HealthDay (7/2, Doheny) reports that according to a study published in the June issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, “adding access to a computer tablet to traditional therapy may help children with autism talk and interact more.” The study, which involved 61 youngsters with an autism spectrum disorder who ranged in age from five to eight, “compared language and social communication treatment – with or without access to an iPad computer tablet…and found that the device helped boost the effect of the treatment.”

Related Links:

— “iPads May Help Boost Speaking Skills in Kids With Autism: Study,” Kathleen Doheny, HealthDay, July 1, 2014.

In the New York Times (6/29, Friedman, Subscription Publication), Richard A. Friedman, professor of clinical psychiatry and the director of the psychopharmacology clinic at the Weill Cornell Medical College, wrote about how the “darker side” of adolescence involves “a surge… in anxiety and fearfulness,” which is attributed to “a quirk of brain development.”

According to Friedman, this “brain-development lag has huge implications for how we think about anxiety and how we treat it.” He warns against “the ever rising use of stimulants in young people, because these drugs may worsen anxiety and make it harder for teenagers to” develop skills necessary to “modulate their fear.”

Related Links:

— “Why Teenagers Act Crazy,” Ricard A. Friedman, New York Times, June 28, 2014.

In a column for USA Today (6/28), Former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), a chief sponsor of the 2008 Mental Health Parity Act, and Husseini Manji, the former chief of the Laboratory of Molecular Pathophysiology and director of the Mood & Anxiety Disorders Program at the National Institute of Mental Health, tout the BRAIN Initiative.

They assert that the project, aimed at mapping the circuitry of the brain, would “not only help us to better understand complex human behavior, but could spark profound new advancements in treating brain disorders.”

Related Links:

— “Why brain research is vital: Column,” Patrick J. Kennedy and Husseini Manji, USA Today, June 28, 2014.

TIME (6/27, Abrams) reports that according to a study published in the BMJ’s Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, “women with chronic physical illnesses are 10% more likely to seek support for mental health issues than men with similar illnesses.” T

he study also revealed that “women tend to seek out mental health services months earlier than men.” For the study, investigators “looked at people diagnosed with at least one of four illnesses: diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.”

Related Links:

— “Women More Likely Than Men to Seek Mental Health Help, Study Finds,” Abby Abrams, Time, June 26, 2014.

USA Today (6/27, Vestal) runs a Pew Stateline piece reporting that “a ‘telepsychiatry’ program that allows psychiatrists to examine South Carolina patients through videoconferencing, reducing the average wait time” for psychiatric evaluations “from four days to less than 10 hours.” Some 20 hospitals participate in the program, which, according to a study conducted by the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, “has reduced the frequency of hospital readmissions and involuntary commitments.”

A similar program was rolled out in North Carolina in 2010, “and a dozen other states, including Alabama, Kentucky and Wisconsin, plan to follow suit.”

Related Links:

— “Rural hospitals speeding up psychiatric evaluations,” Christine Vestal, USA Today, June 27, 2014.