Mental Health in the News...

Mental Health in the Headlines: Week of February 11, 2008


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.


*DID YOU KNOW?
…Nature and nurture together play a role in the development of mental illnesses. More


*TODAY´S NEWS
Health Groups Oppose President’s Budget ProposalMany health-related nonprofit organizations have expressed opposition to President Bush’s proposed FY09 budget and said they will look to Congress to ensure that health programs and agencies have sufficient funding. The budget proposal, which Bush released last week, would cut the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention budget by 7 percent and would provide less money this year to the Medicaid and Medicare programs. Although both the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration would get funding increases, critics of the proposal say that the increases would be less than the inflation rate, which would amount to a de facto cut. (Reuters, 2/4/08)

Marines, Navy to Add Mental Health Professionals to the Front LinesPrompted by studies showing an increase in the number of combat veterans with PTSD and other psychological problems, the Navy and Marine Corps plan to include teams of mental health professionals in combat zones to allow Marines and sailors to get psychological help immediately, or connect them to someone with whom they can talk. “Now is the time to adjust fire,” three top Marine generals wrote in a letter to Marine commandant Gen. James T. Conway. “We must shift the current direction of combat/operational stress control efforts to a more holistic, nested enabling strategy that provides a sound, unified approach.” (San Diego Union-Tribune, 2/10/08)


Chinese Officials Seek to Regulate Surgical Procedure Used on People With Mental IllnessesSenior Chinese government officials met last month to discuss regulating a surgical procedure performed in China on the brains’ of people who have mental illnesses, particularly schizophrenia. The procedure involves drilling holes in the skull to burn away some of a patient’s brain. Thousands of people have undergone the procedure in China, leaving many people with their mental illness intact but unable to use their arms and their legs, some say. The procedure is done in the United States, too, but it is very rare, and conducted after rigorous screening and never for schizophrenia. (The Wall Street Journal, 2/5/08)

Latest Research
Smokers’ Sleep Disturbed by Nicotine, Withdrawal Symptoms: Nicotine, which is a stimulant, appears to interfere with smokers’ sleep patterns in part by making it more difficult to fall asleep, a study published in the American College of Chest Physicians’ journal Chest, indicates. The study’s researchers found that smokers tend to spend less time in deep sleep than do nonsmokers and were about four times more likely to report that they do not sleep well. Smokers also appear to experience minor withdrawal symptoms as they slumber, which can also interfere with normal sleep cycles. (Reuters, 2/4/08)


New Studies Add to Understanding of Mental Illness Development: Two studies published in the Archives of General Psychiatry add to a growing understanding of how genetics and environment interact in the development of mental illnesses. The first found that adults who are abused as children and who have a variation of a gene that regulates a specific stress hormone are less likely than those without the variation to develop depression. Researchers in the second study found that children born to women who suffered major emotional losses early in pregnancy are more likely than other children to develop schizophrenia as adults. "It is not a question of genes versus environment. It is a question of how genes interact with whatever the environmental factors might be. And that is probably true of all of the disorders that we call mental illness," said National Institute of Mental Health Director Thomas Insel. (Reuters, 2/4/08)


Why Chronic Pain Can Lead to Depression Is Revealed: People who are in chronic pain may have high rates of depression and anxiety because areas of their brains that would normally be at rest are constantly active, a study in the Journal of Neuroscience indicates. "These findings suggest that the brain of a chronic pain patient is not simply a healthy brain processing pain information but rather it is altered by the persistent pain in a manner reminiscent of other neurological conditions associated with cognitive impairments," the researchers wrote. (Reuters, 2/5/08)

Persistent Depression After Heart Problems Linked to Worse Physical Health: People who have depression associated with a heart attack or severe chest pain a year after the heart event tend to be in worse physical health than are people who had similar heart problems but who didn’t have depression or experienced only fleeting symptoms, researchers report in the American Journal of Cardiology. The researchers recommend that physicians assess patients’ symptoms of depression during their initial treatment for heart problems as well as during subsequent follow-up visits. (Reuters, 2/5/08)


Suicide Risk Factors Common Throughout World: A large World Health Organization study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry indicates that the risk factors for suicide are the same in 17 nations but the likelihood of suicidal behavior varies from country to country. Overall, 9.2 percent of the world’s population has thought about suicide and about 3 percent have actually made suicide attempts. The researchers also found that while mood disorders are most often linked to suicidal behaviors in wealthy countries, impulse control disorders are more strongly tied to suicidal behaviors in less wealthy nations. (Reuters, 2/6/08)


Bullying Definitively Linked to Psychological Problems: Researchers have known for some time that kids who are the targets of bullies are at an increased risk for developing depression, anxiety and other psychological problems, but they weren’t sure whether the bullying itself or some other factor was responsible. A study published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine appears to answer the question. The study’s researchers examined sets of twins—with one sibling a bullying victim and the other not—and found that bullying itself can cause depression and anxiety. (Reuters, 2/8/08)


*Stay Up to Date With More News, Views and Tools
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Check out previous issues of Mental Health in the Headlines
Mental Health in the Headlines is produced weekly by Mental Health America. Mental Health America's Mental Health in the Headlines staff: Holly Seltzer, senior editor; Ken Chamberlain, researcher/writer; Jason Halal, manager, Media Relations; and Julio Fonseca, director of training for Healthcare Reform.


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