The New York Times (12/9, Thomas, Subscription Publication) reports on a study released by pharmacy benefits managed Express Scripts that found that “nearly half the people who took the painkillers for over 30 days in the study’s first year were still using them three years later,” which may be “a sign of potential abuse.” Additionally, the report also found “nearly 60 percent of patients taking the painkillers to treat long-term conditions were also being prescribed muscle relaxants or anti-anxiety drugs that could cause dangerous reactions.”

According to Dr. Glen Stettin, a senior vice president at Express Scripts, “Not only are more people using these medications chronically, they are using them at higher doses than we would necessarily expect,” and “they are using them in combinations for which there isn’t a lot of clinical justification.”

Related Links:

— “Patients Prescribed Narcotic Painkillers Use More of Them for Longer, Study Finds,” Katie Thomas, New York Times, December 9, 2014.

US News & World Report (12/9) reports that the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has issued its State Mental Health Legislation report for 2014, which points out that this year, “Congress did not pass mental health care reforms and states slowed in their response to the issue.” The report, which analyzed “state spending on mental health and looks at what legislation states passed to address mental illness disparities,” revealed that even “though 27 states and the District of Columbia increased funding in 2014, this was a lower total than in 2013, when 37 states and the District of Columbia increased funding after three straight years of cuts.”

Related Links:

— “Two Years After Sandy Hook: Mental Health Funding Still Lags,” Kimberly Leonard, US News & World Report, December 9, 2014.

The Washington Post (12/8, Levingston) “Health & Science” blog reported that according to the Institute of Medicine, “by 2030, there will be as many as 14 million American seniors with mental health or substance abuse disorders, up from five million to eight million today.” Even now, “depressive disorders, along with dementia-related behavioral and psychiatric symptoms, are the most common maladies facing that group,” making depression an undertreated and underrecognized condition in seniors. Unfortunately, “the despair and withdrawal of depression can spark a rapid, functional decline, including problems with concentration.”

Related Links:

— “Depression is often undertreated in seniors,” Suzanne Allard Levingston, Washington Post, December 8, 2014.

USA Today (12/3, Jervis, Bacon) reports from Austin, TX that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on Wednesday “halted the execution of Texas killer Scott Panetti, whose case has sparked a global debate over whether people with severe mental illnesses should be put to death for their crimes.” Panetti’s attorneys “say he is too delusional to be executed,” and the appeals court “granted a reprieve less than eight hours before Panetti was scheduled to receive a lethal injection,” saying “it needed more time to ‘allow us to fully consider the late-arriving and complex legal questions at issue in this matter.’” Meanwhile, “Paul Appelbaum, of the American Psychiatric Association, which has lobbied against Panetti’s execution, said he was ‘pleased and relieved’ by the ruling.”
Related Links:

— “Court halts execution of mentally ill Texas inmate,” Rick Jervis and John Bacon, USA Today, December 4, 2014.

The Washington Post (12/4, Bernstein) “To Your Health” blog reported that on Dec. 3, the advocacy group Mental Health America released the first-ever “state-by-state ranking of mental health services.” The states of “Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, North Dakota, and Delaware received the highest overall scores when prevalence of mental illness is compared to access to care,” while “Arizona, Mississippi, Nevada, Washington, and Louisiana received the lowest marks.”

The report also found that “42.5 million Americans (18 percent) report some kind of mental illness – from mild, short-term disturbances to severe, long-term illness.”

Related Links:

— “Less mental illness among southerners, less access to treatment, too,” Lenny Bernstein, Washington Post, December 4, 2014.