The CBS Evening News (8/5, story 7, 5:55, Pelley) reported, “Tonight, we have a CBS News investigation into the use of electric shocks to change harmful behaviors in children and adults with developmental disabilities, including autism.” The FDA is now “considering a ban” on the practice which is currently used only at the Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, MA. CBS News correspondent Anna Werner explained that the center insists that “a program of electric shocks, shocks they compared to a bee sting, works better than medication to stop people with severe disabilities from injuring themselves or others.”

The CBS News (8/6, Burkholder) website reports that Jennifer Msumba, who spent seven years at the Rotenberg Center, was “shocked multiple times before she left…in 2009.” In April, “Msumba provided testimony to a US Food and Drug Administration panel” which had convened “to discuss a ban on using electrical stimulation devices to modify aggressive or self-injurious behavior in people with severe emotional problems and developmental disorders.” Msumba described the practice of being shocked as “being underground in Hell.”

Related Links:

— “Controversy over shocking people with autism, behavioral disorders,” Amy Burkholder, CBS News, August 5, 2014.

HealthDay (8/5, Reinberg) reports that a study published online Aug. 4 in JAMA Neurology that followed nearly “14,000 people found that high blood pressure in those aged 48 to 67 was tied to a late-life drop in mental ability.” Over two decades, people with midlife hypertension “experienced a modest but significant 6.5 percent decline in scores on tests of mental function, compared with people with normal blood pressure.”

MedPage Today (8/5, Phend) reports that an accompanying editorial noted that “guidelines do recommend blood pressure lowering for middle-age and younger seniors as useful for prevention of late-life dementia.”

Related Links:

— “High Blood Pressure in Middle Age, Weaker Brain Later?,” Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, August 4, 2014.

HealthDay (8/5, Dallas) reports that according to a study published July 1 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association, preschoolers may also be affected by depression. The study, which involved 246 youngsters ranging in age from three to five, also revealed that “preschoolers who are depressed are two and a half times more likely to continue to experience symptoms in elementary and middle school.”

Related Links:

— “Preschoolers Can Suffer From Depression, Too,” Mary Elizabeth Dallas, HealthDay, August 4, 2014.

The Los Angeles Times (8/4, A1, Zarembo) reports that “disability awards for PTSD have grown nearly fivefold over the last 13 years,” and with them, “concerns that many veterans might be exaggerating or lying to win benefits” have grown as well. Veterans with PTSD “can receive up to $3,000 a month tax-free, making the disorder the biggest contributor to the growth of a disability system in which payments have more than doubled to $49 billion since 2002.” The Times notes that since “the diagnosis relies mainly on what patients report, it is easy to exaggerate,” adding that on online forums, veterans even trade advice “on how to behave in their disability evaluations.”

Related Links:

— “As disability awards grow, so do concerns with veracity of PTSD claims,” Alan Zerembo, Los Angeles Times, August 3, 2014.

The Gadsden (AL) Times (8/2) editorialized, “The American Psychiatric Association predicted a shortage of about 22,000 child psychiatrists and 2,900 geriatric psychiatrists by” 2015. Meanwhile, “the US Department of Health and Human Services designated 4,000 Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas in the nation,” including all 67 counties in the state of Alabama.

The Times concluded that “when a shortage of trained professionals numbering in the tens of thousands is expected within a year, and when every county in a state is facing a shortage of services, ‘crisis’ is not a strong enough word.”

Related Links:

— “OUR VIEW: Alabama faces crisis in mental health care,” The Gadsen Times, August 1, 2014.