HealthDay (3/22, Preidt) reports, "Media coverage of mass shootings by people with mental illnesses may heighten the stigma that already surrounds people struggling with mental disorders," according to the results of "an online survey of nearly 1,800 American adults" appearing in the April issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association. The survey "also found that public support for policies to reduce gun violence rises after news coverage of mass shootings. Specifically, people who read a news story describing a mass shooting were more likely than those who did not read such an article to support gun restrictions for people with serious mental illness, and for a ban on large-capacity ammunition magazines," the survey found.

Psychiatric News (3/22) reports that former American Psychiatric Association president Steven Sharfstein, MD, in a piece that appeared earlier this week in the Baltimore Sun, emphasized that "while laws aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of people with mental illness, which are being debated in Maryland, would have little effect on the homicide rate in the United States, they could have a major impact on the suicide rate." Dr. Sharfstein "pointed out that 20,000 of the 30,000 annual gun-related deaths in this country are suicides." According to Dr. Sharfstein, "to bring down the gun suicide rate, strong barriers to availability of guns are needed."

Medscape (3/22, Gammon) reports, "Methylphenidate (MPH), a psychostimulant commonly used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), can help improve attention and reduce apathy in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD)," according to the results of a 60-patient study presented at the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry's annual meeting. "Interestingly, there was no correlation between attention and apathy in the treated individual - each parameter improved independently." The study's lead author "noted that the reasons for this are not entirely clear."

Medwire (3/22, Grasmo) reports, "Researchers have identified the Life Skills Profile (LSP) as a brief, reliable scale for assessing real-world functioning in adolescents with early-onset schizophrenia (EOS)." The study, published in the April issue of the journal Schizophrenia Research, "reviewed the validity of the LSP for assessing daily living skills in 53 clinically and pharmacologically stabilized adolescent patients with EOS (diagnosis of schizophrenia in 79.2% and schizoaffective disorder in 20.8%) relative to 53 healthy control individuals." In addition, "the LSP was...found to be a sensitive instrument for distinguishing differences in functioning among schizophrenia patients and healthy control individuals, correctly classifying 84% of the study participants."

Reuters (3/21, Kelland) reports that older men who father children may have an increased chance of having grandchildren who have autism, according to a studypublished online March 20 in JAMA Psychiatry.

The Boston Herald (3/21, McConville) reports, "Abused girls who go on to become mothers are three times more likely than their non-abused peers to have" a child with autism, according to a study published online March 20 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Medwire (3/21, Piper) reports, "Quality of life (QoL) is relatively good in patients with bipolar disorder [BD] after a first episode of mania," according to a study published in the March issue of the journal Bipolar Disorders. The 63-participant "study showed that perceived QoL, measured with the Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire (Q-LES-Q), in patients after a recent first episode of mania was, on average, at 70% of the maximum possible score. And this rose over time, reaching 79% at 18 months."

In a letter to the editor (LTE) of the New York Times (3/19, A26, Subscription Publication), Ronald Pies, MD, professor of psychiatry at SUNY Upstate Medical University and Tufts University, wrote, "Controversy surrounding the soon-to-be-released fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-5 - often called 'psychiatry's bible' - has cast a harsh light on psychiatric diagnosis." While some people "argue that current psychiatric diagnoses often 'stigmatize' or 'dehumanize' people struggling with ordinary grief, stress or anxiety," Dr. Pies argued that "for many patients, learning the name of their disorder may relieve years of anxious uncertainty." Dr. Pies concluded that "diagnosis remains the gateway to psychiatry's pre-eminent goal of relieving the patient's suffering."

MedPage Today (3/21, Neale) reports, "Major depression and exposure to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) during pregnancy were not associated with infant growth measures, a small study showed." During "the first year of life, infant weight, length, and head circumference did not differ between babies born to mothers with depression - either treated or untreated with SSRIs - during pregnancy and those born to mothers who were not depressed and who lacked exposure to the" medications