The New York Times (4/14, Carey, Subscription Publication) reports that last week, the American Association of Suicidology decided “to recognize a vast but historically invisible portion of its membership: people” who attempt suicide but survive. The piece notes that “plans for speakers bureaus of survivors willing to tell their stories are well underway, as is research to measure the effect of such testimony on audiences.” The Times explains that “for decades, mental health organizations have featured speakers with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression,” although “until now, suicide has been virtually taboo, because of not only shame and stigma, but also fears that talking about the act could give others ideas about how to do it.”

Related Links:

— “Suicide Prevention Sheds a Longstanding Taboo: Talking About Attempts,”Benedict Carey, The New York Times, April 13, 2014.

HealthDay (4/12, Preidt) reported that according to a study published April 7 in the journal Psychology of Violence, “domestic violence witnessed by American children often goes unreported or unpunished, but causes fear and anxiety among the youngsters.” The study “included 517 children, of whom 75 percent witnessed domestic violence.” Investigators found that “children came to physical harm in one in 75 incidents, but suffered fear and anxiety in many more cases.”

Related Links:

— “Study Outlines Emotional Impact of Domestic Violence on Kids,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, April 11, 2014.

Reuters (4/11, Bond) reported that according to a study published online March 15 in the journal Addictive Behaviors, families in which the father had a problem with alcohol appeared to experience increased levels of conflict. However, treating men for alcoholism may result in an improved home life for their children. Researchers arrived at these conclusions after studying 145 couples in Massachusetts with children. Of those couples, 67 had a male partner who was undergoing alcoholism treatment.

Related Links:

— “Kids see less conflict at home when dads quit drinking,”Allison Bond, Reuters, April 11, 2014.

USA Today (4/14, Healy) reports that a study published online in Pediatrics “finds that the first five years of parenthood – key attachment and bonding years for a child – may be the riskiest for young dads when it comes to developing depression.” Craig Garfield, an associate professor in pediatrics and medical social sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and lead author of the study, said, “There’s been a significant body of literature describing the effect of mother’s depression on child development, and the health care system has tried to rise to the challenge of identifying mothers with depression. Fathers have not been on the radar screen until recently. Now we know that … right around the time of the birth is an important time to try and capture and screen those dads.”

Related Links:

— “Depression risks increase for young dads,”Michelle Healy, USA Today, April 14, 2014.

HealthDay (4/11, Preidt) reports that according to a study published in the April 10 issue of the Journal of Head Trauma, “serious head injuries may be linked to children’s lack of ability to interact with others.” After examining youngsters “who had suffered a traumatic brain injury three years earlier, most often in car crashes,” researchers found that children “with lingering damage in the brain’s frontal lobes had lower-quality social lives.”

Related Links:

— “Social Skills a Casualty of Childhood Head Injury, Study Suggests,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, April 10, 2014.