McClatchy (3/29, Hotakainen) reports that US Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), who chairs the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, “has begun an investigation into whether military hospitals across the country are denying treatment to service members with post-traumatic stress disorder because of cost considerations.” Meanwhile, “the Army already is conducting at least three separate probes amid disclosures that the Madigan Army Medical Center on Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Murray’s home state of Washington has reversed hundreds of PTSD diagnoses for patients who were up for medical retirement. Murray’s office said last week that a review of PTSD cases dating to 2007 found that 290 of 690 diagnoses — more than 40 percent — had been reversed by a medical screening team.”

Houston VA Hospital Looking For Iraq, Afghanistan Veterans For Study Of PTSD. The Houston Chronicle (3/29, Wise) “Armed Sources” blog reports, “Researchers at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine are looking to recruit 40 to 50 Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans to participate” in a post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) “funded by a grant from the VA Rehabilitation Research and Development Program.” The study “will evaluate how psychotherapy treatment changes neural functioning in veterans with PTSD.” Veterans, who “will be compensated $10 per hour for interviews and $20 per hour” for taking part in the study, “will play computer games while inside a functional magnetic resonance imaging” (fMRI) machine.

Related Links:

— “Senate begins probe of Army’s handling of PTSD cases,”Rob Hotakainen , McClatchy Newspapers, March 28, 2012.

The AP (3/26) reports, “The aging of the massive post-World War II baby boom generation in the US is casting light on early onset dementia, a sorrowful subset of younger people experiencing a slow, cruel overtaking of their minds.” Approximately “200,000 Americans under 65 are among the 5.4 million Americans suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.” The AP adds, “Experts’ estimates suggest there’s a similar number of younger people with other types of dementia, meaning about a half-million Americans, some as young as their 30s, suffer from early-onset or younger-onset dementia.”

Related Links:

— “Dementia’s youngest victims often defy stereotypes,”AP, USA Today, March 24, 2012.

Medscape (3/20, Lowry) reported, “A recent episode of the news program 60 Minutes featuring psychologist Irving Kirsch, PhD, and his book The Emperor’s New Drugs, which claims there is no effective difference between antidepressant medications and placebo, is not just wrong ‘but irresponsible and dangerous reporting,’ according to the American Psychiatric Association (APA).” APA president John Oldham, MD, asserts, “Antidepressants do work, particularly for patients with major depression.”

The Boston Globe (3/19, Conaboy) reports, “Dr. Danny McCormick of Cambridge Health Alliance and his colleagues faced criticism this month when they published a study saying that electronic health records may not be a panacea for skyrocketing costs that many had hoped for.” According to the Boston Globe, “a chorus of critics said the study was outdated, because systems have come a long way since 2008 and now include tools to help providers decide when a particular test is necessary.” But, “McCormick and colleagues disputed their critics’ main points,” and wrote, “While the proportion of outpatient physicians utilizing health IT has grown since 2008…we are unaware of any ‘game changing’ health IT developments in the past four years that…would produce substantially different results if the study were repeated today.”

Related Links:

— “Scientists stand firm on health IT study,”Chelsea Conaboy, The Boston Globe, March 19, 2012.

Bloomberg News (3/20, Lopatto) reports, “Shock therapy, in use since 1937, appears to tamp down an overactive connection between two parts of the brain involved in emotional processing, thinking and concentration, according to a study released…by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.” Shock therapy “mimics a seizure, sending a brief electric current to the brain. ECT has the strongest supporting data among treatments for patients whose depression doesn’t respond to medication, according to the American Psychiatric Association.”

HealthDay (3/20, Storrs) reports that investigators “used functional MRI scans to look at brain activity in nine adults with severe depression before and after electroshock therapy.” The researchers “found that electroshock, or electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), dampens the connections between different areas of the brain in depressed people.” Also covering the story are Reuters (3/20, Kelland), BBC News (3/20), and the UK’s Daily Mail (3/20, Allen).

Related Links:

— “Shock Therapy’s Effect on Depression Discovered, Researchers Say,”Elizabeth Lopatto, Bloomberg, March 19, 2012.

HealthDay (3/17, Preidt) reported, “Among people with coronary stents, depression was linked to a 1.5 times greater risk of death during a seven-year study period,” according to a study that was scheduled to be presented at a European Society of Cardiology meeting. Researchers followed “1,234 coronary-artery-disease patients in the Netherlands with an average age 62, who underwent assessment for depression six months after receiving a coronary stent.” About 26 percent of the patients had been diagnosed with depression. The investigators found that, “after seven years of follow-up, 187 of the patients had died, including 23 percent of the patients with depression and 12 percent of the patients without depression.”

Related Links:

— “Depression Tied to Earlier Death in Heart Patients,”Robert Preidt, HealthDay, March 16, 2012.

The Boston Globe (3/19, Wen) reports, “Despite the challenges of creating intimate therapeutic space in a bustling school building, school officials in Boston and other cities are increasingly importing private clinicians to deliver much-needed mental health services to behaviorally troubled students.” The “arrangement helps districts avoid the expense of hiring more counseling staff while reducing the gap nationwide between the number of children who need psychological or emotional help and those who actually get it.”

Related Links:

— “Schools turn to private therapists for troubled students,”Patricia Wen, Boston.com, March 19, 2012.

In continuing coverage, ABC World News (3/18, story 2, 1:55, Muir) broadcast that on Sunday night, attorneys for 38-year-old Sergeant Robert Bales, the US soldier accused of murdering 16 Afghan civilians, “are arriving at Ft. Leavenworth in Kansas and plan to meet with him face to face for the very first time.” ABC, which noted that Bales could be facing a lifetime prison sentence or the death penalty, showed military law expert Charles Gittens saying post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) “could be a mitigating circumstance that could cause a jury to determine that the death penalty is not appropriate” for Bales. ABC added, “Getting an acquittal by reason of insanity and blaming it on post-traumatic stress is almost unheard of in military court. But Bales has a creative, high-profile legal team and this will not likely be a typical case.”

Many Americans Seem WilIing To Believe There Is Explanation Behind Killings. An AP (3/19, Breed) story run by at least 250 publications reports that many Americans “seem willing to believe that a 10-year US military veteran, worn down by four tours of combat and perhaps suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, simply snapped. That somehow there must be, if not an excuse, at least an explanation” for why Bales may have killed 16 Afghan civilians.

Bloomberg News (3/19, Robison, Nash, Vekshin) notes that a US official “has said family stress and alcohol may have combined to prompt the shootings” that Bales is alleged to have committed. Bloomberg adds, “Friends, neighbors and experts in post-traumatic stress disorder contend that something else must have driven a man they know as unfailingly polite to such horrific acts.” And Harry Croft, MD, “a former Army doctor who has reviewed about 7,000 cases” of PTSD, said, “To kill innocent women and children indicates to me that something happened during these killings that was simply more than the product of PTSD.”

Rieckhoff Hopes Killings Will Lead To More Help For Vets Returning From War. During an appearance on NBC’s Meet The Press (3/18, 10:58 a.m. ET) Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Of America Executive Director Paul Rieckhoff said mental health problems and unemployment are two issues facing vets returning from war. He added, “This country has been disconnected at an unprecedented level.” And, Rieckhoff said, if the recent killing of 16 Afghan civilians forces the American public “to really take note of that and get involved and do something about it, well then that’s a good thing. Let’s have that conversation.”

Related Links:

— “Bales Faced Losing Houses as He Fought 6,700 Miles Away,”Peter Robison, Bloomberg, March 19, 2012.

The Washington Post (3/16, Moyer) reports that Washington, DC, “JM-4 in DC Superior Court” is the “home of a 14-month-old juvenile court intended to help minors with mental health problems avoid the harsh consequences and limited rehabilitation opportunities in the juvenile system. Known formally as the juvenile mental health diversion court,” the new court appears to be reducing the recidivism rate of certain crimes among minors. “A report from the DC Department of Mental Health showed that 56 juveniles enrolled in diversion in 2011. Eight, or 14 percent, were rearrested, compared with 40 percent in regular court. Nationally, the re-arrest rate is 60 percent, according to the report.”

Related Links:

— “At D.C. Superior Court program, a focus on helping minors with mental health problems,”Justin Moyer, The Washington Post, March 15, 2012.

According to the Army News Service (3/16, Lopez), the US Army “will offer 285 service members a chance to have their mental health diagnoses re-evaluated,” after having their diagnoses “changed…to something other” than post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The service members were part of a group of approximately 1,600 service members who “received medical care at Madigan Army Medical Center at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.” The Army News Service adds, “‘What we’re looking at is wanting to make sure that our service members received the best care possible,’ said Surgeon General of the Army Lt. Gen. Patricia D. Horoho, before the House Appropriations Committee, Defense Subcommittee, March 8.”

Related Links:

— “Army OKs second look at 1,600 mental health cases, “C. Todd Lopez , .Ft Leaven Worth Lamp., March 15, 2012.