USA Today (8/11, Weintraub, Kelly, Today) reports that “suicide claims more than 38,000 American lives each year – more than the number killed by car accidents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – and the rate hasn’t budged in decades, says Jeffrey Lieberman, professor and chairman of psychiatry at New York’s Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. “ The death of comedian and actor Robin “Williams could put a human face on a problem that often gets little attention, Lieberman says,” adding that Williams “was such a charismatic and beloved figure, that if his death can galvanize our society to act instead of just grieve, it will be a fitting memorial to him.” Dr. Lieberman is a former president of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Suicide a risk even for beloved characters like Williams,” Karen Weintraub and Dennis Kelly, USA Today, August 12, 2014.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune (8/10, Olson) reports on University of Minnesota public-health professor Ezra Golberstein’s research showing that the public response to the FDA’s 2004 “black-box warning” about antidepressants and suicide risk among teenagers may have “gone too far, leaving depressed teens with less treatment.” In the three years following the FDA warning, antidepressant use in adolescents declined by as much as 30%, but there was no commensurate increase in other forms of therapy such as counseling, however, and Golberstein also found that during that time the average grade of depressed teen girls dropped from a B to a B-. “Depressed adolescents also became more likely to abuse illicit and prescription drugs, and to fight and steal,” the Star Tribune reports in citing research that was based on over 100,000 responses to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health from 2001 through 2007.

Related Links:

— “Warning about antidepressants, suicide risk leads to unintended consequences,” Jeremy Olsonhealth, Minneapolis Star Tribune, August 10, 2014.

TIME (8/9, Berenson) reported that according to a study published in PLoS One, weight loss may affect mental health, sometimes resulting in a depressed mood in people who lose weight. The study of “1,979 overweight or obese individuals in the UK” revealed that “participants were 52% more likely to report a depressed mood than those who stayed within 5% of their original weight.”

Related Links:

— “Losing Weight Could Make You Depressed, Study Says,” Tessa Berenson, Time, August 8, 2014.

The Los Angeles Times (8/9, Zarembo) “Nation Now” blog reported that according to research presented last week at a psychology conference, “11% of Vietnam veterans continue to suffer from” post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Researchers arrived at that conclusion after tracking down and interviewing some 1,450 veterans of the Vietnam conflict. The study received its funding from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Related Links:

— “PTSD continues to afflict Vietnam veterans 40 years after the war,” Alan Zerembo, Los Angeles Times, August 8, 2014.

Reuters (8/8, Doyle) reports normal stresses such as marriage issues for National Guard members returning home from deployment could cause them to abuse alcohol, citing a study unveiled in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. For the study, researchers recruited more than 1,000 Ohio Army National Guard soldiers who have faced deployments at least once by 2009.

Related Links:

— “Stress on the civilian front tied to alcohol abuse in returning soldiers,” Kathryn Doyle, Reuters, August 7, 2014.