Medscape (1/11, Brauser) reports that Paul Appelbaum, MD, past president of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and current chair of the APA Committee on Judicial Action, “met with members of Vice President Joe Biden’s Task Force on Gun Violence yesterday at the White House to discuss changes to the country’s mental health system.” Dr. Appelbaum “presented a four-part outline designed to address” the improvement of mental health in the US, including: “Appointing a presidential commission to ‘develop a vision’ for a better system of mental healthcare; designating a White House staffer as point person for facilitating responses from the Administration; improving early identification of those with mental health problems; and developing ‘sensible, nondiscriminatory approaches to keeping firearms out of the hands of dangerous people.'”

Psychiatric News (1/11) reports that Dr. Appelbaum told the Task Force that “despite evidence of the effectiveness of mental health treatment, funding for mental health services has plunged in the last few years, particularly in the public sector.” He also “stressed as well APA’s willingness to work with the administration and Congress in efforts to improve access to and the quality of mental health services and public safety.”

Related Links:

— “APA Participates in White House Gun-Violence Meeting,Psychiatric News Alert, January 10, 2013.

HealthDay (1/11, Reinberg) reports, “Prescription painkillers are second only to marijuana when it comes to drug abuse,” according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health Report: State Estimates of Nonmedical Use of Prescription Pain Relievers: 2010-2011, sponsored by the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). “Some 22 million Americans have misused prescription painkillers since 2002, according to” SAMHSA. “The report is based on data from the SAMHSA National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which is a survey of approximately 67,500 people across the” US.

Related Links:

— “Prescription Painkillers Trail Only Marijuana in Abuse Rates, Report Shows,”Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, Janueary 10, 2013.

The New York Times (1/10, A3, Tavernise, Subscription Publication) reports that a study by a panel of experts convened by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council found that deaths before the age of 50 “accounted for about two-thirds of the difference in life expectancy between males in the United States and their counterparts in 16 other developed countries, and about one-third of the difference for females.” The panel referred to the “pattern of higher rates of disease and shorter lives” as “the US health disadvantage,” noting that the panelists were “surprised at just how consistently Americans ended up at the bottom of the rankings.” Americans has the second highest death rates of lung disease, heart disease and the highest diabetes rates. Additionally, “Americans also had the lowest probability over all of surviving to the age of 50.”

The report claims that Americans “have a long-standing pattern of poorer health that is strikingly consistent and pervasive” over the course of their lifetimes, and the “tragedy is not that the United States is losing a contest with other countries…but that Americans are dying and suffering from illness and injury at rates that are demonstrably unnecessary,” writes USA Today (1/9, Szabo). Steven Woolf, a researcher who directs the Center for Human Needs at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA and the chair of the panel that wrote the report, said the report’s purpose is to warn Americans about its findings. The report found that the USA “ranks at or near the bottom in nine key areas of health: low birth weight; injuries and homicides; teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections; HIV and AIDS; drug-related deaths; obesity and diabetes; heart disease; chronic lung disease; and general disability.” CNN (1/9, Wilson) reports that “America does rank well in some health measures.” The US “has higher cancer survival rates, lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels and lower smoking prevalence rates than many of its peer countries. Those Americans who make it to age 75 will survive longer than their peers in the comparison countries.”

Related Links:

— “For Americans Under 50, Stark Findings on Health, “Sabrina Tavernise, The New York Times, January 9, 2013.

NBC Nightly News (1/8, story 8, 2:05, Williams) broadcast that the CDC warns that binge drinking “is a big problem especially and acutely for women.” It is responsible for the death of 23,000 women and girls each year. The CDC study claims the excessive drinking is “becoming dangerous and is often overlooked as a health problem for women, who respond to alcohol differently than men.” Dr. Aaron White of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism said the differences include women “being more susceptible to the effects of alcohol and the risk of cancer,” liver problems, and brain damage. A survey of over 278,000 women 18 years of age or older found that “nearly 14 million women binge drink about 3 times a month.” 1 in 5 high school girls also report binge drinking.

USA Today (1/8, Payne) reports the CDC study “found that binge drinking was most common among women ages 18-34 and high school girls. It also was most prevalent among women living in households with annual incomes of $75,000 or higher.” David Jernigan, director of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, said “it is crucial that the problem is highlighted” because girls are transitioning from beer to spirits. CDC Director Thomas Frieden said that in order to curb binge drinking, “effective community measures can support women and girls in making wise choices about whether to drink or how much to drink if they do.”

Related Links:

— “CDC: Binge drinking is serious problem for girls, women, “Cathy Payne, USA Today, January 8, 2013.

CQ (1/9, Adams, Subscription Publication) reports, “Prescription drug misuse is second only to marijuana as the nation’s most prevalent illicit drug problem,” according to an analysis released Jan. 8 by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The study showed “seven of the 10 states with the highest rates of nonmedical use of prescription pain relievers were in the West: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington.” The authors of the SAMHSA report also noted “some progress,” namely, that “prescription drug misuse among people over age 12 fell in 10 states (Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and West Virginia).” Moreover, when they compared 2009-2010 data with the 2010-2011 data, they found that there was no worsening of prescription medication misuse in any state during the two, combined time frames.

CQ (1/9, Attias, Subscription Publication) reports that Rep. Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL), Rep. Grace F. Napolitano (D-CA), and Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) “are gathering signatures on a letter that calls on the Obama administration to preserve mental health funding in its fiscal 2014 budget proposal.” In their letter to Jeffrey Zients of the Office of Management and Budget, the lawmakers wrote in wake of the Newtown, CT school shootings, “Those tragedies illustrate one clear fact: America is facing a mental health crisis that we can no longer ignore.” The letter, which had gained the signatures of 34 legislators as of midday Tuesday, also “presses for programs focused on prevention and detection, as well as access to treatment services for mental health and substance abuse issues.”

The Baltimore Sun (1/8, Anderson, Walker) reported, “Mental health and law enforcement professionals say patients commonly wind up in emergency rooms and jails that are poorly equipped to handle their disorders, when earlier treatment might have prevented such crises. Even in Maryland, which advocates say is ahead of other states, tight budgets have led to fewer beds in mental health institutions and not enough community programs.” The Newtown, CT shootings have “elevated a long-simmering debate over how to provide care for the mentally ill, as treatment continues to shift from a system of government-run institutions to one that aims to keep people in their communities.” Complicating matters is the fact that funding for mental health programs has diminished considerably due to budgetary constraints over the past few years at the same time that more people have required services.

Related Links:

— “Dearth of mental health treatment options leads to emergencies,”Jessica Anderson, The Baltimore Sun, January 7, 2013.

Psychiatric News (1/9) reports that in an paper published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, “researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) are reporting that a set of four questions that emergency department (ED) physicians or nurses can ask successfully identifies youth who are at risk for attempting suicide.” In 17 young people ranging in age from 10 to 21 who presented with either a psychiatric or surgical/medical issue at the ED, researchers “found that four of the questions used as a set accurately predicted suicide attempts. The questions asked about ‘current thoughts of being…better off dead, current wish to die, current suicidal ideation, and history of suicide attempt.'” A positive answer to one or more of these four questions identified 97% of the young people at risk for suicide, investigators reported.

Related Links:

— “Four Simple Questions Identify Youth at Risk of Suicide,Psychiatric News Alert, January 8, 2013.

The New York Times (1/9, A11, Carey, Subscription Publication) reports, “Most adolescents who plan or attempt suicide have already received at least some mental health treatment, raising questions about the effectiveness of current approaches to helping troubled youths, according to the largest in-depth analysis to date of suicidal behaviors in American teenagers.” In the study, published in JAMA Psychiatry, researchers “found that 55 percent of suicidal teenagers had received some therapy before they thought about suicide, planned it or tried to kill themselves, contradicting the widely held belief that suicide is due in part to a lack of access to treatment.” The study’s findings were “based on interviews with a nationwide sample of more than 6,000 teenagers and at least one parent of each.”

Bloomberg News (1/9, Lopatto) reports, “Of all the mental disorders, only major depression and dysthymia, a type of chronic depression, predicted a suicide plan. Those two illnesses, as well as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, eating disorders and intermittent explosive disorder also suggested a higher risk of suicide attempts,” the study found.

Related Links:

— “Study Questions Effectiveness of Therapy for Suicidal Teenagers, “Benedict Carey, Teh New York Times, January 8, 2013.

In collaboration with NPR, Kaiser Health News (1/8, Gold) reports, “Over the past decade, colleges and universities across the country have seen an influx of students…with mental health needs.” In fact, “the average college counseling center sees about 10 percent of the student body each year.” For that reason, “some campuses are exploring new systems to help meet the growing demand.” The article explains how the University of Virginia’s counseling center employs a triage system so as many students can be seen as possible, considering the fact that UVA’s center has only 12 therapists who work full time.

Related Links:

— “Triage System Helps Colleges Treat Mentally Ill Students, “Jenny Gold, Kaiser Health News, January 7, 2013.