The Washington Post (7/5, Kliff) “Wonkblog” reports, “Health care spending for 14- to 18-year-olds has grown faster than any other age group with private coverage.” The blog post explains that according to a report from the Health Care Cost Institute, one of the factors driving up health spending for teenagers is “the increased use of mental health services. In 2010, the average teenager was prescribed 1.2 central nervous system drugs, which treat conditions like depression and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.”

Related Links:

— “Maybe we should blame teenagers for our health spending problems, “Sarah Kliff, The Washington Post, July 3, 2012.

Modern Healthcare (7/4, Zigmond, Subscription Publication) reported, “Behavioral healthcare groups have inched a little closer to their goal of ensuring that the country’s mental-healthcare facilities are eligible for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s meaningful-use incentives.” Just “before leaving for this week’s July 4 recess, Reps. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) and Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) introduced the Behavioral Health Information Technology Act of 2012, which would include behavioral health [professionals] — such as psychiatric hospitals, mental-health and substance-abuse professionals, community mental-health centers, and inpatient or outpatient substance abuse treatment facilities — in the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health, or HITECH, Act that was enacted as part of the Recovery Act in 2009.” Last year, “Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) introduced similar legislation in the Senate.”

According to the Huffington Post (7/4, Wood), veterans who fought in Iraq or Afghanistan are “at risk of a ‘downward spiral’ that leads to depression, substance abuse and sometimes suicide, as Eric Shinseki, secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, said in a recent speech.” Shinseki’s agency, which operates a veterans’ suicide crisis line and “70 mobile outreach vans,” is “making a determined and costly effort to reach those who live in remote areas or who may be unaware of VA services.” The mental health budget for VA and its mental health staff have both increased in recent years. The Post explained that VA is “also expanding its secure teleconferencing facilities and expects this year to provide 200,000 mental health consultations with veterans who lack easy access to its outpatient clinics or outreach vans.”

Related Links:

— “Iraq, Afghanistan War Veterans Struggle With Combat Trauma, “David Wood, The Huffington Post, July 4, 2012.

The Baltimore Sun (7/5, Wenger) reports, “A dramatic change in how Maryland pays for substance abuse treatment programs is leaving some [care organizations] short on cash and displacing more than 200 drug and alcohol addicts, even as the state’s four-year transition to a new funding system has significantly increased the number of people getting help.” Now, “under the new system, the state will pay for more treatments through Medicaid reimbursements, a strategy that officials say will ultimately provide health care access to more Marylanders.” While “many addiction specialists agree that the move will eventually help more people…right now they’re trying to find ways to keep displaced clients in treatment” as “centers are facing the loss of millions of dollars in grants.”

Related Links:

— “Substance abuse funding change challenges some Md. providers, “Yvonne Wenger, The Baltimore Sun, July 4, 2012.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (6/30, Jones), psychiatrists at Veterans Affairs “hospitals in Milwaukee and Madison know the Fourth of July holiday is difficult for veterans, so they begin talking to their patients several weeks in advance to come up with plans to handle fireworks,” which can remind veterans of combat. For example, Michael McBride, MD, MS, a psychiatrist at the Zablocki VA Medical Center in Milwaukee, “increases medications during this time of year to help some of his patients get through Independence Day. He also discusses coping strategies such as wearing earplugs, using deep breathing techniques or staying inside during fireworks displays.”

Related Links:

— “For many veterans, July Fourth bombast rekindles fears, “Meg Jones, Journal Sentinel, June 30, 2012.

HealthDay (6/30, Salamon) reported, “Tests performed on a group of retired NFL players revealed that more than 40 percent suffered from problems such as depression and dementia,” according to a study presented Friday at the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) annual meeting. “Analyzing 34 ex-professional football players (average age 62) on benchmarks such as memory, reasoning, problem-solving and behavior, researchers from the Center for Brain Health at the University of Texas at Dallas found that 20 tested normal while the rest suffered from depression, various deficits in memory/thinking or a combination of these issues. Twenty-six of the players also underwent MRI scans.”

Related Links:

— “Study of Retired NFL Players Finds Evidence of Brain Damage, “Maureen Salamon, HealthDay, June 29, 2012.

USA Today (7/2, Healy) reports, “Children who are spanked, hit, or pushed as a means of discipline may be at an increased risk of mental problems in adulthood — from mood and anxiety disorders to drug and alcohol abuse,” according to a study published today in the journal Pediatrics.

“Previous studies have tied physical or sexual abuse to mental illness, but the large-scale Canadian study looked at the effects of less severe corporal punishment that many parents use to discipline their children,” the New York Daily News (7/72, Kinstler, Conner) reports. “The researchers reported…that up to 7% of mental illnesses could be attributed to the punishment.”

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (7/2, Sathian) reports that “today’s study…polled nearly 35,000 adults over the age of 20 between 2004 and 2005. In face-to-face interviews, respondents were asked to recall from their childhood if they were hit, grabbed, pushed or experienced other physical punishment.” Sexual abuse or “‘severe physical abuse’ – defined as anything that left a mark or caused injury,” was excluded.

“After adjustment for sociodemographic factors and family dysfunction, harsh physical punishment was associated with an increased risk of most lifetime Axis I mental disorders,” MedPage Today (7/2, Smith) reports. “Specifically, the adjusted odds ratio for: major depression was 1.41 with a 99.9% confidence interval from 1.03 to 1.92; mania was 1.93 with a 99.9% confidence interval from 1.07 to 3.48; any mood disorder was 1.49 with a 99.9% confidence interval from 1.11 to 2.00; any anxiety disorder was 1.36 with a 99.9% confidence interval from 1.05 to 1.77; any alcohol abuse or dependence was 1.59 with a 99.9% confidence interval from 1.21 to 2.08,” and “any drug abuse or dependence was 1.53 with a 99.9% confidence interval from 1.06 to 2.20.” AFP (7/2, Sheridan) also covers the story.

Related Links:

— “Study links physical punishment to later mental disorders, ” Michelle Healy, USA Today, July 2, 2012.

In the Time (6/28) “Battleland” blog, psychiatrist Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, MD, made some recommendations how to deal “with the vexing problem of PTSD and suicide” among US troops. Among her recommendations was that “the American Psychiatric Association, and the larger mental-health community, consider anew changing the name of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) to PTSI (post-traumatic stress-injury)” and that “the Department of Defense conduct a careful review of all the policies that promote stigma (no anti-depressants allowed in submariners or aviators, the deployment limiting psychiatric conditions policy, security clearance procedures, etc). and decide, on a scientific basis, whether they are warranted.”

Related Links:

— “The War After the War, “Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, Battleland Time, June 28, 2012.

In a news release (6/28, pdf), the American Psychiatric Association issued a statement from its president, Dilip V. Jeste, MD, who pointed out the significance of the Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, including the individual mandate. Dr. Jeste stated, “The law is especially significant because, when fully implemented along with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, it will protect the rights of individuals with mental illnesses to have access to appropriate care.”

HealthDay (6/29, Doheny) reports that a new study appearing in Social Science & Medicine finds that “the more work-related stress parents experience, the more likely their children are to eat unhealthy meals.” According to HealthDay, the researchers found that “those mothers employed full time had fewer meals as a family, served more fast-food meals and encouraged their teens to eat healthy less often… The fathers’ only difference by employment status was that full-time workers had fewer hours of food preparation than those who worked part time or were not employed.”

Related Links:

— “Job Worries for Parents May Mean Poorer Nutrition for Kids, “Kathleen Doheny, HealthDay, June 28, 2012.