The Association between Mental Health and Violence among a Nationally Representative Sample of College Students from the United States

Objectives Recent violent attacks on college campuses in the United States have sparked discussions regarding the prevalence of psychiatric disorders and the perpetration of violence among college students. While previous studies have examined the potential association between mental health problems and violent behavior, the overall pattern of findings flowing from this literature remain mixed and no previous studies have examined such associations among college students. Methods The current study makes use of a nationally representative sample of 3,929 college students from the National Epidemiologic Study on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) to examine the prevalence of seven violent behaviors and 19 psychiatric disorder diagnoses tapping mood, anxiety, personality, and substance use disorders. Associations between individual and composite psychiatric disorder diagnoses and violent behaviors were also examined. Additional analyses were adjusted for the comorbidity of multiple psychiatric diagnoses. Results The results revealed that college students were less likely to have engaged in violent behavior relative to the non-student sample, but a substantial portion of college students had engaged in violent behavior. Age- and sex-standardized prevalence rates indicated that more than 21% of college students reported at least one violent act. In addition, more than 36% of college students had at least one diagnosable psychiatric disorder. Finally, the prevalence of one or more psychiatric disorders significantly increased the odds of violent behavior within the college student sample. Conclusions These findings indicate that violence and psychiatric disorders are prevalent on college campuses in the United States, though perhaps less so than in the general population. In addition, college students who have diagnosable psychiatric disorders are significantly more likely to engage in various forms of violent behavior

Commentary: Where and how could biomarkers be used in 2016

Since the beginning of the human genome project there has been considerable speculation about how this resource and the knowledge creation it enabled would change therapeutic discovery, development, and delivery. As the project neared completion, considerable claims and predictions were made about the changes that soon would be forthcoming. Many of these early predictions failed to materialize, however, leading to further speculation about the reasons, including the role of the pharmaceutical industry in realizing the promise of “genomic medicine”. During this same period, considerable strides were made in other areas of molecular biology and medicine, and in response scientific thinking naturally evolved. Researchers and regulators moved from a genotype-centric view to a view that all biomarkers are potential tools to improve drug development and therapeutic decision making. Molecular biology is now seen as encouraging more “personalized medicine”—the closer alignment of biological information (derived from molecular diagnostics) and therapy selection. Meanwhile, there are growing concerns that increasing expenditures in pharmaceutical research and development are not sustainable and not reaping sufficient gains for shareholders or society at large. Thus, there is new speculation about how biomarkers, personalized medicine, and the industry will interact and create value for patients. This overview seeks to explore the issues driving pharmaceutical productivity and the likely contribution of biomarkers in the future

Mental health and debt: challenges for knowledge, practice and identity

People with mental health problems (MHPs) in Britain are nearly three times more likely to report debt compared with individuals without similar conditions.With one-in-four respondents with MHPs reporting personal debt, this may be equivalent to eight or nine clients in the recommended national community mental health nurses’ (CMHNs) caseload of 35. Although client debt is not a new problem for CMHNs, it can pose significant difficulties for client well-being and nursing practice. This paper reviews the published literature on debt and mental health, then considers three of the challenges that client debt can present to: (1) nursing knowledge – moving away from understandings of client debt based on crisis, and towards those focused on process and prevention; (2) nursing practice – reworking the collaborative relationship between CMHNs and external debt advice agencies; and (3) nursing identity – managing the role conflicts that engaging with client debt can bring. The paper concludes by contending that nurses should raise and monitor debt issues among clients, but cannot be expected to become proxy ‘debt advisors’, with CMHNs being encouraged to increasingly collaborate with debt advisors (rather than simply referring on clients)