mental illness

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House Passes Mental Health 'Parity' Bill

Requires comparable insurance coverage for illnesses of body, mind

(Newser) - The House has passed a bill requiring most group health insurers to provide comparable coverage for treatment of mental illness and addiction as they do for physical illness, the New York Times reports. "Illness of the brain must be treated just like illness anywhere else in the body,"...

Super-Strong 'Skunk' Pot Linked to Psychosis

Officials debate reclassifying drug as seizures of potent dope soars

(Newser) - Seizures of a super-strong strain of marijuana nicknamed "skunk" have risen sharply in the UK and experts say it could be causing an epidemic of cannabis-induced psychosis, the Daily Telegraph reports. Skunk is up to four times more potent than regular herbal cannabis, and now accounts for 80% of...

Co-Pilot Cuffed in Midair After Breakdown

Toronto-London flight makes emergency landing in Ireland

(Newser) - An Air Canada flight from Toronto to London had to make an emergency landing Monday in Ireland after the co-pilot suffered a mental breakdown in midair, the Telegraph reports. The pilot started screaming God's name while at the controls of the Boeing 767; crew members removed him from the cockpit,...

Therapists Want End to Britney Diagnoses

Identifying mental illness through media inaccurate, dangerous

(Newser) - The media loves to publish experts' diagnoses of Britney Spears, but assessing a patient's mental condition from gossip columns is irresponsible—and it's giving therapists a bad rep, concluded some professionals at an American Psychoanalytic Association summit. "Brains don't have a checkbox," one analyst told the AP, but...

Homeless Vets Spark Outcry: Haven't We Learned?

1,500 back from Iraq now in poverty

(Newser) - Iraq war veterans are suffering from stress, turning to alcohol, and falling into poverty—a fate that prompts some to ask whether the US has learned from tragedies of veterans past. Washington has identified 1,500 Iraq vets as homeless and helped about a third, but echoes of Vietnam persist...

Army Lapses Led to Suicide of Mentally Ill Soldier

Rate at all-time high in Iraq, Afghanistan

(Newser) - Depressed and constantly reprimanded by his superiors, Pfc. Jason Scheuerman shot himself in his Iraq barracks in 2005—raising serious questions about how the military handles mental illness, the AP reports. Scheuerman's was one of a record 152 Army suicides in Afghanistan and Iraq, but his parents had to fight...

Omaha Shooter Led Troubled Young Life

He spent time in institutions for psychiatric problems

(Newser) - The Omaha youth who went on a shooting rampage in a busy mall spent much of his later teen years in institutions and foster care because of behavioral and psychiatric problems, CNN reports. Robert Hawkins' trouble began five years ago, when he was sent to a treatment center after threatening...

Iraq Vet Faces Life Over Suicide Try

Shrinks say she's mentally ill, but Army calls it 'psychobabble'

(Newser) - First Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside faces possible life in prison. Her crime? Attempting suicide in Iraq. At a military hearing this week, her diagnosed mental illness was spurned by superiors as an "excuse” and labeled “psychobabble." Suicide tries remain illegal in a military culture that scorns mental disorder,...

FBI's Mental Health Gun-Ban List Doubles

Addition highlights scope of 'background check loophole'

(Newser) - Spurred by April shootings at Virginia Tech, new reporting of mental health data has doubled the number of Americans banned from purchasing guns on such grounds, Attorney General Michael Mukasey said today. Nearly 220,000 names have been added to the FBI list, highlighting the data-sharing gap that allowed shooter...

Compulsive Shopping Linked to Mental Woes

Disorder affects both sexes equally

(Newser) - Nearly 6% of the population suffers from compulsive buying, which is often linked to other problems with control and mood disorders, according to research in the American Journal of Psychiatry. About the same percentage of women and men are shopaholics, and addicts are likely to be young, near the limit...

Education Staves Off Alzheimer's
Education Staves Off Alzheimer's
Oct 23, 2007 4:17 AM CDT

Education Staves Off Alzheimer's

But seems to speed progress of disease once it sets in

(Newser) - Higher levels of education help delay the onset of Alzheimer's, but once the disease takes hold, mental decline is faster among those with more schooling, researchers have found. Each year of  education is linked to a 2.5 month delay in accelerated memory loss, according to the study in Neurology....

Va. Tech Never Knew of Shooter's Disorder

Cho was exposed to ridicule for condition

(Newser) - Fairfax County school officials knew that the outcast student who shot dead 32 people at Virginia Tech had selective mutism, a serious social anxiety disorder that prevented him from speaking in many situations. But federal privacy laws blocked disclosure of that information to Virginia Tech, reports the Washington Post. 

Passenger Restrained After Midair Attempt to Deplane

Crew, other travelers duct-tape man to seat

(Newser) - A redeye flight from Denver to New York took a frightening turn yesterday when a passenger leaped from his seat and tried to open the rear door of a Frontier Airlines jet. Flight attendants and passengers then restrained the man by strapping him to his seat with duct tape. A...

Long Combat Tours Take Mental Toll
Long Combat Tours Take Mental Toll
Aug 3, 2007 5:48 AM CDT

Long Combat Tours Take Mental Toll

Brit Study: Alcoholism, post traumatic stress soar after 13 months

(Newser) - Soldiers who serve extended tours in combat zones have much higher rates of alcoholism, post traumatic stress syndrome and problems at home, a large British study has found. Of those in war zones for more than 13 months over three years, one in four had "severe" alcohol problems, compared...

Lefty Gene Found, Linked to Mental Illness

Southpaws run greater risk for schizophrenia than righties

(Newser) - A gene that increases the likelihood of left-handedness also boosts the risk of mental illnesses like schizophrenia, the BBC reports. Lefties’ brains often differ from righties’ in the location of controls for speech and emotions, scientists say, and the newly pinpointed gene appears to catalyze the switch.

Virginia Closes Lethal Gun Loophole
Virginia Closes Lethal Gun Loophole
Apr 30, 2007 2:19 PM CDT

Virginia Closes Lethal Gun Loophole

Executive order would have barred V.T. shooter from buying weapon

(Newser) - Virginia governor Tim Kaine has issued an executive order closing the loophole that allowed Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung-Hui to purchase a gun, the AP reports. Effective immediately, Virginians diagnosed as dangerously mentally ill will be added to a national database that gun-store owners use for background checks. The order...

Virginia May Close Gun Loophole
Virginia May Close Gun Loophole
Apr 25, 2007 6:04 AM CDT

Virginia May Close Gun Loophole

Governor's order would give more mental health info to dealers

(Newser) - Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine is considering closing the loophole that allowed Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung Hui to buy guns despite his dangerous and conspicuous mental illness. A judge ruled Cho mentally ill in 2005, but didn't commit him, so his records were not in the data base dealers consult.

Cho Diagnosed as Autistic, Say Relatives

Uncle in Seoul says parents didn't have money for treatment

(Newser) - Virginia Tech assassin Cho Seung-Hui's relatives in Seoul, tracked down by the  London Mirror, report that Cho had been diagnosed as autistic after arriving in the U.S. His grandfather's sister, Kim Yang-Sun, said Cho caused his mother "a lot of problems"  as a child and "never...

Privacy Laws Tie Colleges' Hands
Privacy Laws Tie Colleges' Hands
Apr 19, 2007 1:43 PM CDT

Privacy Laws Tie Colleges' Hands

Mentally ill students shielded by federal regs; parents, others can't be notified

(Newser) - Despite numerous red flags, Cho Seung-Hui was able to live in a Virginia Tech dorm and plot a campus massacre in part because the law limits colleges' ability to seek help for adult students who do not request it. Stalking complaints and a report that Cho was suicidal did not...

Docs Too Quick to Cry Depression
Docs Too Quick to Cry
Depression
Apr 3, 2007 6:58 AM CDT

Docs Too Quick to Cry Depression

Study finds almost any negative emotion seems to prompt medication

(Newser) - Shrinks are too quick to term patients clinically depressed, says a new study reported in the Washington Post. Researchers argue that a quarter of "acute grief reactions," the standard symptom of depression, may in fact constitute normal responses to stress; they blame the bloated psychopharmaceutical industry, in part,...

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