it is both humane and right.'” While the law is not perfect, Dr. Friedman asserts that “on the whole, the Affordable Care Act is reason to cheer. Americans with mental illness finally have the prize that has eluded patients and clinicians for decades: the recognition that psychiatric illness should be on a par with all other medical disorders, and the near-universal mandate to make that happen.”

Related Links:

— “Good News for Mental Illness in Health Law, “Richard Friedman, The New York Times, July 9, 2012.

MedPage Today (7/10, Fiore) reports, “Patients who have a major physical health event may be more likely to seek mental health services,” according to a 6,017-patient study published online June 28 in the journal Health Services Research. “In a series of models, patients who had such an event were about three times more likely to seek mental healthcare during clinician visits and be prescribed drugs for their condition,” researchers reported. The study authors theorized that “the finding is probably due to worsening of mental health, rather than the identification of untreated severe psychiatric symptoms.”

Related Links:

— “Health Scare May Send People for Psych Help, “Kristina Fiore, MedPage Today, July 9, 2012.

The Buffalo (NY) News (7/10, Precious) reports, “While schools already can have anti-bullying bullying policies in place in their required codes of conduct, the new law further defines cyberbullying as part of a 2010 law meant to crack down on incidents of bullying in schools.” The new “law specifically defines cyberbullying as harassment taking place through any electronic means and that ‘reasonably causes or would reasonably be expected to cause physical injury or emotional harm to a student.'” The News adds, “For purposes of involvement by school districts, the incidents of cyberbullying of a student could occur on or off school grounds.”

Related Links:

— “Cuomo signs cyberbullying measure into law, “Tom Precious, Buffalo News, July 9, 2012.

The New York Times (7/10, B2, Meier, Subscription Publication) reports, “The Food and Drug Administration, overriding the advice of an expert panel, said Monday that it would not require doctors to have special training before they could prescribe long-acting narcotic painkillers that can lead to addiction.” The FDA, however, “said companies that make the drugs…would be required to underwrite the cost of voluntary programs aimed at teaching doctors how to best use them.” The Times adds, “In introducing the plan on Monday, both Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg, the FDA commissioner, and R. Gil Kerlikowske, President Obama’s top drug policy adviser, said they were hopeful that Congress would eventually enact mandatory physician training,” although the Obama administration has not yet drafted legislation.

Related Links:

— “F.D.A. Won’t Order Doctors to Get Pain-Drug Training, “Barry Meier, The New York Times, July 9, 2012.

In print and in its “Well” blog, the New York Times (7/10, D6, Bakalar, Subscription Publication) reports, “Mothers face a significantly increased risk of death in the years following the death of a child,” according to an analysis published in the June issue of the journal Economics & Human Biology. “Using federal Census Bureau data, researchers tracked information on 69,224 mothers ages 20 to 50 over nine years.” Investigators found that “in the two years following the death of a child, the odds of the mother dying increased to more than three times that of mothers whose children survived. After two years, the difference narrowed, but it was still 22 percent higher for grieving mothers.”

Related Links:

— “Child’s Death May Raise Mother’s Mortality, “Nicholas Bakalar, The New York Times, July 9, 2012.

The New York Times (7/9, B5, Newman, Subscription Publication) reports that a suicide-prevention public service announcement (PSA) “campaign based in Colorado aimed at men ages 25 to 64 introduces a fictional therapist, Dr. Rich Mahogany, an affable, mustachioed, middle-aged man,” played by actor John Arp, who uses humor to get men with mental-health issues to get help, either by visiting the ManTherapy website or by seeing a mental healthcare professional. “Partners in the effort are the Colorado Office of Suicide Prevention and the Carson J. Spencer Foundation, a suicide-prevention organization, with financing from the Anschutz Family Foundation.”

Related Links:

— “A Light Approach to a Grim Issue: Suicide Prevention,”Andrew Newman, The New York Times, July 8, 2012.

MedWire (7/7, Cowen) reported, “A wide range of demographic, clinical, and environmental factors are associated with an increased risk for transition from major depressive disorder (MDD) to bipolar disorder (BD),” according to a study published June 20 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. The three-year, 6,214-patient study revealed that “risk factors include lower levels of education, younger age, prior psychopathology, and a history of child abuse.” However, “Interestingly, clinical characteristics of depression were not associated with diagnostic conversion,” the study found.

Related Links:

— “Factors linked with MDD transition to BD identified, “Mark Cowen, MedWire, July 6, 2012.