Mental Health in the News...

Week of February 18, 2008

*DID YOU KNOW?
…Caregivers tending to ill loved ones face an emotional toll that can affect the quality of care they provide. More

*TODAY´S NEWS
Support for “Socialized Medicine” Split Down Partisan LinesThe split in support for “socialized medicine” among Americans is largely based on partisanship, with Democrats generally voicing support for the concept and Republicans voicing opposition, the results of a Harvard School of Public Health survey shows. Seventy percent of respondents said that they understood “socialized medicine” to mean that the government ensures that everyone has health insurance. Overall, 34 percent of respondents said that such as system would be better than what the United States has now; 39 percent said it would be worse. (Reuters, 2/14/08)

Explanation, Motives Sought for Recent College ShootingsSteven Kazmierczak, who shot and killed five students at Northern Illinois University last week, apparently resisted the idea of having a mental illness. "He never wanted to identify with being mentally ill," his mother said. "That was part of the problem." His parents had placed him in a residential treatment center after he graduated from high school because he had become "unruly" at home and had resisted taking his medications. He had stopped taking his medications two weeks before the shootings. (The Baltimore Sun/The Associated Press, 2/17/08)

Suicide Prevention Efforts in Tenn. Refocus to Include Middle-AgedMost Tennessee residents who die as a result of suicide are white, middle-aged men, according to a series of articles highlighting the state of suicide and suicide prevention efforts in Tennessee. A significant challenge to these efforts is the stigma that still surrounds the issue of suicide, especially among middle-aged men who more than likely grew up regarding suicide as a taboo subject. Another problem, according to experts, is that many outreach programs designed to reduce suicide have traditionally focused on either much younger or much older residents. (Chattanooga Times Free Press, 2/18/08)

Latest Research
Low-income Teens More Likely Than Others to Cite Mental Health Importance: When asked to assess their own health, most teenagers consider any number of factors, researchers report in the journal Pediatrics. Teens from low-income families, however, are more likely than teens from high-income families to include mental health factors in making their personal health assessment. And, the researchers found, low-income teens who’ve received mental health treatment are more likely than their higher-income peers to report good overall health. These teens’ parents, though, are likely to view their kids’mental health treatment as a sign of poor overall health. (Reuters, 2/14/08)

Smoking Deaths in India Caused by Tuberculosis: Smoking kills about 1 million of the 120 million people in India who smoke in a given year, a study in the New England Journal of Medicine indicates. Unlike Americans and Europeans who primarily die of smoking-related cancer and emphysema, however, the primary cause of death among Indians who smoke is tuberculosis. Their cigarettes apparently damage the lungs to such a degree that an otherwise latent tuberculosis infection can no longer be contained, the researchers concluded. (Reuters, 2/13/08)

Caregivers Face Emotional Toll: Providing care to men who have prostate cancer can exact a toll on the emotional health of wives and others who provide that care, a study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology indicates. This toll includes anxiety, depression, substantial fatigue and bodily pain. Because these symptoms and problems can interfere in the quality of care that they can provide, ensuring that these caregivers get the emotional help that they need is not just important for their own health, the researchers write, but also for the health of their loved ones with cancer. (Reuters, 2/13/08)

Drug Warning Highlights Smoking Habits of People With Mental Illnesses: Word that a smoking-cessation drug may cause erratic and suicidal behavior among some people highlights the strength of nicotine addiction, a columnist, Melinda Beck, writes. Stopping smoking can cause severe depression, particularly among those who’ve had depression before, she notes. And, 44 percent of all cigarettes smoked in the United States are smoked by people who have been diagnosed with mental health disorders. What prompted the warnings about the drug, Chantix, however, were studies that didn’t involve people who had been diagnosed with psychological problems. (WSJ.com, 2/18/08)

Pollution Affects Kids’ Intelligence: The more heavily exposed children are in their neighborhoods to air pollution in general and black carbon, a component of vehicle exhaust, in particular, the lower their scores on several intelligence tests, researcher report in the American Journal of Epidemiology. The effect on kids’ intelligence is similar to that found among kids whose mothers smoked 10 cigarettes a day while pregnant or kids who’ve been exposed to lead, the researchers said. Pollution may harm intelligence by causing inflammation and oxidative damage to the brain, they said. (Reuters, 2/15/08)