Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of November 5, 2012

MENTAL HEALTH IN THE HEADLINES

Week of November 5, 2012

TODAY'S HEADLINE

Sixty-four percent of students who experience mental health problems in college end up withdrawing from school...more

MENTAL HEALTH AND HURRICANE SANDY

Responding to Sandy: Help Our Affiliates Recover and Rebuild Lives

The New York Times: "Easing the Trauma After the Storm"

HealthDay News looks at the mental health toll of Hurricane Sandy.

USA Today reports on tools to help deal with stress after storm.

The Los Angeles Times: "Sandy wounds minds as well as homes, hospitals, transit"

NEWS FROM MENTAL HEALTH AMERICA

Tell Congress to Act to Avoid Sequestration: TAKE ACTION!

View plenary sessions from the 2012 National Zarrow Mental Health Symposium and Mental Health America Annual Conference: http://www.fromhousingtorecovery.org/.

Vote for America's Mental Health in 2012: Use our Voter Guide to Rights and Issues.

The MHA Career Center matches the best employers with the best talent in the mental health field.  Find your employment match at http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/go/mhacareercenter.

IN THE NEWS

Suicide Rates Rose During Recession-Report: Suicide rates in the United States rose sharply during the first years of the recession, researchers report. They also said political leaders should do more to protect Americans' mental health during tough times. The report, which appears in the journal The Lancet, finds that the rate between 2008 and 2010 increased four times faster than it did in the eight years before the recession. The rate had been increasing by an average of 0.12 deaths per 100,000 people from 1999 through 2007. In 2008, the rate began increasing by an average of 0.51 deaths per 100,000 people a year. Without the increase in the rate, the total deaths from suicide each year in the United States would have been lower by about 1,500, the study said. Every rise of 1 percent in unemployment was accompanied by an increase in the suicide rate of roughly 1 percent, researchers found. A similar correlation has been found in some European countries since the recession. (The New York Times, 11/4/12)

64 Percent of Students with Mental Health Problems Withdraw from College-Survey: Sixty-four percent of students who experience mental health problems in college end up withdrawing from school, a new national survey shows. Conducted by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the survey found that most of the students who withdrew because of mental health problems suffered from depression, bipolar disorder or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Forty-five percent of them did not receive academic accommodations (such as tutoring, books on tape, lower course loads or help communicating with professors). However, it is unclear whether they requested those services and half did not seek mental health services, sometimes because they were unaware of them. Thirty-eight percent of all respondents, regardless of whether they dropped out, said they did not know how to access accommodations. (Inside Higher Ed, 10/30/12)

Self-Harm in Adolescents May Not Be Linked to Mental Illness-Researchers: Young people who intentionally harm themselves aren't necessarily demonstrating signs of mental illness, according to Swedish researchers. A survey of 1,000 young people in southern Sweden found that 40 percent of them had purposefully injured themselves at some point. However, only a small minority injured themselves o on a regular basis compared to adults dealing with mental health issues. "For many of these young people, the behavior seems to be fairly mild and often of a temporary nature," said psychologist Jonas Bjärehedhe, who headed the study. "It may be viewed as a matter of experimentation or problems that are not of a serious nature." (PsychCentral, 11/5/12)

Study Causes Disagreement Over Whether Common Antidepressants Too Risky During Pregnancy: A new review finds women who take a particular class of antidepressants during pregnancy may be risking the health of their developing fetus, and the risk may outweigh any benefit to the mother. But some experts disagree with the findings. The use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) while pregnant can increase the risk of miscarriage, preterm birth, pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia and neurobehavioral problems such as autism later in life, researchers report in Human Reproduction. However, others disagreed with the findings. Dr. Beatriz Currier, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine, said there is no blanket recommendation as to how best to treat depression during pregnancy and "every woman who presents to a clinician has to undergo a case-by-case analysis of the benefits and risks of antidepressant therapy." Currier also said that there is "no conclusive data about an increased risk of miscarriage being associated with antidepressants." (HealthDay News, 10/31/12)

IN DEPTH

The New York Times examines the stigma of mental illness among athletes.

The Huffington Post on "Recognizing Mental Health as Public Health."

California Healthline reports on a new "Holistic Approach to Mental Illness in Los Angeles."

The New York Times reports on a research project that for almost two decades has closely tracked the lives of more than 1,800 youths in Chicago.

Latest Research

Mental Health Visits, Antipsychotics Increase Schizophrenics' Life Expectancy: People with schizophrenia are likely to live a significantly longer life if they if they take their antipsychotic drugs on schedule, avoid extremely high doses and also regularly see a mental health professional, according to new research. Published in Schizophrenia Bulletin, the study found that in patients who had 90 percent or better compliance with their medication schedules, the risk of death was 25 percent lower, compared to those who were less than 10% compliant. They also noted that taking medication did not increase the risk of death and there was a trend toward reducing the mortality rate. The researchers analyzed data collected between 1994 through 2004 on 2,100 adult Maryland Medicaid beneficiaries with schizophrenia. (ScienceBlog, 11/1/12)

Genetic Marker Associated with Smoking May Be Linked to ADHD: A genetic marker previously identified as associated with smoking may also be linked to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a new study. Researchers from McGill University in Montreal performed family-based association tests on 454 children (aged 6 to 12 years) with ADHD to investigate five top single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in different genes that are highly associated with different dimensions of smoking behavior in relation to ADHD. Published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, the study found that one SNP correlated significantly with overall ADHD diagnosis. (HealthDay News, 10/31/12)

MORE NEWS AND VIEWS

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Mental Health in the Headlines is produced weekly by Mental Health America. Staff: Steve Vetzner, senior director, Media Relations.

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