Reuters (8/5, Rapaport) reports researchers found “older women who are under a lot of social strain may be more likely to develop brittle, fracture-prone bones after menopause than their counterparts with worry-free lives.” The findings were published in Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

Related Links:

— “Social stress tied to lower bone density after menopause, “Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, August 05, 2019

Medscape reports that a large cohort study, published online July 22 in Depression and Anxiety, “of Israeli patients with cancer found that antidepressant adherence above 50% was associated with one quarter less mortality over four years compared with adherence below 20%.” Investigators “reported that any adherence above 20% was linked to increased survival over the four years of the study.”

Related Links:

— “Cancer Survival Linked to Antidepressant Adherence, “Helen Leask, Medscape, August 05, 2019

The Washington Post (8/5, Wan, Bever) reports that according to research, mental illness is not to blame for America’s mass shootings. In a 2018 report of active shooters, the FBI “found that 25 percent of active shooters had been diagnosed with a mental illness. And of those diagnosed, only three shooters had been diagnosed with a psychotic disorder.” Similarly, “in a 2015 study that examined 235 people who committed or tried to commit mass killings, only 22 percent could be considered” as having a mental illness. In addition, “a 2004 report conducted by the Secret Service and the Education Department found that only 12 percent of perpetrators in more than three dozen school shootings showed an interest in violent video games.”

The AP (8/5, Johnson) reports experts say that “Trump’s focus on ‘mentally ill monsters’ oversimplifies the role of mental illness in public mass shootings and downplays the ease with which Americans can get firearms, experts said.” Mental health experts “repeated what they have said after previous mass shootings: Most people with mental illness are not violent, they are far more likely to be victims of violent crime than perpetrators, and access to firearms is a big part of the problem.” The AP adds that “a country’s rate of gun ownership is a far better predictor of public mass shootings than indicators of mental illness, said Adam Lankford, a University of Alabama criminologist who published a 2016 analysis of data from 171 countries.” Meanwhile, “last month, the U.S. Secret Service released a report on mass public attacks in 2018, finding that ‘no single profile’ can be used ‘to predict who will engage in targeted violence’ and ‘mental illness, alone, is not a risk factor.’”

TIME (8/5) reports that physicians “across specialties are growing increasingly frustrated by” the linkage of mass shootings and mental illness by public figures and are “arguing for a stronger focus on gun control over mental health.” As a results of studies failing to find a link between mental illness and mass shootings, “an increasingly large and vocal cadre of doctors has been arguing for years that gun violence is more an issue of access and regulation than it is mental health.”

The Hill (8/5, Weixel) reports that “the country’s largest organization of psychiatrists on Monday pushed back against comments from politicians linking the most recent spate of mass shootings to mental illness.” In a statement, “the American Psychiatric Association (APA) said gun violence is a public health crisis, and noted that ‘the overwhelming majority of people with mental illness are not violent and far more likely to be victims of violent crime than perpetrators of violence.’” The APA said, “Rhetoric that argues otherwise will further stigmatize and interfere with people accessing needed treatment. Individuals can also be emboldened to act violently by the public discourse and divisive rhetoric.”

Related Links:

— “Experts: Mental illness not main driver of mass shootings, “Carla K. Johnson, AP, August 05, 2019

HealthDay (8/2, Preidt) reported researchers found that many American teens misusing prescription medications obtain them from multiple sources. The researchers “conducted two studies; the first one involved more than 18,000 high school seniors” and “found that about 11% of them said they misused prescription [medications] in the past year, and of those, 44% had multiple sources for the” medications. The second study involved “nearly 104,000 12- to 17-year-olds” and “found that the most common sources of prescription [medications] were: getting them free from friends and relatives, physician prescriptions for opioids, and buying stimulants and tranquilizers illegally.” Both studies were published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and can be found here and here.

Related Links:

— “Teens Are Getting Hooked on Leftover Prescription Meds, ” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, August 02, 2019

The AP (8/2, Ramer) reported that legislation “signed by Republican Gov. Chris Sununu” of New Hampshire “will require schools to develop policies on suicide prevention, response and risk assessment and to provide suicide prevention training for faculty, staff and volunteers.” The governor “described this year’s bill as part of a larger effort to rebuild the state’s mental health system.”

Related Links:

— “New Hampshire schools to develop suicide prevention policies, “Holly Ramer, AP, August 02, 2019