CNN (8/15, Nedelman) reports on its website that medical researchers are discussing how to differentiate between Munchausen syndrome by proxy – a disorder in which parents falsify, agitate, or induce an illness in children to secure “their role as the desperate, knowledgeable parent,” one researcher said – and medical child abuse.

CNN follows the story of one woman who faked her own cancer scare and then “infected her daughter with harmful bacteria” and allegedly “removed blood from her daughter so that she would become anemic.” One researcher termed the behaviors “disorders of deception,” while others say it is an intentional form of abuse rather than a psychological condition.

The American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic manual includes a diagnosis of a “factitious disorder imposed on another,” although the medical community has not reached a consensus on how to characterize it.

Related Links:

— “A ‘disorder of deception’: When a mom makes her child sick,” Michael Nedelman, CNN, August 15, 2017.

NBC Nightly News (8/15, story 8, 0:30, Holt) reported, “New numbers out from the CDC show about one in eight Americans over age 12 reports taking antidepressants.”

According to TIME (8/15, Sifferlin), the report from the National Center for Health Statistics indicates “that from 2011 through 2014, the most recent data available,” nearly “13% of people 12 and older said they took an antidepressant in the last month.” This “number is up from 11% in 2005-2008.”

Medscape (8/15, Brooks) reports, “For the period 2011-2014, women were about twice as likely as men to report past-month antidepressant medication use (16.5% vs 8.6%).” Meanwhile, “Overall, antidepressant use increased with age, from 3.4% among people aged 12 to 19 years to 19.1% among those aged 60 years and older.” Medscape adds, “Increased use with age occurred in both men and women.” HealthDay (8/15, Mundell) also covers the story.

Related Links:

— “13% of Americans Take Antidepressants,” Alexandra Sifferlin, Time, August 15, 2017.

Medscape (8/14, Yasgur) reports that research suggests “clozapine…reduces mortality and protects against self-harm in patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia.” Researchers “found a nearly twofold higher mortality rate among patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia who were not being treated with clozapine, compared with those treated with the” medication. The findings also “suggest a deleterious effect of other antipsychotics on self-harm compared to clozapine.” The research was published online July 28 in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (8/14, Preidt) reports that research suggests “smoking during pregnancy is on the rise among American women with depression.” Investigators looked at data on approximately “8,500 mothers-to-be who took part in an annual government health survey.” The data showed “a 2.5 percent rise in smoking rates among pregnant women with depression between 2002 and 2014.” The findings were published online in the October issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

Related Links:

— “Smoking on the Rise Among Pregnant Women With Depression,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, August 14, 2017.

Reuters (8/14, Rapaport) reports that while “pain and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are among the most common reasons people use medical marijuana in the U.S., there isn’t much proof cannabis works for either one of these conditions, two research reviews” published in Annals of Internal Medicine suggest. In one review, investigators “examined 27 previously published studies on this topic,” and “found too little information to determine whether the drug helps most types of pain.”

The other “analysis of five previous studies of cannabis for PTSD found too little data to determine whether this would help relieve symptoms.” Also covering the story are CNN (8/14, Scutti), MedPage Today (8/14, Boyles), Healio (8/14), and HealthDay (8/14, Dotinga).

Related Links:

— “Little evidence shows cannabis helps chronic pain or PTSD,” Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, August 14, 2017.