From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Author Christopher Lane believes psychiatry and pharmacology have set the bar for mental illness so low that almost anyone can trip over it.

In his new book, “Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness,” Lane tries to explain how this came to be by taking a close look at how psychiatrists rewrote their “bible” —- the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, known as the DSM —- during the past 30 years.

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Powerful antipsychotics used to subdue elderly; Huge Medicaid expense.

From the Wall Street Journal:

In recent years, Medicaid has spent more money on antipsychotic drugs for Americans than on any other class of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, AIDS drugs or medicine to treat high-blood pressure.

One reason: Nursing homes across the U.S. are giving these drugs to elderly patients to quiet symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

Nearly 30% of the total nursing-home population is receiving antipsychotic drugs, including 21% of the patients who don’t have a diagnosis of psychosis, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, known as CMS.

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In the Blue Room of the White House, beofre the Kennedy Center honors, from left, Leon Fleisher, Martin Scorsese, Diana Ross, President Bush, Brian Wilson, Laura Bush, Steve Martin (White House Photo)

Of the five artists to receive lifetime achievement awards at the Kennedy Center Honors gala this weekend, two have had disabling conditions.

Pianist and conductor Leon Fleisher for years lost the use of his right hand to a neurological condition and went on to record critically acclaimed one-hand interpretations of works by Maurice Ravel, Benjamin Britten and others. He has since regained use of the hand.

Brian Wilson, lead singer and co-founder of the Beach Boys, songwriter and music producer, has publicly discussed his depression and mental illness.

Other honorees this year were actor, comedian and writer Steve Martin; singer Diana Ross and filmmaker Martin Scorsese.

From Vanity Fair: The essays in “An Uncertain Inheritance: Writers on Care for Family” (William Morrow, 304 pages, $24.95), edited by Nell Casey with a foreword by Frank McCourt, are

“revelatory glimpses into the everyday agonies and occasional flashes of rapture caregivers experience.”

Melanie Lauwers, writing in the Cape Cod Times, says this collection of short stories and essays

… may help comfort you or inform you or simply let you see some aspect of your own life and be able to remark, “That’s so true.”

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Army medical study: Increasing numbers of returning soldiers cite relationship problems

From ABC News, Time Magazine:

One out of every five active-duty Army soldiers and 42 percent of Army Reservists who have served in Iraq cite mental health concerns months after they return home, according to a new Army medical study.

The study highlights the importance of mental health care for returning Iraq veterans in the months after they return home and the need to spot potential mental health issues early. Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) the study tracked the mental health of 88,000 Army combat veterans by comparing their responses in a mental health questionnaire filled out upon their return home with a second mental health screening three to six months later.

The study found that soldiers are more likely to report mental health problems in the second screening at “significantly higher rates” than in the initial screening. The mental health concerns include symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, mental stress and alcohol abuse.

Parents who seek help for behavioral problems are increasingly likely to walk away with a prescription for powerful drugs. But some experts counsel caution.

From the Los Angeles Times

In 2005, the latest year for which statistics are available, at least 2.2 million American children over the age of 4 were being treated for serious difficulties with emotion, concentration, behavior or ability to get along with others. It’s a figure mental-health professionals say has exploded in the last decade and a half, along with sales of a wide range of psychiatric medications for use by children.

A welter of studies has shown that kids are being diagnosed at younger ages, with a wider range of disorders and with more severe disorders than ever before. And in growing numbers, they are being medicated with drugs whose safety, effectiveness and long-range effects on children have not been demonstrated by extensive research.

Mental illness rates climb as relief efforts drag

From Science Daily:

According to the most comprehensive survey of people affected by Hurricane Katrina … the percentage of pre-hurricane residents of the affected areas in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi who have mental disorders has increased significantly compared to the situation five to eight months after the hurricane. These findings counter a more typical pattern from previous disasters where prevalence of mental disorders decreases as time passes.

… “It is important for mental health policy planners to have accurate information about the size of the problem they are trying to address among survivors of Hurricane Katrina,” says Ronald Kessler, Professor of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School and director of the study.