HealthDay (8/30, Preidt) reported, “Risky behaviors such as reckless driving or sudden promiscuity, or nervous behaviors such as agitation, hand-wringing or pacing, can be signs that suicide risk may be high in depressed people,” research presented at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology’s Congress suggests. The study, which involved some 2,800 people with depression, also revealed that “other warning signs may include doing things on impulse with little thought about the consequences.” People with depression “with any of these symptoms are at least 50 percent more likely to attempt suicide, the new study found.” BBC News (8/31) also covers the story.

Related Links:

— “Impulsive, Agitated Behaviors May Be Warning Signs for Suicide,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, August 29, 2015.

The Los Angeles Times (8/28, Healy) reported in “Science Now” that “by the time they were 18, Britons who self-identified as ‘goth’ at the age of 15 were three times more likely to be clinically depressed and five times more likely to cut, burn or intentionally inflict injury on themselves than were young people who did not identify with goth subculture,” according to a study published online Aug. 27 in The Lancet Psychiatry.

TIME (8/29, Bajekal) reported that the study “was based on surveys of 3,694 British teens, who were asked to identify with a variety of subcultures.”

Related Links:

— “Goth teens are more prone to be depressed or hurt themselves, study shows,” Melissa Healy, Los Angeles Times, August 28, 2015.

In an op-ed in the New York Times (8/28, Tufekci, Subscription Publication), contributing opinion writer Zeynep Tufekci argues that the media should change the way it covers mass shootings to decrease the likelihood of copycats. Citing an FBI study, Tufekci says that would-be shooters often seek inspiration from past attacks.

The media can limit the flow of inspiration, Tufekci says, by voluntarily monitoring what information is disseminated. What’s more, “psychiatrists agree with the FBI’s conclusion and statistical studies.”

Eight years ago after the shootings at Virginia Tech, “the American Psychiatric Association weighed in, saying that ‘the scientific evidence in this area is clear.’” Specifically, the “APA said that publicizing these materials ‘seriously jeopardizes the public’s safety by potentially inciting ‘copycat’ suicides, homicides and other incidents.’”

Related Links:

— “The Virginia Shooter Wanted Fame. Let’s Not Give It to Him.,” Zeynep Tufekci, New York Times, August 27, 2015.

HealthDay (8/27, Preidt) reports that investigators “say emotional turmoil is common for women whose mammogram falsely suggests they have breast cancer.” The study, which included “nearly 400 such cases found that 88 percent of the women said they felt a sense of dejection, such as being uneasy, sad or unable to cope; 83 percent reported anxiety; 67 percent said they had behavioral changes, such as trouble dealing with spare time or work; and 53 percent suffered sleeping problems.” The findings were published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

Related Links:

— “False-Positive Mammogram Result Traumatic for Most Women: Study,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, August 25, 2015.

NBC News (8/27, Fox) reports on two studies published in JAMA Psychiatry that examine the effect of marijuana on the brain. In the first study, “David Pagliaccio, formerly of Washington University in St. Louis and now at the National Institute of Mental Health, and colleagues” compared the brains of marijuana users to non-users.

The results seemed to suggest that marijuana users “had some shrinkage in two brain regions called the amygdala and the right ventral striatum,” but when researchers compared marijuana users to their siblings, “the differences disappeared.” Meanwhile, a second study “found that marijuana appears to change the brain structure of young men with a high genetic risk of schizophrenia.” Dr. David Goldman, of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, said the studies don’t offer a clear picture of anything, adding, “It’s probably more a story of what we don’t know than what we do know.”

According to HealthDay (8/27, Thompson), Dr. Goldman wrote, “The burden of cannabis’ effects may fall more heavily on people who, because of genetic makeup or early life exposures, are at greatest risk for brain structural changes, psychosis or addiction.” He added “It is safer not to expose people to psychoactive drugs.”

Related Links:

— “Marijuana Doesn’t Shrink Brains, But It Can Change Them, Studies Find,” Maggie Fox, NBC News, August 27, 2015.