The Washington Times (4/24, Meier) reports that a bipartisan group of legislators will introduce a new bill addressing “a recent spate of high-profile veteran suicides and an uptick in suicide rates.” The bill “will require a review of the current training, workload and staffing at VA centers,” after three military veterans died of suicide on VA properties in Georgia and Texas “over the span of five days earlier this month.” Rep. Anthony Brindisi (D-NY), one of the lawmakers responsible for the bill, said, “Twenty veterans die by suicide every day. This is wrong and unacceptable, and we must do more.”

Related Links:

— “Lawmakers roll out new bill to stop veteran suicides on VA properties, “Lauren Meier, The Washington Times, April 24, 2019

Science Daily (4/23) reports new research suggests women “with the dissociative subtype of PTSD, a serious variant of the disorder that can disrupt one’s sense of self and surroundings,” may be more prone to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than others. Researchers from the University of Missouri found these women “experienced a more pronounced alteration in both cortisol and oxytocin levels, indicating the body’s stress-response system functioned less effectively in these women.” The findings were published in the Archives of Psychiatric Nursing.

Related Links:

— “Some women could be more susceptible to PTSD than others, according to new study, Science Daily, April 23, 2019

MD Magazine (4/23, Kunzmann) reports, “A retroactive analysis of patients referred to a psychiatry consultation clinic often by primary care physicians with an initial schizophrenia diagnosis found that about half of all such diagnoses were inaccurate upon further review,” researchers reported after conducting “a retroactive chart review of 78 patients who has been referred…with an early psychosis diagnosis.” The study revealed that “the most common patients to be misdiagnosed with schizophrenia were in their teens and 20s with symptoms of anxiety.” The findings were published in the March issue of the Journal of Psychiatric Practice.

Related Links:

— “Patients Are Commonly Misdiagnosed with Schizophrenia, “Kevin Kunzmann, MD Magazine, April 23, 2019

Healio (4/23, Demko) reports, “Implementing prevention programs and other interventions during and after pregnancy may decrease the number and severity of manic episodes in women at high risk for bipolar disorder, according to a personal view published” online April 9 in The Lancet Psychiatry. Verinder Sharma, MBBS, of the departments of psychiatry and obstetrics and gynecology at Western University, and the Parkwood Institute, London, Ontario, Canada, and colleagues wrote, “The postpartum period is ideally suited for primary and secondary prevention of bipolar disorder.” They added, “Women are routinely under the care of health professionals during and after pregnancy. Some of the putative risk factors of bipolar disorder such as sleep loss, substance use, and use of antidepressants or psychostimulants can be easily targeted.”

Related Links:

— “Early intervention key for postpartum women at risk for bipolar disorder, “Savannah Demko, Healio, April 23, 2019

Perri Klass, MD, writes in the New York Times’ (4/22, Klass) “The Checkup” blog that “researchers looking to find a biomarker that may help with the early diagnosis of autism have seized on the question of how young children react to hearing their names called.” Geraldine Dawson, the director of the Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development, “was the corresponding author on a study in April in the journal Autism which used computer vision analysis to look at the reactions of toddlers from 16 to 31 months old, in response to hearing their names called.” Toddlers “with autism spectrum disorder took significantly longer to look away from a video and orient toward the person who had called.” Klass adds that “‘the signs and symptoms [of autism] for most children are there between 12 and 24 months,’ said Dr. Paul S. Carbone…a co-author of ‘Autism Spectrum Disorder: What Every Parent Needs to Know,’ published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.”

Related Links:

— “The Search for a Biomarker for Early Autism Diagnosis, “Perri Klass, M.D., The New York Times, April 22, 2019