USA Today (4/4, Zoroya) reports, “The Pentagon said Thursday that more than 155,000 US troops have PTSD and that more than three-quarters of them are combat veterans.” Approximately “1,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan war era are diagnosed each week with post-traumatic stress disorder and more than 800 with depression, according to VA statistics.”

The National Journal (4/4, Vasilogambros, Subscription Publication) reports that Craig Bryan, executive director of the National Center for Veterans Studies, believes that soldiers can “get PTSD without actually seeing combat,” and the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, “changed its criteria for PTSD to no longer require that a person must have been in a life-threatening situation.” In fact, “the APA found that many members of the military and veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, even though they didn’t think they were going to die, manifested the problems associated with PTSD.”

Related Links:

— “Military playing catch-up on PTSD,” Gregg Zoroya, Military Times, April 3, 2014.

In a 1,200-word entry in the New York Times (4/3, Fagan) “Opinionator” blog, novelist Jenni Fagan discusses her experiences with mental illness. She writes that “one in four of us directly experiences mental health problems,” but she points out that “mental health services remain underfunded” and “misunderstood.”

Related Links:

— “An Illness, Inherited?,” Jenni Fagan, New York Times, April 2, 2014.

WWJ-TV Detroit (4/3) reports that President Obama has signed Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s (D-MI) “Excellence in Mental Health Act” into law. The new legislation is “expected to expand access to community mental health services, and strengthen the quality of care provided for those living with mental illness,” funding pilot programs in eight separate states to improve mental healthcare.

Related Links:

— “http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2014/04/02/passage-of-stabenows-mental-health-bill-gains-applause/,” WWJ-TV CBS Detroit, April 2, 2014.

The New York (NY) Times (4/3, A4, Carey, Subscription Publication) reports in a 1,000-word article that today Congress will hear testimony from legislators, patient advocates, and people living with psychiatric diagnoses “on the most ambitious overhaul plan in decades.” Experts call the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act’s prospects “uncertain” because of the legislative branch’s partisanship, although “both houses of Congress adopted one of its central provisions, expanding funding for outpatient treatment programs through other legislation,” last week.

Related Links:

— “Mental Health Groups Split on Bill to Overhaul Care,” Benedict Carly, New York Times, April 2, 2014.

On its website, CBS News (4/2, Firger) reports that a new study published in the journal Neurology found that regular “rigorous physical activity” by young people could improve mental fitness later in life. According to the article, the study examined levels of cardiorespiratory fitness in 2,747 young adults between 18 and 30 years old with two treadmill tests 20 years apart.

Researchers found a link between the time a person could stay on a treadmill and the number of correctly-recalled words on a memory test. In the follow-up, participants who could remain on the treadmill longer “also tended to score higher on the memory test,” with better performance in psychomotor speed and executive functioning.

Reuters (4/3, Doyle) reports in its coverage that those in better shape when the study began were more likely to possess higher education, healthy cholesterol and blood pressure levels, be more active, and smoke less. During the memory test, researchers found that for each additional minute a subject spent on a treadmill during the initial test, that individual correctly recalled .12 more words, and performed better on trick question and reactions speed tests.

The study’s author, David R. Jacobs, said that it is possible that more exercise when younger simply reduces blood pressure, thereby reducing the risk for dementia and cognitive decline.

Related Links:

— “Exercising young keeps the brain fit in middle age,” Jessica Firgir, CBS News, April 2, 2014.