HealthDay (6/10, Dotinga) reported, “Some workaholics may be prone to mental health disorders, compared to folks with greater work-life balance,” the findings of a 16,500-adult study suggest. Such “disorders may include anxiety,” attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), “obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and depression,” researchers found.

Related Links:

— “Are ‘Workaholics’ Prone to OCD, Anxiety?,” Randy Dotinga, HealthDay, June 10, 2016.

USA Today (6/9, Painter) reports trying e-cigarettes may be a new rite of passage for teens, according to a recent survey conducted by the CDC. Data show nearly 50 percent of the 15,000 high school students in the survey had tried vaping, but just one-third had smoked a tobacco cigarette. On a positive note, the percentage of those who said they had taken “even one puff of a tobacco cigarette dropped from 70% in the early 1990s to 41% in 2013 and 32% in 2015.”

The AP (6/9, Stobbe) reports the survey also revealed that sexual activity among teens decreased. Data show “41 percent of high school kids said they had ever had sex, down from around 47 percent over much of the last decade.” In addition, the survey “found marked declines last year in the proportion of students who said had sex recently, had sex before they were 13, and had four or more partners.”

Related Links:

— “More teens now try vaping than smoking,” Kim Painter, , June 9, 2016.

Reuters (6/9, Cohen) reports that about one in nine youngsters in foster care in the United States are being given antipsychotics. What’s more, about 75% of the kids prescribed antipsychotics have not undergone testing to assess their risk for diabetes. The findings study were published online June 6 in Health Affairs.

Related Links:

— “Drugs for schizophrenics regularly dispensed to foster kids,” Ronnie Cohen, Reuters, June 9, 2016.

The CBS Evening News (6/9, story 9, 0:25, Pelley) reported, “Today, the Federal Aviation Administration said it will not require psychological testing for airline pilots.”

NBC Nightly News (6/9, story 10, 0:25, Holt) reported, “Instead, the agency said it will enhance training for medical examiners who test pilots being hired and expand mental health assistance for pilots. The issue came into focus after the pilot of a Germanwings flight intentionally crashed into the Alps last year, killing 150 people.”

USA Today (6/9, Jansen) reports that on Thursday, the US Federal Aviation Administration “announced steps…to encourage pilots with mental health problems to seek treatment.” The agency, however, will not “initiate psychological testing for pilots or change rules on locked cockpit doors that were toughened after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.” The goal of the FAA’s action is “to break down resistance to seeking treatment because pilots can be grounded for certain medical problems or medications.” Next week, “the American Medical Association will debate….different approaches to mental health testing…said” Michael Berry, MD, MS, FAA’s deputy federal air surgeon.

Related Links:

— “FAA encourages pilots to seek mental health treatment,” Bart Jansen, USA Today, June 9, 2016.

In a opinion piece for Forbes (6/8), psychiatrist Sally Satel, MD, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, makes the case for a clear “distinction between mental health, mental illness, and severe mental illness.” Such a distinction “is crucial, because it leads us to different clinical and policy prescriptions,” Dr. Satel explains.

She cites as problematic that “the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, is geared toward the mildly to moderately ill at the expense of the more seriously debilitated.” Dr. Satel concludes that instead of “focusing on combating homelessness, the crying need for more hospital beds, or reducing incarceration among people with serious mental illness,” SAMSHA “concentrates federal and state efforts on delivering amorphous ‘behavioral health’ to everyone else.”

Related Links:

— “Mental Health Reform Desperately Needed To Pass House And Senate,” Sally Satel, Forbes, June 8, 2016.