MENTAL HEALTH IN THE HEADLINES
Week of April 9, 2012
Mental Health in the Headlines is a weekly newsletter produced by Mental Health America, providing the latest developments at Mental Health America and summaries of news, views and research 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.
TODAY’S HEADLINE
Mothers who are obese or have diabetes are more likely to have a child with autism or another developmental problem…more
NEWS FROM MENTAL HEALTH AMERICA
Mental Health Month 2012 material now available: Go to http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/go/mentalhealthmonth2012.
IN THE NEWS
Study Finds Autism Risk, Development Delays in Children of Obese Mothers: Mothers who are obese or have diabetes are more likely to have a child with autism or another developmental problem, according to a new study. Researchers looked at about 1,000 mothers. Half of them had a child with an autism spectrum disorder, while the rest had a child with a developmental delay unrelated to autism, or no developmental problem. The researchers wanted to determine whether autism was more likely if a woman was obese, diabetic or had high blood pressure during pregnancy. They found that if a woman had one of these three conditions, the increased risk for her child was about 60 percent. The conditions also more than doubled the chance that a child would have some other developmental delay. The results, which are reported in the journal Pediatrics, suggest that obesity affects a mother’s physiology. They also indicate that both obesity and diabetes are affecting early brain development. That could be because these conditions are associated with inflammation in developing tissues, including those in the brain. (NPR, 4/9/12)
Ad-Hoc Task Force Calls for Changes to California’s Involuntary Commitment Law: An ad-hoc task force is pressing to change the California law that governs involuntary civil commitment to psychiatric hospitals. A state law, called the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act and passed in 1967, gave legal rights to those who previously could have been locked up indefinitely and treated against their will. But the task force—made up of family members, mental health professionals, judges and public defenders—contends that the law has failed those unable or unwilling to seek help. They are calling for sweeping changes that would allow the involuntary commitment of those deemed incapable of making treatment decisions, expand the use of conservatorships, lengthen involuntary hospital stays and standardize the checkerboard way the law has been applied from county to county. Many advocates argue, however, that only voluntary care can truly be effective. (Los Angeles Times, 4/9/12)
New Documentary on Bullying Sparks National Conversation, Rating Lowered: The new documentary Bully, which opens in theatres April 13, sheds light on the harmful mental health effects bullying can have. The film has sparked a national conversation about how parents and educators should deal with this nationwide crisis. The filmmaker and studio behind the documentary have also won their battle to have the movie's rating lowered, allowing viewers as young as 13 years old to see it. Bully follows five teenagers and families who have been impacted by bullying. (MHH Reporting, 4/9/12)
VA Short of Psychiatrists: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is short of psychiatrists, according to government data. Vacancy rates are as high as 20 percent in many areas served by VA hospitals. The vacancies occur at a time when the number of veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder is increasing by about 10,000 every three months. The VA needed to hire 266 psychiatrists last September. It took an average of eight months to fill each job, according to an internal report. (USA Today, 4/4/12)
Vermont Mental Health Overhaul Signed into Law: Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin has signed into law an overhaul of the state's mental health system. It calls for the 54-bed hospital in Waterbury to be replaced by a new 25-bed facility in Berlin, which could shrink to 16 beds depending on federal funding issues. The plan also calls for expanded psychiatric units in Brattleboro and Rutland and smaller and less restrictive community placements for people in need of mental health services around the state. (Associated Press, 4/4/12)
Scientists Identify Genetic Changes for Vulnerability to PTSD: Scientists say they have identified certain genetic changes that may make some people more vulnerable to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) than others. The finding could one day make it possible to screen people for increased risk of developing the disorder. In studying several generations of 12 families who survived the devastating Spitak earthquake in Armenia in 1988, researchers found that variations in genes that code for the brain chemical serotonin can affect how profoundly people are affected by trauma. Scientists took samples from the inner cheek tissue of 200 adults who survived the Armenian earthquake and conducted genomic analyses on three specific genes that regulate serotonin production. Two possible variations of genes that code for an enzyme involved in serotonin production were found that could contribute to this generational propensity to PTSD. Together, the gene changes may account for 7 percent to 8 percent variance in severity of PTSD symptoms. (Time, 4/3/12)
IN DEPTH
The New York Times reports on “Keeping Students’ Mental Health Care Out of the E.R.”
Salon posts an article by the author of the new book "Dosed: The Medication Generation Grows Up."
Time reports on the contention of Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, that food is addictive.
MSNBC remembers the late newsman Mike Wallace and his public battle with depression.
Latest Research
Exposure to Trauma Boost Inflammation Levels in Heart Disease Patients: Exposure to traumatic stress—even if it doesn’t result in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder—boosts inflammation levels in heart disease patients, according to a new study. Researchers, whose findings are reported in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity, looked at the exposures to 18 types of traumatic events experienced by nearly 1,000 patients aged 45 to 90 with cardiovascular disease. The more traumatic stress patients experienced in a lifetime, the more likely they were to have elevated levels of inflammatory markers in their bloodstream. When the surviving patients were checked again five years later, those who reported the highest levels of traumatic stress at the start of the study still had the highest levels of inflammation. (HealthDay News, 4/4/12)
People with Cancer Diagnosis Face Heightened Risk of Suicide: People who learn they have cancer face a heightened risk of suicide or a fatal heart attack in the days and weeks that follow, according to a new study. Using nationwide census and death registry data that covered more than 6 million people over a 15-year period ending in 2006, Swedish researchers tabulated the suicides and cardiovascular fatalities among people with new cancer diagnoses and compared them to similar deaths in those without cancer. The risk of suicide was more than 12 times higher for people with cancer during the first week after diagnosis and nearly five times higher during the first three months, researchers report in the New England Journal of Medicine. (HealthDay News, 4/4/12)
More News and Views:
Mental Health in the Headlines is produced weekly by Mental Health America. Staff: Steve Vetzner, senior director, Media Relations.
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