‘Public Health’ at Psychology, Philosophy and Real Life, Page 10

The UK Government’s response to the Joint Scrutiny Committee on the draft Mental Health Bill offers some hope but there is a long way to go before Government plans can be made into a workable mental health bill, the Mental Health Alliance said today. The Government intends to press ahead with plans to broaden out powers of compulsion and deny professionals the flexibility they need to offer people the right care and support.

The US Food and Drug Administration has issued new warnings about possible heightened risks of suicide in adults taking antidepressant medications. The warnings follow the FDA’s decision last year to require drug manufacturers to strengthen suicide warnings included on drug labels.

Governor Jeb Bush is aggressively defending a new law which will force Medicaid patients to try mental health drugs from an approved list of medications for which the State of Florida has secured special pricing, even if those patients are already stable on more expensive drugs.

Teenagers in the United States are being neglected, both medically and emotionally, according to the lead author of a new book assessing research on teen mental health problems. The book finds that while 20 percent of adolescents suffer from a mental health disorder, treatment does not feature as a priority on the US public health agenda.

New estimates suggest that bipolar disorder is over 4 times more common than previously believed, and that its cost in terms of lost productivity and higher suicide risk has been significantly underestimated, compared to the more familiar major depressive disorder. New research on lithium shows it is the single most effective psychopharmacological agent for reducing rates of suicide for those affected by bipolar disorder.