USA Today (12/27, Weintraub) reports, “Having a serious concussion could be a risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s decades later – though not everyone with head trauma will lose their memory,” according to a study published Dec. 26 in the journal Neurology.

The Los Angeles Times (12/27, Mohan) reports that “elderly people who have both mild cognitive impairment [MCI] and a history of serious concussion showed higher amounts of the protein deposits associated with Alzheimer’s disease.” For the study, researchers “enlisted 589 elderly residents of surrounding Olmsted County, beginning in 2004, and administered a battery of cognitive and memory tests, along with brain scans that reveal both structure and metabolic function.”

Related Links:

— “Alzheimer’s risk tied to concussions in some, “Karen Weintraub, USA Today, December 27, 2013.

The Washington Post (12/24, Searing) reports that according to a study published Dec. 17 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, “at least for men, taking multivitamins doesn’t seem to benefit the brain.” The 12-year study, which involved some 5,947 aged 65 and older who were randomized either to a multivitamin or placebo, revealed “no difference…in the average cognitive ability or rate of cognitive decline between men who were taking a multivitamin and those who were not.”

Related Links:

— “Study asks: Do multivitamins help stave off cognitive problems in older men?, “Linda Searing, , December 23, 2013.

In print and in the New York Times (12/23, D3) “Well” blog, psychiatrist Richard A. Friedman, MD, of the Weill Cornell Medical College, observes, “Of all the major illnesses, mental or physical, depression has been one of the toughest to subdue.” Now, “at a time when federal research funds are shrinking and major drug companies have all but shuttered their brain research programs, enlightened philanthropists and entrepreneurs are helping to open a promising new pathway for neuroscience research: collaboration among researchers willing and able to take thoughtful risks and solve big problems.” Dr. Friedman also quotes Huda Akil, psychiatry professor at the University of Michigan, who points out that the strength behind the Hope for Depression Research Foundation is the fact that scientists there “‘can think about big ideas and take risks without worrying about what grant reviewers’ – like the National Institute of Mental Health, the major source of federal funding for psychiatric research – ‘might think.’”

Related Links:

— “A New Focus on Depression, “Richard A. Friedman, The New York Times, December 23, 2013.

In a cover piece for the Atlantic (12/23, Stossel) in which he describes his long-life struggle with anxiety, Scott Stossel, editor of the Atlantic and author of the upcoming book, “My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind,” writes, “According to the National Institute of Mental Health, some 40 million American adults, about one in six, are suffering from some kind of anxiety disorder at any given time; based on the most recent data from the Department of Health and Human Services, their treatment accounts for more than a quarter of all spending on mental-health care.” He adds, “Today, the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (now in its just-published fifth edition, DSM-5) defines hundreds of mental disorders,” including anxiety. After recounting his difficulties with treatments and medication, Stossel looks at the bright side of the matter, noting that “anxiety is productive mainly when it is not so strong as to be debilitating,” improving job performance, for example.

Related Links:

— “Surviving Anxiety, “Scott Stossel , The Atlantic, December 22, 2013.

On its front page, the New York Times (12/22, A1, Luo, McIntire, Subscription Publication) reported that a case in Connecticut “highlights a central, unresolved issue in the debate over balancing public safety and the Second Amendment right to bear arms: just how powerless law enforcement can be when it comes to keeping firearms out of the hands of people who are mentally ill.” Under Connecticut law, police have “broad leeway to seize and hold guns for up to a year” in such cases, but even “police often find themselves grappling with legal ambiguities when they encounter mentally unstable people with guns…in particular, how they should respond when the owners want them back.” The Connecticut case involves Mark Russo, who has had problems adhering to medication for paranoid schizophrenia. Police confiscated his firearms after he threatened to shoot his mother. However, Russo is due to have his guns returned to him in the spring under Connecticut law.

Related Links:

— “When the Right to Bear Arms Includes the Mentally Ill, “Michael Luo, The New York Times, December 21, 2013.