Mental Health News

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In recent mental health news it seems that our small friends, the laboratory mice over at MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory underwent a series of harrowing foot shock treatments.  These electrifying tests were performed in order to allow their researcher handlers to find a way to halt the fear response. 

Fear and anxiety treatment in humans may soon benefit from what researchers learned from these little white mice.  Many mental health conditions such as PTSD and anxiety attacks are a result of our inability to stop experiencing learned fear from a specific traumatic event.  This happens a lot with soldiers returning home from wars.

The researchers recreated traumatic events for mice by placing them in an environment where their feet would be randomly shocked with mild currents of electricity.  Later they placed those mice back in the same environment without shocking their feet.  What makes this big mental health news? Well, the mice with elevated levels of an enzyme called, Cdk5, persistently froze up in fear even after they should have realized that their feet wouldn’t be shocked.  Other mice whose levels of the same enzyme were inhibited by researchers quickly got over their learned fear in the same environment. 

In people it’s possible that inhibiting this same enzyme in those who experience fear and anxiety can help them overcome their mental health issues faster.  Although so far this particular idea is still in the early stages of study, its possible that a drug can be created that will eliminate fear.

In current mental health issues, the army is trying to revamp their medical community to make them a friendlier and more understanding army for those suffering from mental conditions and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.  Readers who haven’t realized it previously will be shocked and dismayed to learn that the war has been very hard on American troops and up to 38% of soldiers and 31% of marines report some mental health issues after returning home from Iraq.  The stress is even worse on members of the National Guard as up to 49% of them report similar problems with PTSD and problems dealing with depression. 

This problem is expected to grow even worse with the growing number of deployments and extended time in Iraq for those already deployed!  It seems that the stresses of ill using ones troops have finally caught up with the Army and National Guard. 

This is a worse problem than it seems for the military to deal with since there is still a stigma in the armed forces against complaining about mental health issues and even admitting a need to ‘decompress’ after particularly stressful periods.  To combat this problem in the armed forces the military is working to institute what they call, better mental health assessments, stronger privacy protections and a ‘buddy system’ for those in the field.  If your partner gets that funny glazed over look in his eyes and doesn’t bounce back from threatening situations anymore, it may be time to suggest he head back to base for some quiet time and a counseling session. 

The military is also planning to loosen restrictions on security clearances by no longer asking about previous treatments for mental health issues in those who apply for a secret clearance.  I don’t know if that’s the best idea, but it’s good the army is taking the mental health status of their members into account now.