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.

USA Today (6/26) reports that a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that excessive drinking was the cause of one in 10 deaths among working-age adults between 2006 and 2010. The paper notes that the CDC defined excessive drinking activities to include “binge drinking, heavy weekly alcohol consumption and drinking while underage or pregnant.” The CDC found those activities instigated “long-term health effects such as liver disease and heart disease, as well as short-period effects such as violence, alcohol poisoning, car crashes and drowning.”

The Washington Post (6/27, Bernstein) “To Your Health” blog reports that CDC researchers estimated that “excessive drinking cost the United States about $224 billion in 2006, or about $1.90 per drink” in public health costs. The study found that deaths caused by excessive drinking varied greatly by state from the 16.9% of deaths occurring in New Mexico as the highest to the 7.6% of deaths occurring in Maryland as the lowest nationwide.

Related Links:

— “Drinking behind 1 in 10 deaths of working-age adults,” Hoai-Tran Bui, USA Today, June 27, 2014.