In a special piece for the Washington Post (10/9) “Health & Science” blog, Nathaniel Morris, MD, a resident physician in psychiatry at the Stanford University of Medicine, who has personally struggled with depression, wrote that “suicide is a major issue for medical schools.” Surveys have found that approximately “10 percent of medical students have reported having thoughts of killing themselves within the past year.”

What’s more, instead of “receiving support in these situations, these students often suffer humiliation from senior clinicians.” The “stigma of mental illness” has been “especially hard to overcome” in the medical school setting, Dr. Morris asserted.

Related Links:

— “Medical school can be brutal, and it’s making many of us suicidal,” Nathaniel Morris, Washington Post, October 9, 2016.

In a more than 5,700-word front-page analysis, the New York Times (10/9, A1, Apuzzo, Fink, Risen, Subscription Publication) discussed the long term psychological harm that “extraordinary interrogation” methods have caused for terrorism suspects at CIA and military prisons around the world, including Guantánamo Bay.

According to the Times, in the post-9/11 period, Americans debated whether some of these interrogation techniques amounted to torture, but that in this debate the “human toll has gone largely uncalculated.” The article pointed out that dozens of detainees have reported “persistent mental health problems” resulting from “enduring agonizing treatment.”

Related Links:

— “How U.S. Torture Left a Legacy of Damaged Minds,” MATT APUZZO, SHERI FINK and JAMES RISEN, New York Times, October 9, 2016.

Modern Healthcare (10/8, Meyer, Subscription Publication) reported Congressional “lawmakers are poised to pass a sweeping package of mental healthcare reforms during the lame-duck session next month, following enactment in July of legislation to address the epidemic of opioid addiction.” But, “the big question” remains “whether Congress will have enough time during the 20 days of the lame-duck session following the November election to pass the legislation.” Depending on November’s election results, bipartisan rancor may also get in the way of passage.

Related Links:

— “The next big reform challenge is mental health, And the lame-duck Congress just might take it on,” Harris Meyer, Modern Healthcare, October 8, 2016.

The AP (10/6, Elias, Thompson) reports that police officers “specially trained” to help defuse situations involving “people in the throws of mental illness” are often “in short supply” and “unavailable in a crisis.” In two recent incidents in El Cajon and Sacramento, CA, people undergoing mental health crises were shot to death by police. In both cases, the cities “would like to add additional resources but neither has the money.

Related Links:

— “OFFICERS TRAINED TO DEAL WITH MENTAL ILLNESS IN SHORT SUPPLY,” PAUL ELIAS AND DON THOMPSON, Associated Press, October 6, 2016.

HealthDay (10/6, Salamon) reports, “Women in midlife with a history of depression appear at markedly greater risk of suffering from heart disease,” investigators found. After tracking some “1,100 women over 10 years, researchers found that depression was the only significant risk factor for coronary artery disease in women younger than 65 who had no history of heart ailments at the beginning of the study.” The findings were scheduled for presentation at the North American Menopause Society’s annual meeting.

Related Links:

— “Depression Can Fuel Heart Disease in Midlife Women: Study,” Maureen Salamon, HealthDay, October 6, 2016.