In a Baltimore Sun (1/7) op-ed, Laura Cain, Esq., a senior attorney with the Maryland Disability Law Center, Linda Raines, chief executive officer of the Mental Health Association of Maryland, and Mike Finkle, executive director of On Our Own in Maryland, contend that coercing patients with serious mental illnesses to undergo treatment may sometimes be more harmful than beneficial. The three write that “despite dramatic treatment advances, we do not have treatment that works for all.”

After quoting National Institute of Mental Health Director Thomas Insel, MD, who wrote of some study patients with schizophrenia, “Clearly, some individuals need to be on medication continually to avoid relapse. At the same time, we need to ask whether in the long-term, some individuals with a history of psychosis may do better off medication,” Cain, Raines and Finkle conclude that “coercion must be the last resort.”

Related Links:

— “Forced treatment not a panacea,” Laura Cain, Linda Raines and Mike Finkle, Baltimore Sun, January 7, 2015.

HealthDay (1/8, Dotinga) reports that according to a meta-analysis published in the February issue of the journal Pediatrics, children “involved in bullying are at higher risk of suicidal thoughts and actions.” After reviewing the results of “47 studies of bullying from around the world, including 18 from the” US, researchers also found that youngsters “who bullied others and were victims themselves were the most troubled of all.”

Related Links:

— “Bullies and Their Victims May Be at Higher Risk of Suicide,” Randy Dotinga, HealthDay, January 7, 2015.

TIME (1/8, Sifferlin) reports that according to a study published online Jan. 7 in JAMA Psychiatry, “women with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have a two-fold increased risk for type 2 diabetes.” An additional and “surprising” study finding was that “using antidepressants and having a higher body mass index (BMI) accounted for about half of the increased risk for type 2 diabetes in women with PTSD.”

Related Links:

— “The Link Between Mental Trauma and Diabetes,” Alexandra Sifferlin, Time, January 7, 2015.

The AP (1/7, Jackson) reports that under a settlement released Jan. 6 between the Pennsylvania Corrections Department and the “Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania, which sued the state in federal court in March 2013,” Pennsylvania inmates with serious mental illnesses “who misbehave will be diverted to special treatment units instead of being put in isolated cells.” Potentially affected by the settlement will be some 4,000 of the “nearly 51,000 inmates in the state prison system.”

Related Links:

— “PENNSYLVANIA TO EXPAND TREATMENT FOR MENTALLY ILL INMATES,” Peter Jackson, Associated Press, January 6, 2015.

A new CDC report on alcohol poisoning deaths in the US was covered by at least two major US newspapers and by several wires and online sources. All sources feature quotes from one or more CDC officials. USA Today (1/7, Painter) reports that a new report from the CDC indicates that approximately six times per day, “someone in the USA dies of alcohol poisoning after drinking too much in a single binge.” Ileana Arias, the CDC’s deputy principal director, said, “Alcohol poisoning is caused by consuming a very large amount of alcohol in a very short amount of time.” Arias added, “The more your drink, the more you are at risk.”

According to the New York Times (1/7, A12, Tavernise, Subscription Publication), this “report is the first in a decade by the” CDC “to tally alcohol poisonings for the entire American population. Most previous analyses looked at certain groups, in particular young people.” The CDC “found that an average of 2,221 people died of alcohol poisoning annually between 2010 and 2012.” The agency “described death from alcohol poisoning as ‘a bigger problem than previously thought,’ but said it was impossible to tell whether the death rate had risen because researchers had changed how they track the data in recent years.”

Related Links:

— “Report: Binge drinking kills 6 a day – and most are men,” Kim Painter, USA Today, January 6, 2015.