In a greater than 2,600-word “Watchdog” investigative article, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (5/21, Fauber, Fiore) reported on the dangers of abuse and dependence in adults posed by some medications for the treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD). Currently, medications to treat AD/HD “have become one of the most lucrative sectors of the US drug market, totaling more than $10 billion in sales and 83 million prescriptions in 2014, according to data from IMS Health,” with adults more of these medications to treat AD/HD. The article also pointed out that the “2013 edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association, relaxed the definition for” AD/HD in adults.

Related Links:

— “Drugs for treatment of adult ADHD carry risk of dependence, abuse,” John Fauber and Kristina Fiore, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May 22, 2016.

In an opinion piece for TIME (5/20), Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) wrote that May is recognized as Mental Health Awareness Month. Johnson added, “At a time when America’s mental healthcare system is in need of major reform, I want to take this opportunity to discuss the stigma surrounding mental health disorders.” The congresswoman called for treating “mental health with serious questions, serious empathy and immediate responses.”

Related Links:

— “Rep. Johnson: How to End the Stigma of Mental-Health Disorders,” Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, Time, May 20, 2016.

Medscape (5/19, Anderson) reports that at a poster session at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting, Canadian researchers detailed how they “have incorporated real-time analytics to better determine the risk for violence in psychiatric patients.” Investigators adapted a tool “developed for risk management in the forensic psychiatric setting…for use in general psychiatry and in the community” to predict, assess, and manage “risk for violence.” They then worked with an analytics company to “click on a mouse and see how a particular patient has done in the last month or the last year, and…watch any change in any of the risk factors” for violence.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (5/19, Norton) reports that after examining “33 years’ worth of data,” investigators “found that states with more gun owners generally had more suicides by firearm among both men and women.” The findings were published online May 19 in the American Journal of Public Health.

Related Links:

— “States With More Gun Owners Have More Gun-Related Suicides: Study,” Amy Norton, HealthDay, May 19, 2016.

HealthDay (5/19, Mundell) reports that “risks for attempting suicide more than tripled for transgender adults who experienced a ‘high level’ of familial rejection,” research published online in LGBT Health suggests. After analyzing “2008-2009 data on almost 3,500 transgender adults interviewed from all 50 states, as part of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey,” researchers also found that “the risk for alcohol or drug abuse…rose much higher in these situations.”

Related Links:

— “,” E. J. Mundell, HealthDay, May 19, 2016.