In continuing coverage, the Wall Street Journal (5/29, A6, Hughes, Subscription Publication) reports that legislation proposed by Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA), trained as a psychologist, is getting new attention in the wake of the recent California shootings. The legislation would make it easier for authorities or family members to force an individual with severe mental illness into treatment. However, it has drawn concern from those worried it violates the rights of those with mental illnesses.

Related Links:

— “Isla Vista Rampage Reanimates Debate Over Mental-Health Bill,” Siobhan Hughes, Wall Street Journal, May 28, 2014.

HealthDay (5/28, Preidt) reports that according to a study published in the June issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, “the students of teachers battling depression acted out more than preschoolers taught by other teachers.” Researchers arrived at that conclusion after analyzing data on some 761 families with and teachers of three-year-old preschoolers. Teachers’ depression was tied to “children’s behavioral problems such as aggression, anger, lack of control, depression, anxiety, sadness and withdrawal.”

Related Links:

— “When Teachers Are Depressed, Preschoolers May ‘Act Out’ More,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, May 27, 2014.

USA Today (5/28, Szabo) reports that last Friday’s shooting and stabbing incident in Santa Barbara, CA, by Elliot Rodger “has renewed the debate over how and whether to require people with serious mental illness to get psychiatric care.” According to USA Today, “Many families and advocates for people with serious mental illness say the country needs to change its standard for civil commitment, which allows people to be hospitalized against their will.”

In Congress, “Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., a child psychologist, has introduced legislation that would push states to change these criteria, permitting involuntary hospitalization based on a patient’s ‘need for treatment,’ a standard now used by only 18 states.” Others argue that changes in involuntary commitment laws may violate people’s rights and may not be adequate to get patients the care they need.

The Roll Call (5/28, Dennis, Dumain, Subscription Publication) “218” blog quotes Rep. Murphy, who said in a statement this past weekend following the Santa Barbara incident, “Our mental health system has failed and more families have been destroyed because Washington hasn’t had the courage to fix it.”

The congressman “plans a Thursday briefing on his committee’s report on mental health, written over the course of a year following the tragedy in Newtown.” He also “says his bill would also expand access to psychiatric treatment and it would encourage states to set a new standard for committing people — the need for treatment, not that they present an imminent danger.”

Related Links:

— “Shooting spree inspires call for mental health overhaul,” Liz Szabo, USA Today, May 27, 2014.

USA Today (5/26, Lee) reported that “veterans who tell the VA about participating in a state marijuana program say they have been forced to choose between their prescription narcotic painkillers…or marijuana, said Michael Krawitz, president of Veterans for Medical Marijuana Access.”

Even though physicians at the VA “cannot recommend marijuana as medicine to their patients, the VA does not explicitly ban patients from participating in state marijuana programs.” However, VA policy does allow patients to “have their treatments ‘modified.’”

For its part, the American Medical Association “is calling on more controlled studies of marijuana.” But, “for Dr. Jeff Goldsmith, incoming president of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, marijuana is not a medicine because it has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and therefore has not met the standards of other approved drugs.”

Related Links:

— “Veterans face ultimatum: Pills or pot,” Jolie Lee, USA Today, May 23, 2014.

HealthDay (5/24, Preidt) reported that according to a study to be published in the July-August issue of the Journal of Criminal Justice, “poor teens are as likely as middle-class and rich teens to be victims of cyberbullying.” After analyzing “survey results from nearly 2,000 middle and high school students,” researchers “found that living in poor, crime-ridden neighborhoods was associated with a strong risk of physical, verbal and online bullying.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 30 percent of youths in the US have been involved in bullying, either as victims or as perpetrators.

Related Links:

— “Cyberbullying Knows No Socio-economic Bounds,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, May 23, 2014.