The Washington Times (1/1, Shastry) reported that the “death toll estimate” of 22 veteran suicides every day, a figure derived from a “2012 Department of Veterans Affairs study,” is “fueling efforts by the Obama administration and lawmakers on Capitol Hill to address the plight of struggling veterans.” Some psychiatrists, however, believe that “22 might be a conservative number.” Meanwhile, the VA is working with the CDC to compile “a national death index to get a real head count of all veteran deaths since 1979, including suicides.” This would provide a clearer picture than current data which are “based on partial information from state data and extrapolations.”

Related Links:

— “Veteran suicide estimate of 22 per day sparks debate, spurs lawmakers to action,” Anjali Shastry, Washington Times, December 31, 2015.

According to the New York Times (12/31, Bakalar) “Well” blog, a review published online Dec. 22 in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology suggests that psychotherapy may be “effective in easing the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome…even after therapy has ended.” After examining “data from 41 clinical trials that included 1,183 people assigned to psychotherapy and 1,107 controls,” investigators found that one year “after the end of treatment, 75 percent of the treatment group had greater symptom relief than the average member of the control group, although the benefits were modest.”

Related Links:

— “Psychotherapy May Have Lasting Benefits for Irritable Bowel Syndrome,” Nikolas Bakalar, New York Times, December 30, 2015.

Reuters (12/31, Rapaport) reports that a small magnetic resonance imaging study published online Dec. 8 in the Journal of Adolescent Health revealed that teenage participants who identified themselves as smokers had heightened responses in dopamine-rich brain regions after watching videos of actors smoking. According to the study authors, the maturing teenage dopamine system causes the brain as a whole to react more significantly to rewards and thrills, which may render adolescents more susceptible to addiction.

Related Links:

— “Teen smokers may be hard-wired to crave cigarettes,” Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, December 30, 2015.

In the US News & World Report (12/18) “Policy Dose” blog, Kristine A. Huskey, director of the Veterans’ Advocacy Law Clinic and a professor at the University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers College of Law, writes that for the past six year, some “22,000 post-9/11 service members have been discharged for misconduct even though they were diagnosed with or exhibited signs of post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury, anxiety disorder or other mental health illnesses,” despite the fact that Congress passed a law in 2009 “to prevent such discharges from occurring.” According to Huskey, “it is easier to discharge a soldier for misconduct than to evaluate them for conditions that may warrant a medical discharge with attached benefits…”

Related Links:

— “A Dishonorable Discharge Process,” Kristine A. Huskey, US News & World Report, December 17, 2015.

A study conducted by Army surgeon general Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho reveals that Army women “not only suffer more injuries than men during combat training, but the active-duty female soldiers also are stricken with significantly higher rates of mental health disorders,” such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, the Washington Times (12/18, Scarborough) reports. The study provides “a warning” to the Defense Department that it will need to “find better ways to prepare [women] physically and mentally” if the department is going to use them in combat roles.

Related Links:

— “Army women hurt more often in combat training, experience more mental health issues,” Rowan Scarborough, Washington Times, December 17, 2015.