Mental Health

More than a quarter of higher-ranking enlisted soldiers showed signs of mental health problems after being sent to war zones for the third or fourth time, a sharp increase over those on their first or second deployments, according to a military study issued Thursday. The findings of a new Army report on the behavioral health of soldiers in Iraq are the first to quantify the stress of repeated deployments on combat soldiers.

The rampage carried out nearly a year ago by a Virginia Tech student who slipped through the mental health system has changed how American colleges reach out to troubled students. Administrators are pushing students harder to get help, looking more aggressively for signs of trouble and urging faculty to speak up when they have concerns.

Feel like you're going crazy? Maybe you need a day off. More than 80% of employees admit to taking "mental health" days from work to recover or recharge, according to a poll conducted by ComPsych Corp., which provides corporate counseling services. Almost a third said family and relationship issues were the cause, while 20% cited work-related stress and 12% being tired. The online survey polled 1,036 employees of ComPsych's company clients.

A teenager accused of plotting to bomb his high school is a straight-A student whose parents sought help from mental health experts after he slammed his head into a wall last week, authorities said Monday. Ryan Schallenberger's parents took him to a hospital three days before his Saturday arrest after he made a 4-inch dent in the wallboard, prosecutor Jay Hodge said at a court hearing.

A survey of 6,008 South Los Angeles high school students shows that many are frightened by violence in school, deeply dissatisfied with their choices of college preparatory classes, and -- perhaps most striking -- exhibit symptoms of clinical depression. "A lot of students are depressed because of the conditions in their school," said Anna Exiga, a junior at Jordan High School who was one of the organizers of the survey.

Adolescents who were adopted as infants are significantly more likely to have a psychiatric disorder than those who were not adopted, a study released Monday has found. The researchers -- emphasizing that most of the adoptees in the study were psychologically healthy and faring well -- the said that as a group those adolescents faced a greater risk for two psychiatric conditions: attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder.

The Long Beach Police Department did not deploy its pioneering mental health team Saturday night when an officer fatally shot a mentally ill Samoan American man as he left a neighborhood birthday party, a department spokesmen said Monday. Events moved too quickly to call in mental health experts to work with Roketi Su'e, 46, before he was shot near his Long Beach home, department spokeswoman Nancy Pratt said Monday.

Yesenia Rangel, 12, looked out her window on a Friday morning in February and saw several officers with the letters "ICE" on their sleeves. Yesenia immediately called her neighbors to warn them that immigration officers were outside their Compton apartment building. Then she watched in tears as officers handcuffed her father and took him away. During the three weeks he was detained, Yesenia said, her schoolwork suffered and she could barely sleep.

. -- Kristofer Goldsmith was so distressed about the prospect of returning to Iraq that he decided he was willing to kill himself to avoid serving a second tour. The Army had mandated an extension of his three-year contract, which had been set to expire, as his unit was set to deploy to Baghdad as part of the troop surge. The day before he was to ship out in May 2007, he washed down a dozen Percoset with more than a liter of vodka.

Popular mixed martial artist Quinton "Rampage" Jackson was hospitalized Wednesday for a mental health evaluation after acquaintances flagged down a patrol car outside his Irvine home, telling police they were concerned for his well-being. It was the second brush with the law in two days for Jackson, who lost his Ultimate Fighting Championship light-heavyweight title July 5 by unanimous decision against underdog Forrest Griffin.