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.

The AP (6/8, Cheng) reports, “Scientists say most antidepressants don’t work for children or teenagers with major depression, some may be unsafe, and the quality of evidence about these” medicines “is so bad the researchers cannot be sure if any are truly effective or safe.”

TIME (6/8, Park) reports that in order to find out “how effective” antidepressants “are in treating depression among younger people,” researchers from Oxford University “conducted an analysis of 34 trials of antidepressants involving more than 5,000 children or teens taking 14 different antidepressants.” In a meta-analysis published online June 8 in The Lancet, investigators found that “ratings of the depression before and after taking the medications did not change significantly.” Just one medication, fluoxetine, which is already approved by the Food and Drug Administration for children and adolescents, “improved their depression.”

Related Links:

— “Teen Depression Treatment Is an Increasingly Thorny Issue,” Alice Park, Time, June 8, 2016.

Reuters (6/7, Taylor) reports that about a third of children between the ages of three and four growing up in developing countries “are failing to meet basic mental development milestones, which could adversely affect their health, success in adulthood, and education levels,” research conducted by the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Grand Challenges Canada. Researchers arrived at this conclusion after analyzing data from UNICEF and the US Agency for International Development.

Related Links:

— “A third of children in poor nations fail to meet mental development milestones: research,” Lin Taylor, Reuters, June 7, 2016.