The Kaiser Health News (8/4, Gold) reports that since passage of the “landmark” 2008 mental health parity law by Congress that banned “discrimination in the treatment” of people with mental illnesses, “many families and their advocates complain it stubbornly persists, largely because insurers are subverting the law in subtle ways and the government is not aggressively enforcing it.” For example, some health insurance companies “limit treatment through other strategies that are harder to track,” such as instituting “medical necessity” reviews, a process whereby “insurers decide whether a patient requires a certain treatment and at what frequency.” According to Kaiser Health News, since 2008, “the US government has not taken a single public enforcement action against an insurer or employer for violating the law.”

Related Links:

— “Advocates Say Mental Health ‘Parity’ Law Is Not Fulfilling Its Promise,” Jenny Gold, Kaiser Health News, August 3, 2015.

Some Preschoolers Who Are Picky Eaters May Have Underlying Mental Health Disorders.
The New York Times (8/3, Peachman) “Motherlode” blog reports that a study published in Pediatrics suggests that “moderate selective eating (a.k.a. picky eating) is associated with symptoms of psychological disorders such as anxiety, depression and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder” in preschoolers. Youngsters “with severe selective eating…were seven times more likely to have social anxiety and twice as likely to have a diagnosis of depression compared to children without selective eating habits,” the study found.

The AP (8/3, Tanner) reports that just “three percent of young children studied were that picky.” Researchers looked at some 900 youngsters ranging in age from two to five before arriving at the study’s conclusions.

Related Links:

— “Picky Eating in Children Linked to Anxiety, Depression and A.D.H.D.,” Rachel Rabkin Peachman, New York Times, Augsut 3, 2015.

The Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger (7/30, O’Brien) reports that research suggests that “more than a quarter of the people whose homes were damaged” during Superstorm Sandy “were plunged into some form of mental health distress that persisted two and a half years after the event.” Additionally, “14 percent reported experiencing the signs and symptoms of PTSD.”

The Asbury Park (NJ) Press (7/30) points out that “the Sandy Child and Family Health Study…is the result of face-to-face interviews with 1,000 individuals in the nine most affected counties in New Jersey, a swath that includes Monmouth and Ocean counties.”

Related Links:

— “Study reveals the hidden toll on Superstorm Sandy victims,” Kathleen O’Brien, Newark Star-Ledger, July 29, 2015.

HealthDay (7/30, Norton) reports that a study published in the July issue of the journal Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology found that “adverse reactions to St. John’s wort,” which is “a popular herbal therapy for depression,” appear to be “similar to those reported for the antidepressant fluoxetine,” commonly known as Prozac.

After examining physicians’ “reports to Australia’s national agency” on medication safety, researchers found that side effects included “anxiety, panic attacks, dizziness, nausea and spikes in blood pressure.” In addition, St. John’s wort can react with antidepressants and can “dampen the effectiveness” of oral contraceptives, anticoagulants, “and heart disease drugs, along with some HIV and cancer drugs, according to the US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.”

Related Links:

— “Taking St. John’s Wort for Depression Carries Risks: Study,” Amy Norton, HealthDay, July 29, 2015.

Reuters (7/30, Seaman) reports that women in their middle years who are the most connected socially with family, friends, and social groups may have a lower likelihood of suicide, according to a study published online July 29 in JAMA Psychiatry.

HealthDay (7/30, Mozes) reports that the study of “nearly 73,000 female nurses aged 46 to 71” who were tracked “between 1992 and 2010” also revealed that “friendships and outside activities were found to offer protection against suicide even for women who struggled with mental health issues, such as depression.”

Medscape (7/30, Anderson) reports that an accompanying editorial observed that the study’s results “invite further research to explore whether factors or behaviors that reflect longstanding measures of individual social integration predict a person’s mindset when he or she is suicidal.”

Related Links:

— “Suicide risk tied to women’s social connectedness,” Andrew M. Seaman, Reuters, July 29, 2015.