Publications - Parenting/Caregiver Advice and Support

Even with insurance, getting mental health treatment is a struggle in Mass., study says, by Liz Kowalczyk, Boston Globe, Dec 11 2018.

“Massachusetts residents who need health care are colliding with a hard reality: Having medical insurance doesn’t guarantee you can get treatment, particularly for psychiatric problems. More than half of adults who sought mental health or addiction treatment in recent months had difficulty getting that care, according to a survey of 2,201 residents by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation in Boston...The obstacle wasn’t a lack of insurance; the vast majority of patients were insured. Rather, the problem was that providers either did not accept their insurance or their practices were closed to new patients. ”

Infections May Raise The Risk Of Mental Illness In Children, by Rhitu Chatterjee, NPR, Dec 5 2018.

“Researchers have traced a connection between some infections and mental illnesses like schizophrenia, depression and bipolar disorder. New research from Denmark bolsters that connection. The study, published Thursday in JAMA Psychiatry, shows that a wide variety of infections, even common ones like bronchitis, are linked to a higher risk of many mental illnesses in children and adolescents...For all mental illnesses — excluding depression and bipolar disorder — the team found that being hospitalized for an infection was associated with a 84 percent higher risk of subsequently being diagnosed with a mental health disorder at a hospital and a 42 percent increased risk of being prescribed a medication for mental illness. ”

Youngest Children In A Class Are Most Likely To Get ADHD Diagnosis, by Richard Harris, NPR, Nov 28 2018.

“The youngest children in a school class are most likely to be diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, when in fact their comparatively fidgety behavior may be due to their relative immaturity, according to a study published online Wednesday...Scouring a database of insurance claims encompassing more than 400,000 children, the researchers categorized children by their month of birth. And the report in the New England Journal of Medicine finds that the youngest children in the classroom — those born in August — were about 35 percent more likely to get a diagnosis of ADHD and to be treated for the condition...This result matters for the individual children who may have been inappropriately diagnosed and treated. "You want to be careful about starting a young child on this medication," Jena says. ”

Encourage teens to discuss relationships, experts say, by Carolyn Crist, Reuters, Nov 7 2018.

“Healthcare providers and parents should begin talking to adolescents in middle school about healthy romantic and sexual relationships and mutual respect for others, a doctors’ group urges...In middle school, when self-discovery develops, parents, mentors and healthcare providers can help adolescents build on these communication skills. As they spend more time on social networking sites and other electronic media, teens could use guidance on how to recognize relationships that positively encourage them and relationships that hurt them emotionally or physically...As doctors interact with teens, they should also be aware of how social norms, religion and family influence could play a role in their relationships. ”

Pregnancy high blood pressure linked to dementia decades later, by Cheryl Platzman Weinstock, Reuters, Nov 1 2018.

“Pregnant women who develop preeclampsia, a condition involving dangerously high blood pressure, have more than three times higher risk of dementia later in life than women who don’t have this pregnancy complication, researchers say...Women with a preeclampsia history had about twice the risk of early-onset dementia compared with no history. They also had a 50 percent higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and a 40 percent higher risk of other, nonspecific dementias. A history of recurrent preeclampsia in more than one pregnancy was even more strongly associated with dementia than when it occurred in just a single pregnancy. ”

Study: Most Psychoactive Drugs Taken During Pregnancy Do Not Increase Risk of Autism, by Rick Nauert, PhD, Psych Central, Nov 1 2018.

“New research finds that a mother’s use of antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs while pregnant does not place the baby at risk for autism. But the rates of autism were higher among children of mothers with worse general health before pregnancy, suggesting that the mother’s health plays a more critical role in a child’s development than the medications she takes. ”

Teens are smoking, vaping and eating cannabis, by Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, Oct 3 2018.

“Adolescents who try marijuana are not just smoking it. Many are also vaping or eating cannabis, a U.S. study suggests. Almost one in three teens have smoked cannabis at least once, the survey of 3,177 Los Angeles high school students found. More than one in five adolescents have consumed edible cannabis, and more than one in 10 have vaped it. In the study of 10th-graders, two-thirds of teen cannabis users had tried at least two forms of the drug, and about 8 percent had tried all three methods of consuming cannabis. 'This raises the question whether teens who have traditionally been at lower risk for use of cannabis and other drugs in traditional smoked forms may be drawn into cannabis in alternative forms that may lack some of the deterrents . . . like the smell, taste, and harshness of inhaling cannabis smoke and difficulty concealing use of smoked cannabis to authority figures,' said senior study author Adam Leventhal, director of the University of Southern California’s Health, Emotion, and Addiction Laboratory in Los Angeles. ”

Absence of Daylight Linked to Postnatal Depression, by Rick Nauert, PhD, Psych Central, Sep 29 2018.

“New research suggests women in late pregnancy during darker months of the year may have a greater risk of developing postpartum depression once their babies are born. The analysis suggested that the number of daylight hours a woman was exposed to during her final month of pregnancy and just after birth had a major influence on the likelihood that she developed depressive symptoms. Investigators discovered the lowest risk for depression (26 per cent) occurred among women whose final trimester coincided with seasons with longer daylight hours. ”

Breastfeeding might benefit babies by reducing stress, by Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, Sep 26 2018.

“Mothers have long been told that “breast is best” when it comes to feeding newborn babies, but a small experiment suggests at least some of the benefits may have nothing to do with the milk itself...While the current study in humans is small, and doesn’t span multiple generations, the results do suggest that nurturing behavior by human mothers can make their babies less reactive to stress...Bonding during breastfeeding may be a different experience than the nurturing babies get from bottle feedings, Wright said. It’s possible that the increased maternal bonding that occurs with breastfeeding may alter babies’ stress response and make infants more resilient when they have stressful experiences, Wright added. ”

How to Help Teenagers Embrace Stress, by Lisa Damour, New York Times, Sep 19 2018.

“Now that the school year is in full swing, many young people are feeling the weight of academic demands. But how much strain students experience may depend less on their workloads and more on how they think about the very nature of stress. Stress doesn’t deserve its bad rap. Psychologists agree that while chronic or traumatic stress can be toxic, garden-variety stress — such as the kind that comes with taking a big test — is typically a normal and healthy part of life...According to Jeremy P. Jamieson, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Rochester who studies how stress impacts emotions and performance, 'Avoiding stress doesn’t work and is often not possible. To achieve and grow, we have to get outside our comfort zones and approach challenges.' ”

Maternal depression can impact baby's physical and mental health, by Linda Carroll, Reuters, Aug 24 2018.

“Children with depressed mothers may end up with altered immune responses and at greater risk for psychological disorders, a new study suggests. Maternal depression may have a significant effect on the way children’s brains work, the researchers write in the journal Depression & Anxiety...Feldman and her colleagues determined that depressed moms had higher levels of cortisol and secretory immunoglobulin. Moreover, the depressed moms also displayed more negative parenting. 'Depressed mothers are less engaged, less empathetic,' Feldman said. They 'show more negative and inconsistent (mood). They are more critical and hostile and are less sensitive to the child’s non-verbal and verbal social communication.' ”

Frequent Home Moves May Increase a Child’s Risk of Psychosis, by Nicholas Bakalar, New York Times, Aug 22 2018.

“Children whose families move homes frequently may be at increased risk for serious psychiatric illness. Researchers followed 1,440,383 children from birth to age 29, including data on residential moves. They found 4,537 cases of psychosis, symptoms of which can include hallucinations and delusions. ”

Treating Teen Depression Might Improve Mental Health Of Parents, Too, by Rhitu Chatterjee, NPR, Aug 12 2018.

“An estimated 12.8 percent of adolescents in the U.S. experience at least one episode of major depression, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. According to previous studies, many of those teens' mental health is linked to depression in their parents. But new research suggests there's a flipside to that parental effect: When teens are treated for depression, their parents' mental health improves, too...When a parent sees their child struggle, it might affect their mood; when the child feels better, their spirits lift as well. Improvement in the child's mental health might also improve communication between parent and child, which might also help improve the parents' depression. The findings may help health care providers deal with the high rates of depression and suicidal thoughts among teenagers, notes Howard. ”

Families Choose Empathy Over 'Tough Love' To Rescue Loved Ones From Opioids, by Martha Bebinger, NPR, Aug 10 2018.

“It was Bea Duncan who answered the phone at 2 a.m. on a January morning. Her son Jeff had been caught using drugs in a New Hampshire sober home and was being kicked out. Bea and her husband, Doug Duncan, drove north that night nine years ago to pick Jeff up. On the ride back home, to Natick, Mass., the parents delivered an ultimatum: Their son had to go back to rehab, or leave home...Doug Duncan says many parents had told him to expect this moment. He remembers them saying their son would have to 'hit rock bottom; you're going to have to kick him out of the house...'Many drug users say, in hindsight, they've appreciated being forced into treatment. But studies show that a compassionate approach and voluntary treatment are the more effective ways to engage drug users in recovery and keep them alive. That's a critical consideration for families in this era of fentanyl, a powerful opioid that can shut down breathing in seconds. ”

Parents' spirituality or religion tied to lower suicide risk in kids, by Linda Carroll, Reuters, Aug 9 2018.

“Kids are less likely to think about suicide or attempt to kill themselves if religion or spirituality is important to their parents, a small study suggests. And that is true even if the kids themselves didn’t think religion was important, according to the results published in JAMA Psychiatry...More parents than children reported that religion/spirituality was of high importance to them, 45 percent versus 25 percent. More children than parents reported that it was of no importance, 15 percent versus 4 percent...For both girls and boys...higher importance of religion/spirituality in parents was associated with a 39 percent lower risk of suicidal thoughts and attempts. The same was not true when it came to parents’ attendance at spiritual services. ”