HealthDay (11/4, Dotinga) reports that an 87-participant study published in Health Psychology indicates that a patient’s doubts about the effectiveness of a medication may actually influence the medicine’s effectiveness. Researchers found that a placebo pain medication that was labeled with a brand name provided as much headache relief as ibuprofen, but placebo pills with a generic label appeared not to have the same effect. The study, “although small and only in college students,” suggests that the branding on a placebo could influence its effect.

Related Links:

— “People Have Less Faith in Generic Drugs, Study Suggests,” Randy Dotinga, HealthDay via U.S. News & World Report, November 5, 2015.

Modern Healthcare (11/3, Muchmore, Subscription Publication) reports that a provision “keeping a House mental health reform bill from relatively easy passage involves assisted outpatient treatment [AOT].” Some organizations “and about 20 Democrats in the House Energy & Commerce Committee say…AOT is not proven to be helpful and the law as currently written would punish the five states that don’t have AOT laws on the books.” But, “John Snook, executive director of the Treatment Advocacy Center, said AOT treatment is necessary.” In fact, “the practice is supported by the US Justice Department, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, American Psychiatric Association and National Alliance on Mental Illness, he said.”

Related Links:

— “Congress wrestles with court-ordered mental health treatment,” Shannon Muchmore, Modern Healthcare, November 2, 2015.

The Boston Globe (11/3, Albernaz) reports that a report issued in September by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reveals that “rates of major depressive episodes among teens have risen in recent years, and many of those affected are not receiving treatment.” Conclusions of the report were “based on survey data from a nationally representative sample of more than 17,000 12- to 17-year-olds.”

Related Links:

— “Depressive episodes on rise among teens, many not being treated, report says,” Ami Albernaz, Boston Globe, November 3, 2015.

On its “Morning Edition” program and in its “Shots” blog, NPR (11/2, Silberner) reported that “nearly three times as many Americans die from suicide as from homicide” annually. Last month, as Thomas Insel, MD, “prepared to step down from his job” as director of the National Institute of Mental Health, “he cited the lack of progress in reducing the number of suicides as his biggest disappointment.” Even though the US “homicide rate…has dropped 50 percent since the early 1990s, the suicide rate is higher than it was” 10 years ago.

Related Links:

— “What Happens If You Try To Prevent Every Single Suicide?,” Joanne Silberner, NPR, November 2, 2015.

On the front of its Science Times section, the New York Times (11/3, D1, Beil, Subscription Publication) reports that “rural adolescents commit suicide at roughly twice the rate of their urban peers, according to a study published in the May issue of the journal JAMA Pediatrics.” Unfortunately, not only young people are experiencing an increase in suicide rates. In fact, “rates over all rose 7 percent in metropolitan counties from 2004 to 2013, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” but “in rural counties, the increase was 20 percent.” Isolation and exposure to firearms factor into the increased rates, as does an acute shortage of mental healthcare professionals, including psychiatrists, in rural areas.

Related Links:

— “Small Towns Face Rising Suicide Rates,” New York Times, November 3, 2015.