US Medicine (9/18, Basu) reports, “The Army will no longer use forensic psychiatry to evaluate soldiers diagnosed with PTSD in the disability evaluation system, military officials” recently announced. The “announcement came after a firestorm of controversy erupted earlier this year” at the Madigan Army Medical Center. According to US Medicine, a “number of soldiers there had PTSD diagnoses overturned in the disability evaluation system, which used forensic psychiatry methods instead of those typically used in military evaluations.”

Related Links:

— “Army: Forensic Psychiatry No Longer Used for PTSD Disability Evaluations, “Sandra Basu, U.S. Medicine, September 18, 2012.

In continuing coverage, the Deseret (UT) News (9/18, Betar) reports that a new plan proposed by US Surgeon General Regina Benjamin will “focus on making suicide prevention a part of everyday life.” Among other things, the “plan asks community groups, friends and family members to take an active role in suicide prevention, including utilizing Facebook.” The News points out that Veterans Affairs “has hired 1,600 new mental-health workers under an executive order by President Obama.”

VA Using Crisis Line To Prevent Suicides. The KREX-TV Grand Junction, CO (9/17, Dias) website reported, “With September being Suicide Prevention Month, the Department of Veterans Affairs is stepping up its efforts.” Officials with VA are trying to prevent suicides “by providing easily available support right away through their crisis line.” The “important thing is that we know that treatment works and we know that we can intervene at the earliest level of crisis, that goes a long way,” said Sonja Encke, suicide prevention coordinator at the Grand Junction VA. KREX-TV Grand Junction, CO (9/17, 6:19 p.m. MT) aired a similar report.

Related Links:

— “Updated suicide prevention plan integrates social media, increased awareness, “Thomas Betar, Deseret News, September 17, 2012.

The Washington Post (9/18, Huget) “The Checkup” blog reports that a new study “finds that people who harm themselves — by intentionally injuring or poisoning themselves, with or without suicidal intent, according to the study’s definition — remain at greater risk of early death from both natural and external causes for years after their initial self-harming incident.”

MedPage Today (9/18, Phend) reports, “Suicide attempts and other self-harm may point to individuals at high risk for premature death due to overall poor health,” according to a 30,950-person study published online in The Lancet. “The rate of death from natural causes was two- to 7.5-fold higher than expected in people with a history of self-harm,” researchers reported. “While accidental poisoning and suicide were the top causes of death in this group overall, circulatory and digestive diseases were major contributors as well.”

Related Links:

— “Self-Harm Tracks Poor Health,”Crystal Phend, Medpage Today, September 17, 2012.

The AP (9/18) writes that “a new report says substance use and misuse among troops and their families has become a ‘public health crisis’ and that Pentagon methods for dealing with it are out-of-date.” The study, conducted by the Institute of Medicine, was requested by the Defense Department. Among its findings, “about 20 percent of active-duty service members reported they engaged in heavy drinking in 2008, the latest year for which data was available;” “Binge-drinking increased from 35 percent in 1998 to 47 percent in 2008;” and “the rate of medication misuse is rising.” Perhaps most troubling, the report also noted that “the armed forces’ programs and policies have not evolved to effectively address medication misuse and abuse.” One change the report suggested was the use of FDA-approved medication designed to combat addiction.

Related Links:

— “Study: Level of military substance abuse now a ‘public health crisis,’ Pentagon care outdated,”Associated Press, The Washington Post, September 17, 2012.

CNN (9/15, Enayati,) reported that “several recent studies underscore how critically important it is for those fighting” cancer “to learn how to combat stress.” For instance, in a study recently published in PLoS ONE, “a team of researchers led by Lorenzo Cohen, professor of general oncology and director of the Integrative Medicine Program at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, found that symptoms of depression among a group of patients with late-stage renal cell carcinoma were associated with an increased risk of death.” The primary “suspects in Cohen’s study: cortisol — also known as the ‘stress hormone’ — and inflammatory pathways.”

Related Links:

— “Stress, depression may affect cancer survival, “Amanda Enayati, CNN, September 14, 2012.