Mental Health in the Headlines

Mental Health in the Headlines offers summaries of the latest news and views in the mental health field. Coverage of news items in this publication does not represent Mental Health America's support for or opposition to the stories summarized or the views they express. For comments and suggestions, send an e-mail to Mental Health America at postmaster@mentalhealthamerica.net.

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Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of April 8, 2013
A new national survey reveals that many adults believe children and teens do not receive needed mental health services...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of March 25, 2013
Media coverage of mass shootings may heighten the stigma that already surrounds people struggling with mental illness...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of February 4, 2013

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of December 17, 2012
One quarter of cardiac arrest survivors suffer long-term psychological problems such as anxiety, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and depression...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of November 12, 2012

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of November 5, 2012
Sixty-four percent of students who experience mental health problems in college end up withdrawing from school…

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of October 22, 2012
Nearly 80 percent of people with depression report that they've experienced some form of discrimination, according to a new study…

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of October 15, 2012
Most Americans know what depression is and believe there is no shame in seeking treatment for the mental health condition, a new survey finds…

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of October 1, 2012
Despite reports suggesting a decrease in child abuse cases, new data show that the number of children hospitalized due to serious abuse-related injuries actually increased slightly from 1997 to 2009…

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of September 24, 2012
Suicide has overtaken car crashes as the leading cause of injury-related deaths in the U.S…

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of September 17, 2012
Maternal diabetes during pregnancy, or economic status, may predict a child's risk for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)…

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of September 10, 2012
Older adolescent girls experiencing major depressive episodes were more likely to receive treatment than younger ones…

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of March 5, 2012
One in four people with mental illness experience violence of some type in a given year…

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of January 23, 2012
One in five adults in the U.S. experienced a mental illness in 2010, and 5 percent experience a serious disorder…

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of December 19, 2011
Mental health conditions—along with acute bronchitis, asthma, trauma-related disorders, middle-ear infections—was among the five most commonly treated health problems among children in 2008…

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of November 21, 2011
Perceived racism may cause mental health symptoms similar to trauma among black Americans...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of November 14, 2011
A new study has found that a significant portion of people contemplating suicide can be identified and referred to mental health providers to help prevent attempts...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of November 7, 2011
Researchers say a computer analysis of brain scans could help predict how serious or long term a patient's psychosis may become and help doctors make more accurate decisions about how best to treat them…

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of October 31, 2011
Children who suffer head injuries from falls and car accidents can face a long-term reduction in their quality of life...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of October 24, 2011
Individuals who have experienced long-term unemployment in the past year are three times more likely than people employed throughout the past year to experience mental health issues for the first time…

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of October 17, 2011
A growing number of American children are receiving psychiatric care in hospital emergency departments...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of October 3, 2011
One in five hospitals and clinics serving American Indians and Alaska Natives provide no mental health services …

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of September 19, 2011
The global economic impact of the five leading chronic diseases—cancer, diabetes, mental illness, heart disease, and respiratory disease—could reach $47 trillion over the next 20 years, and mental illness will account for a third of the total…

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of September 12, 2011
About half of U.S. adults will develop a mental illness during their lifetime, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of August 29, 2011
School-based mental health screening effectively identifies students at high risk for mental illness and connects them to services …

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of August 22, 2011
Nearly one in 10 children in the United States has been diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a new government study…

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of August 1, 2011
The United States and France have the highest rates of depression in the world, according to researchers who found that wealthier nations tend to have a higher incidence of depression than poorer nations…

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of July 25, 2011
Adolescent boys whose military parents are deployed overseas have significantly higher rates of "impaired well-being" than the children of civilians…

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of July 18, 2011
Traumatic brain injuries more than double the risk of dementia in veterans...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of July 11, 2011
Children with one or more parent on long-term deployment in Iraq or Afghanistan have a higher chance of mental health problems…

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of June 27, 2011
The level of support that people perceive in their surroundings when they come out as lesbian, gay, or bisexual is closely related to their mental health and overall well-being...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of June 20, 2011
Children on Medicaid are much more likely than kids with private health insurance to be denied appointments with medical specialists and wait longer on average to be seen...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of June 6, 2011
Adults with mental illness are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependency than adults without mental illness...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of May 30, 2011
Individuals with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) may be at a higher risk for heart disease...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of May 23, 2011
Women who are deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan are more likely to get Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder than men who are deployed

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of May 16, 2011
An analysis of the plan by House Republicans to repeal the new health care law and convert the Medicaid program into a block grant to states finds that it could force as many 44 million poor and disabled Americans out of the program over the next decade…

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of May 9, 2011
The rate of soldiers hospitalized for having suicidal thoughts has increased by 7,000 percent over the last five years…

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of May 2, 2011
Although nearly two million American adolescents had an episode of major depression last year, only one-third got any help…

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of April 25, 2011
Mental health problems caused by the Gulf oil spill are likely to linger for decades…

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of April 18, 2011
Suicides rise during economic downturns and decline in good economic times, researchers report…

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of April 11, 2011
Individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) often recover and more quickly than for many with other major psychiatric disorders...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of April 4, 2011
Many consumers were unaware of changes to benefits created by the New York State mental health parity law and are continuing to encounter significant barriers in accessing services …

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of March 28, 2011
Social media websites such as Facebook can be beneficial to children but may also harm their mental and overall health…

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of March 21, 2011
The suicide rate for female soldiers triples when they go to war…

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of March 14, 2011
A Massachusetts law requiring doctors to offer routine mental health screening to all children in the state’s Medicaid program has resulted in an increase in the rates of those screened

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of March 7, 2011
Although infants and very young children can suffer serious mental health disorders, they are unlikely to receive treatment that could prevent lasting developmental problems

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of February 28, 2011
Black, Hispanic and Asian adolescents are less likely than whites to receive treatment for major depression

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of February 21, 2011
A new study suggests that the psychological impact of the BP oil spill extends beyond communities that were directly exposed to it

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of February 14, 2011
Reducing co-payments for mental health services does not lead to an increase in utilization...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of February 7, 2011
Parity in insurance coverage for substance use treatment has not resulted in an increase in insurance costs or in use of treatment...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of January 31, 2011
An annual survey finds the mental health of this years college freshmen declined to a record low...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of January 24, 2011
Adults whose parents divorced when they were children are more likely to consider suicide than their peers...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of January 17, 2011
Heart-failure patients with depressive symptoms that worsen over time have an increased risk of cardiovascular hospitalization or death...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of January 10, 2011
Bright Light therapy used to treat Seasonal Affective Disorder may also be effective in reducing depression symptoms in older adults...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of January 3, 2011
Women war veterans who became pregnant after serving in Iraq or Afghanistan may be at greater risk for mental health problems...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of December 20, 2010
Children who are friendless may be at risk of spiraling into depression as teenagers...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of December 13, 2010
Breathing in secondhand tobacco smoke may harm the mental health of children...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of December 6, 2010
A supportive family environment can have a positive impact on the general and mental health of gay lesbian and bisexual children...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of November 29, 2010
Depression and diabetes are closely linked and one can cause the other condition...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of November 22, 2010
The immune systems response to stress or illness may be linked to depression...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of November 15, 2010
Depression treatments appear to be less effective in helping poor and working class individuals be productive at work...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of November 8, 2010
Older adults with mental illness are less likely to undergo chemotherapy after a cancer diagnosis than those without mental illness...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of November 1, 2010
Men who are older when their first child is born may be more likely than younger first time dads to have a child who eventually develops schizophrenia...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of October 25, 2010
Some adversity in life may improve mental health and well being by strengthening resiliency...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of October 18, 2010
Brain imaging that looks at working memory and how it is influenced by emotions may help in identifying which children have bipolar disorder and which have ADHD...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of October 11, 2010
Young children with ADHD are at about four times increased risk of depression and more than a four-fold increased risk of suicide by age 18...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of October 4, 2010
Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were more likely than other kids to have large chunks of deleted or duplicated DNA called copy number variants possibly establishing a genetic component to the disorder...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of September 27, 2010
Young victims of cyber bullying - which occurs online or through cell phones - are more likely to suffer from depression than their tormentors...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of September 20, 2010
People who have both heart disease and depression are much more likely to die than those with just one of the conditions or neither illness...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of September 13, 2010
Brief interventions by parents can change the arc of anxiety and related disorders in at-risk children...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of September 5, 2010
Sleeping fewer hours than recommended puts young adults at increased risk that any mental health conditions they already have will become more severe...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of August 30, 2010
The mental health of mothers who were in an abusive relationship may get worse after it ends...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of August 23, 2010
Exposure to pesticides while in the womb may increase the odds that a child will have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of July 26, 2010
People with schizophrenia are at increased risk for general medical injuries while in the hospital...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of July 19, 2010
Children whose mothers had Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and depression after the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center were more likely to have behavioral problems three years later...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of July 12, 2010
Children who are attacked by animals may develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder...

mental health in the headlines: Week of July 5, 2010
Teens who cyberbully others through the Internet or cell phones are more likely to have both general medical and psychiatric problems...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of June 21, 2010
Traumatic sexual incidents may cause serious mental health problems in the years following the event...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of June 14, 2010
Secondhand smoke may place individuals at greater risk for mental health problems...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of June 7, 2010
Young adults who are in a relationship in the two years following high school are less likely than their peers to report heavy drinking and marijuana use...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of June 1, 2010
A type of cell that is known to protect the brain against infection could help cure psychiatric disorders...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of May 24, 2010
Over half (53 percent) of patients recovering from a traumatic brain injury (TBI) developed major depression within a year...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of May 18, 2010
Children exposed to common pesticides used on fruits and vegetables could have a higher risk of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder…

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of May 3, 2010
Children who are raised by relatives instead of their parents face increased risk for physical and mental health problems…

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of April 26, 2010
Nearly half of preschool children meet age-adjusted criteria for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after experiencing a significant traumatic event...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of April 19, 2010
An interaction of genetics and family conflict may trigger Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of April 12, 2010
Repeated deployments of service members can cause higher levels of anxiety in children, which persists even after the deployed parents returns home...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of April 5, 2010
Schizophrenia may be caused by a genetic mutation that disrupts communication between areas of the brain involved in working memory...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of March 29, 2010
Having more children may lower a mother’s risk of suicide...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of March 15, 2010
A simple questionnaire can help primary care doctors screen patients for common mental health conditions...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of March 8, 2010
The offspring of parents with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder are more likely to develop the same illness or another psychiatric condition than those with only one parent with a psychiatric condition...

Mental Health in the Headlines: March 1, 2010
Depression can increase levels of the stress hormone cortisol in adolescent girls and boys but trigger obesity only in girls...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of February 22, 2010
More than half of low-income urban mothers show signs of depression at some point between two weeks and 14 months after giving birth...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Weeks of February 8 and 15, 2010
Fish oil pills may be able to spare some young people with signs of mental illness from a progression into fully developed schizophrenia...

mental health in the headlines: Week of February 1, 2010
Young children whose parents have bipolar disorder have a higher risk of mental health problems...

mental health in the headlines: Week of January 18, 2010
Men and women handle stress differently and that alters the way their bodies experience chronic diseases...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of January 11, 2010
White middle-aged women reporting high levels of job stress and little work-related social support appear to be at increased risk for developing diabetes...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of January 4, 2010
Adolescents whose parents set earlier bedtimes are significantly less likely to suffer from depression or have suicidal thoughts compared to youngsters who go to bed later...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of December 14, 2009
Young adults with elevated levels of lead in their blood might be at increased risk for major depression and panic disorders…

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of December 7, 2009
Fear of anxiety may push “above-average” worriers into depression...