Healio (1/16) reports that recently, the American Psychiatric Association “issued a letter to Congress to ensure continued access to care for individuals with mental health and substance use disorders.” In the letter, APA President Maria A. Oquendo, MD, PhD, and APA CEO and medical director Saul Levin, MD, MPA, wrote, “On behalf of the APA, the national medical specialty association representing over 36,500 psychiatric physicians nationwide, we urge you to support continued and expanded access to quality evidence-based mental health care services.” The letter added, “As Congress considers significant reforms to health insurance coverage this year, it is critical that any such reforms do not undo the gains which have been made over the past several years for individuals with mental illness, and that any such reforms only further enhance coverage and access to lifesaving evidence-based care.”

Related Links:

— “APA urges Congress to protect access to mental health care,Healio, January 16, 2017.

DOT Med News (1/16, Dworetzky) reports research suggests that “even moderate traumatic brain injury [TBI] may cause brain atrophy and cognitive decline in those with a genetic pre-disposition for” Alzheimer’s. Researchers arrived at that conclusion after using magnetic resonance “brain imaging to examine 160 veterans, some of whom had histories of single or multiple concussions.” The findings were published online Jan. 11 in the journal Brain.

Related Links:

— “Single concussion could boost Alzheimer’s risk: study,”Thomas Dworetzky, DOT Med News, January 16, 2017.

In continuing coverage of fallout from the Fort Lauderdale, FL airport shootings, the New York Times (1/14, A9, Johnson, Subscription Publication) reported that in Alaska, where shooter Esteban Santiago lived, mental healthcare professionals “and legal experts said the distinctive demographic, geographic and cultural stamp of the state also colors the often nuanced judgments that doctors, law enforcement officers and judges must make in deciding whether to hold a disturbed person against his or her will.” The state, “they said, is ingrained with a deep tradition of tolerance – fueled by libertarian instincts holding that people should be able to believe what they want, however eccentric or irrational.” Even in circumstances in which “people are involuntarily committed for treatment, the median length of stay, at only five days, is shorter than in almost any other state.”

The AP (1/14, Kennedy) reported that Florida airport shooter Esteban Santiago’s visit to an FBI office in Alaska, where he told “agents the government was controlling his mind and that he was having terroristic thoughts,” highlights what authorities say is “the difficulty is in assessing whether people are reporting a credible threat, or whether they need medical help.” Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association executive director and former Secret Service supervisor and Pat O’Carroll said, “A lot of resources, time and effort are all put into dealing with mentally challenged people and trying to sort through that type of information to find out what’s valid.” This also poses a challenge for authorities who “don’t have the expertise to make that determination and don’t want to stigmatize people.”

Related Links:

— “A Rampage in Florida Shines a Light on Alaska,”Kirk Johnson, The New York Times, January 13, 2017.

In an opposing viewpoint in USA Today (1/12, Fisher), psychiatrist Daniel B. Fisher, MD, PhD, an adjunct professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, is against “increasing forced psychiatric treatment.” Instead, he writes, “my experience as a board-certified psychiatrist – and as someone who has recovered from schizophrenia – teaches me that we need to expand access to recovery-oriented mental health services and to make them more welcoming to increase engagement with people early in their distress.” According to Dr. Fisher, “Increasing access requires more funding for community-based services, not repealing the Affordable Care Act, leaving millions with mental health issues without services.”

Related Links:

— “Forced treatment is not the way: Opposing view,”Daniel B. Fisher, USA Today, January 12, 2017.

USA Today (1/12, Board) editorializes in wake of the recent Ft. Lauderdale, FL airport shootings that guns should be kept “out of the hands of” people with mental illness and not returned “to them on a silver platter.” USA Today hails as “a promising solution” the fact that “a handful” of states now “allow police or family members to seek a ‘gun restraining order’ in court against a person who presents a credible risk for violence.” Should the judge agree, “the person is barred from buying a gun or keeping ones he owns.”

Related Links:

— “Keep guns away from the mentally ill: Our view,”The Editorial Board, USA Today, January 12, 2017.