In an opinion piece for the New York Times (3/15), author, physician, and psychiatrist in training Lisa Pryor observed, “With [its] focus on diagnosis and classification, you would be forgiven for thinking that psychiatry is a profession devoted merely to sorting and labeling humans,” as is “highlighted by the common description of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – the thick volume published by the American Psychiatric Association listing the various diseases of the mind – as the ‘bible’ of psychiatry.” In real life, however, the DSM “is an explanation of the human mind no more than a dictionary is an explanation of literature,” Dr. Pryor wrote. Instead, she promoted the concept of “psychiatric formulation.” Under that concept, “a formulation gathers up all the biological, psychological and social factors that have led to a person becoming unwell and considers how these factors interconnect,” and in so doing, “provides clues to the pathway out of suffering.”

Related Links:

— “Mental Illness Isn’t All in Your Head, “Lisa Pryor, The New York Times, March 15, 2019

U.S. News & World Report (3/14, Newman) reports, “An estimated two million children visited an emergency department [ED] for a traumatic brain injury [TBI] sustained during sports- and recreation-related activities between 2010 and 2016,” research indicated. What’s more, “football, bicycling, playground activities and soccer were the activities most likely to cause a brain injury in” children, “researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention” concluded after examining “data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System–All Injury Program.” The study “found an average of 283,000 children under the age of 18 sought care in emergency departments each year for sports- and recreation-related traumatic brain injuries, with the highest rates among males and children between the ages of 10 and 17 years old.”

Related Links:

— “Football, Soccer Lead to the Most Brain Injuries in Kids, “Katelyn Newman, U.S. News & World Report, March 14, 2019

In “Science Now,” the Los Angeles Times (3/14, Healy) reports research reveals “that U.S. teens and young adults in 2017 were more distressed, more likely to suffer from major depression, and more prone to suicide than their counterparts in the millennial generation were at the same age.” In addition, investigators “found that between 2008 and 2017, Gen Z’s emotional distress and its propensity toward self-harm grew more than for any other generation of Americans during the same period.” What’s more, “by 2017, just over 13% of Americans between the ages of 12 and 25 had symptoms consistent with an episode of major depression in the previous year – a 62% increase in eight years.”

The Washington Post (3/14, Bahrampour) reports the study, which “used data from the annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health and also relied on suicide statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found the greatest upticks in young people who were wealthier and female.” The study authors attributed the increases in mental health disorders “to increased time spent on social media and electronic communication, along with a decrease in the hours of sleep young people are getting.” Not getting enough “sleep is associated with depression and anxiety.” The findings were published online March 14 in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology.

Related Links:

— “Mental health problems are on rise among American teens and young adults, study finds, “Melissa Healy, Los Angeles Times, March 14, 2019

CNN (3/14, Powell) reports on its website “that the rate of Americans who died from dementia has more than doubled from 30.5 deaths per 100,000 people in 2000 to 66.7 in 2017,” according to a report from the National Center for Health Statistics. Dr. Ellen Kramarow, the report’s lead author, said that part of the increase is due to the population aging, “If people live longer, they don’t die of other causes, so they live to the point where the risk for dementia is higher.”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (3/14, Pirani) reports that CDC Director Dr. Robert R. Redfield said, “Early diagnosis is key to helping people and their families cope with loss of memory, navigate the health care system, and plan for their care in the future.”

Related Links:

— “Deaths from dementia have more than doubled in US, report says, “Denise Powell, CNN, March 14, 2019

Reuters (3/13, Carroll) reports researchers found that people with “second- or third-degree relatives with Alzheimer’s” disease may have an increased risk of developing the disease themselves. The findings were published in Neurology.

Additional coverage is provided by HealthDay (3/13, Gordon), Healio (3/13, Demko), Newsweek (3/13, Gander), and the Telegraph (UK) (3/13, Knapton).

Related Links:

— “Great-grandparents or cousins with Alzheimer’s linked to higher risk for the disease, “Linda Carroll, Linda Carroll, March 13, 2019