Reuters (12/25, Steenhuysen, Mincer) reported that across the US, emergency department (ED) physicians are encountering more patients in severe mental crisis. Severe budget cuts to state psychiatric hospitals and local mental-health programs, coupled with high unemployment and loss of health insurance, are forcing more people with psychosis or severe depression to seek emergency treatment.

In North Carolina, Bret Nicks, MD, a spokesman for the American College of Emergency Physicians, pointed out that state psychiatric hospital inpatient capacity has been cut by 50% since 2005. Meanwhile, Stephen Anderson, MD, FACEP, head of the Washington State chapter of ACEP, noted that Washington has 33% fewer inpatient psychiatric beds than in 2001.

Emergency department physicians as well as psychiatrists are troubled by the trend, because patients in psychiatric crisis cannot receive the ongoing and specialized care they need in an emergency setting.

Bloomberg News (12/23, Edney) reports AeroShot Pure Energy, a caffeine inhaler, “dispensed from canisters that fit in jean pockets and are allowed in carry-on luggage is a ‘club drug’ that may be dangerous to teenagers,” Democrat Charles Schumer said. The senator “wrote Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg today asking her to review the safety and legality of the AeroShot Pure Energy caffeine inhaler, a yellow and gray canister of caffeine powder and B vitamins resembling a tube of lipstick,” which “is set to hit store shelves in New York and Boston next month.” Schumer says if the caffeine inhaler is “taken with alcohol, the mixture may have effects similar to caffeinated alcohol drinks tied to hospitalizations in the past.” According to a FDA spokesman’s email, the agency will review information related to the product.

“US Sen. Charles E. Schumer fired off a letter to the Food and Drug Administration today, urging it to ask the maker of a lipstick-sized inhalable caffeine canister set to hit store shelves in Boston and New York on New Year’s Day to back up its claims that the product is safe,” the Boston Herald (12/23, Szaniszlo) reports. “According to the Cambridge-based company’s website, ‘AeroShot’ delivers an airborne shot of caffeine powder,” which “does not enter the lungs, but rather is dissolved in the mouth and swallowed,” the company’s materials claim.

The AP (12/23) points out that “its manufacturer, Breathable Foods, says each AeroShot contains as much caffeine as a cup of coffee plus B vitamins” and “is safe but is not intended for children under 12.”

HealthDay (12/23, Dallas) reports, “Children who miss school often are more likely to have symptoms of mental health problems as teens,” according to a study published in the journal Child Development. For the study, researchers at the University of California-Los Angeles “compiled information on 17,000 students in grades 1 through 12.”

They discovered that “kids in second through eighth grades with mental health problems, such as antisocial behavior or depression, missed more school days than kids without those issues.” In addition, “middle and high school students who missed a lot of school were…more likely to be later diagnosed with mental health issues.”

The Los Angeles Times (12/23, Roan) “Booster Shots” blog reports, “A year-long project by experts nationwide has led to a new definition of the term” recovery from addiction or mental illness “that is meant to help doctors, counselors and policymakers.” Yesterday, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) disclosed the new definition: “A process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live a self-directed life, and strive to reach their full potential.” And, “as part of SAMHSA’s Recovery Support Strategic Initiative, researchers and other mental-health experts also clarified four major dimensions that support a life in recovery.” Those are health, home, purpose, and community.

In its “Talk of the Nation” program, NPR (12/20, Conan) discussed the reasons “behind the growing number of diagnoses” of autism. “According to the Centers for Disease Control, nearly one percent of US children have some form of autism, 20 times higher than the rate in the 1980s.” The program interviewed clinical psychologist Catherine Lord, PhD, and Alan Zarembo, of the Los Angeles Times, the author of a series of articles called “Discovering Autism” that ran last week.

Zarembo discussed a Columbia University study that “found that if you lived very close to somebody else with the disorder, your chances of having your child diagnosed were 16 percent higher than if you lived further away.” Lord emphasized the importance of early intervention in treating children with autism to help them achieve the maximum amount of basic independence, but also mentioned that even later treatment is not without benefits.

MedWire (12/16, Robertson) reports, “People with type 2 diabetes are more likely to experience serious psychological distress (SPD) than those without the condition,” according to a study published online Dec. 9 in the journal Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice. After analyzing data from “49,644 respondents from the 2007 California Health Interview Survey,” researchers found that “participants with diabetes were at an increased risk for being psychologically distressed compared with nondiabetic individuals, at an odds ratio of 1.81.”

HealthDay (12/16, Goodwin) reports, “The recent recession took a toll on parent-child ties, with parents who were under financial strain reporting that they felt less connected to their kids and kids saying they were less likely to act with generosity,” according to a study published in the December issue of the Journal of Research on Adolescence. Investigators surveyed “about 500 families in the Seattle area” who “were mostly white, middle- to upper-middle-class and college educated.”

They found that “parents who reported increasing financial pressure were also more likely to report symptoms of depression, according to the study. In turn, depressed parents were more likely to report feeling less connected and less close with their child.”

NBC Nightly News (12/14, story 5, 0:30, Williams) reported, “We got startling new numbers from the” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “today based on a new survey of domestic violence. One in four women in this country reported being violently attacked by a husband or boyfriend. … One in five women said they have been sexually assaulted.”

The New York Times (12/15, A32, Rabin, Subscription Publication) reports that the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey “released on Wednesday affirmed that sexual violence against women remains endemic in the United States and in some instances may be far more common than previously thought. Nearly one in five women surveyed said they had been raped or had experienced an attempted rape at some point, and one in four reported having been beaten by an intimate partner. One in six women [has] been stalked, according to the report.”

The survey was given to “a nationally representative sample of 16,507 adults” and “elicited information on types of aggression not previously studied in national surveys, including sexual violence other than rape, psychological aggression, coercion and control of reproductive and sexual health.”

ABC World News (12/14, story 4, 0:20, Sawyer) reported, “And there was an announcement from the White House today about the President’s healthcare reform. The government said 2.5 million young adults who were uninsured now have received health insurance because of that law, which allows children to stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26.”

The CBS Evening News (12/14, story 5, 2:30, Pelley) reported, “Patient rights advocates like Ron Pollack of the nonprofit group Families USA call this an accomplishment because young adults will 19-25, are the most likely not to have health insurance.” Ron Pollack, Families USA: “This is a benefit for those people who are struggling to find a job or who are in an entry-level job and they can’t pay for health insurance and now they have the ability to stay on their parents’ policy until their 26th birthday.”

The Wall Street Journal (12/15, Radnofsky, Subscription Publication) quotes HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who said, “It shows what a big difference this law is already making in Americans’ lives.” According to Sebelius, without the option for additional coverage, insurance was a major factor in young adults’ career decisions, while others were “a car accident or a surprise diagnosis away from a lifetime of medical debt or worse.”

Television and print media provided extensive coverage of a government survey which indicated a change in substance-abuse habits among US adolescents.

NBC Nightly News (12/14, story 6, 1:05, Williams) reported that a study released on Wednesday provides a “new look…at teenage alcohol and drug use. According to this study, there’s been a big shift when it comes to substance abuse among high school-aged kids.”

The CBS Evening News (12/14, story 8, 0:30, Pelley) reported, “Marijuana use among teenagers has gone up four years in a row. In a survey, one out of every 15 high school students admitted using marijuana every day or almost daily. That’s the highest rate in 30 years.”

The Wall Street Journal (12/15, Randall, Subscription Publication) reports that the “Monitoring the Future” survey released Dec. 14 by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) also reveals that even as marijuana use is increasing, US adolescents are smoking fewer cigarettes and drinking far less alcohol.