The New York Daily News (8/28, Scotti) reports, “About 21% of new mothers experiencing postpartum mood disorders like depression and anxiety don’t tell their doctors about their symptoms,” researchers found in a study published online Aug. 1 in the Maternal and Child Health Journal.

Psychiatric News (8/25) reported that “46% said that barriers such as stigma and negative perception of therapy made it difficult or impossible to report such symptoms,” researchers reported in a study involving “211 predominantly white, middle-class women who had given birth within the past three years.”

In an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times’ (8/28) “Daily Pilot,” registered nurse Pamela Pimentel, RN, CEO of MOMS Orange County, and physician Patricia de Marco Centeno, director of consultation-liaison psychiatry and Women’s Mental Health at Hoag Hospital, write, “If you have the opportunity to influence pregnant women, encourage them to participate in maternal mental health screenings and seek treatment for disorders.” Women who are “are pregnant or are considering becoming pregnant, avail yourself of maternal mental health screenings and services.”

Related Links:

— “One in five women suffering from postpartum disorders keeps her symptoms a secret,” Ariel Scotti, New York Daily News, August 28, 2017.

HealthDay (8/28, Dotinga) reports, “Suicide is a leading cause of death among pregnant and recently pregnant women,” researchers found after tracking “women in Ontario from 1994 to 2008.” The study revealed that “five percent of deaths during pregnancy or the first year after pregnancy were due to suicide.” The findings were published online Aug. 28 in CMAJ.

Medscape (8/28, Frellick) points out the study’s findings indicate that “suicide prevention strategies for perinatal women should be incorporated into primary care settings.”

Related Links:

— “Suicide a Danger for Some Women During Pregnancy: Study,” Randy Dotinga, HealthDay, August 28, 2017.

In a greater than 1,700-word story, the Los Angeles Times (8/24, St. John) chronicles the story of Andrew Holland, an inmate with schizophrenia at the San Luis Obispo County jail. The man was “shackled to a chair” at the jail for “46 hours” during which he was naked, “left in his own filth,” and “eating and drinking almost nothing.” Within 40 minutes of being freed from the chair, he died. That death, which occurred on Jan. 22, “has provoked outrage in the Central Coast county, a record $5-million legal settlement, and questions about the way California jails handle a sharp increase in the number of” inmates with mental illnesses.

Related Links:

— “Naked, filthy and strapped to a chair for 46 hours: a mentally ill inmate’s last days,” Paige St. John, Los Angeles Times, August 24, 2017.

Healio (8/24, Oldt) reports, “Cigarettes with lower nicotine content may decrease addiction potential among individuals highly vulnerable to tobacco addiction,” researchers found after conducting “a multisite, double-blind, within-participant assessment of acute response to research cigarettes among 169 daily smokers.” The findings were published online Aug. 23 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Lower nicotine cigarettes may hinder addiction in at-risk groups,” Higgins ST, et al., Healio, August 24, 2017.

The Washington Times (8/24, Kelly) reports that on Aug. 24, tech giant “Google entered the realm of public health awareness to help people determine if they are clinically depressed, launching a questionnaire…in response to the query: Am I depressed?” Individuals typing “in a search term related to depression will now be given the option to take the PHQ-9 questionnaire, a clinically validated assessment, in addition to the most relevant information pertaining to depression.”

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (8/24, Pirani), the PHQ-9 “test aims to help determine a person’s depression and his or her need for an in-person medical evaluation.”

Newsweek (8/24, Firger) points out, “Roughly 6.7 percent of the US population reported having at least one symptom of depression in 2015, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).”

Related Links:

— “Are you depressed? Google it,” Laura Kelly, Washington Times, August 24, 2017.