The Wall Street Journal (4/20, A3, Palazzolo, Subscription Publication) reports that across the US, there is a growing number of inmates with serious mental health disorders who are incarcerated awaiting trial due to mental competency issues. Unfortunately, there are not enough mental healthcare professionals or state psychiatric hospital beds available to help restore these inmates to competency so they can stand trial. Some states are now addressing the problem by creating restoration programs in jails or by establishing mental-health courts.

Related Links:

— “Mental-Health Treatment for Defendants Dogged by Delays,” Joe Palazzolo, Wall Street Journal, April 19, 2015.

The Pittsburgh (PA) Post-Gazette (4/12, Smydo) reported that at a “gathering of mental health advocates,” New York Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall discussed his struggle with mental illness and how he “pursued treatment for his borderline personality disorder, which is characterized by emotional instability.” Now Marshall has become “a high-profile advocate for mental health care and ending the stigma around mental illness.”

Related Links:

— “NFL player Brandon Marshall speaks out on tackling stigma of mental illness,”Joe Smydo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 12, 2015.

Think Progress (4/11, Collins) reported that a new Urban Institute report found that “a shortage of in-house mental health services for a growing mentally disabled population, variations in the definition and management of psychological ailments, and lack of support for former inmates has created a national criminal justice system that has shortchanged millions of mentally ill inmates.” However, the report indicated that “there may be some hope in mental health courts and other diversion services that aim to provide mentally ill offenders with alternatives to incarceration that tackle the root of why they committed crime in the first place.”

Related Links:

— “Introducing Mental Health Courts,”SAM P.K. Collins, Think Progress, April 10, 2015.

HealthDay (4/11, Norton) reported that a study published online Feb. 16 in the journal Anxiety, Stress & Coping suggests that “service members who have to deal with trouble at home when they’re deployed may be at increased risk of suicidal thoughts.” After conducting a survey involving “more than 1,000 Iraq and Afghanistan vets, researchers found that about 14 percent said they’d had suicidal thoughts in recent months.” What’s more, “the odds were greater for those who’d dealt with family stress or felt unsupported by family members during their deployment.”

Related Links:

— “Family Stress May Figure in Soldiers’ Suicide Risk,”Amy Norton, HealthDay, April 10, 2015.

NPR (4/12, Martin) reported on its website and on its “Weekend Edition Sunday” program that the National Institute of Mental Health estimates that “16 million Americans had at least one major depressive episode in the past year. Of that number, many struggle with whether and how to talk about their depression in the workplace.”

Related Links:

— “Working Through Depression: Many Stay On The Job, Despite Mental Illness,”Rachel Martin , NPR, April 12, 2015.