Mental Health

In a 398-1 vote, the House approved legislation that would remove the word "lunatic" wherever it appears in United States law. The only "no" vote came from Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas).

"The term lunatic derives from the Latin word for moon," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) said on the House floor. "Before the modern era, it was used to describe a person who suffers from mental disease because of the belief that lunar cycles have an impact on brain function.

The House this week is expected to follow the Senate's lead and approve legislation that would remove the word "lunatic" from U.S. law.

Members could approve the 21st Century Language Act, S. 2367, as early as Tuesday, when they plan to start work on six other suspension bills.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius praised a new national strategy against suicide Monday, saying the effort is especially needed among younger people and veterans.

"In the 1990s, we saw a slow but steady decline in the number of Americans lost to suicide. But since then, suicide rates have begun to rise once again," Sebelius said in a speech.

"Thanks to this strategy ... we have a clear roadmap" for curbing the trend, she said. 

President Obama will sign an executive order Friday to make improvements to mental healthcare and suicide prevention services for veterans, which he will announce in a speech at Fort Bliss in Texas.

The executive order instructs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to hire 800 peer-to-peer support counselors for mental healthcare and to increase the VA veteran crisis line's capacity by 50 percent before the end of the year.

The order also tells the VA to work with the Defense Department to develop a national suicide prevention campaign, and for the VA, DOD and Health and Human Services to conduct a study about the causes and treatments of post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.

Adolescent girls reported experiencing depression at three times the rate of their male peers over a recent period, a government study found.

Twelve percent of girls ages 12 to 17 said they experienced a "major depressive episode" compared with 4.5 percent of boys, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

SAMHSA noted that the rate of depression among girls appeared to triple between the ages of 12 and 15 from 5.1 percent to 15.2 percent.

Report: Nation not ready to meet elderly patients' mental healthcare needs.

The CDC has tips for surviving a wedding.

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Gates Foundation to pledge funds for contraception.

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Quitting smoking might add more weight than previously thought.

The bill from Sens. Kerry and Grassley would also expand the mental health services available to young people on Medicaid.

The California Senate passed a bill Wednesday to ban therapies that aim to "reverse" homosexuality in children and teens, Reuters reports.

At The Washington Post, Sarah Kliff looks at several studies that shed light on sex-selective abortion in the United States. The House will vote Thursday on a controversial bill that aims to ban the practice.

Healthcare costs will rise at three times the projected rate of inflation in 2013, according to a new report, though premiums might see less rapid growth. Reuters has more.

Federal regulators are refusing to allow the corn industry to rename much-maligned "high fructose corn syrup," Agence France-Presse reports.

New York City is planning to ban the sale of sodas and sugary drinks that are larger than 16 fluid ounces, The New York Times reports.

Sen. Conrad says eliminating the word would reduce the stigmatization of mental-health conditions.

One in five Americans — 45.9 million adults — suffered from some form of mental illness in 2010, the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration says in a new report released Thursday.

The report found that the rate of mental illness was more than twice as high among young adults through age 25 (29.9 percent) than for people 50 and over (14.3 percent). Women were also more likely than men to have experienced mental illness in 2010, 23 percent versus 16.8.

The report also found that some 11.4 million adults — 5 percent of adults — suffered from serious mental illness in the past year, defined as an illness that resulted in "serious functional impairment, which substantially interfered with or limited one or more major life activities."