Publications on Mental Health Topics

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. ”

Suicide, at 50-year peak, pushes down US life expectancy, by Mike Stobbe, AP, Nov 29 2018.

“Suicides and drug overdoses pushed up U.S. deaths last year, and drove a continuing decline in how long Americans are expected to live. Overall, there were more than 2.8 million U.S. deaths in 2017, or nearly 70,000 more than the previous year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. It was the most deaths in a single year since the government began counting more than a century ago. ”

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. ”

Telemedicine surging in US but still uncommon, by Lisa Rapport, Reuters, Nov 27 2018.

“"Although telemedicine visits have increased sharply in the U.S. in recent years, the vast majority of American adults still receive care from doctors in person rather than via remote technology, a new study suggests.  [...] During the study period, 53 percent of telemedicine visits were for mental health visits, followed by primary care exams at 39 percent. By the final year of the study, primary care was the most common form of telemedicine. " ”

Meditation may help ease veterans' PTSD symptoms, by Lisa Rapaport , Reuters, Nov 27 2018.

“Some veterans may experience a sharper decline in symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with meditation-based therapy than with other forms of treatment, a recent study suggests. ”

Facebook Increasingly Reliant on A.I. To Predict Suicide Risk, by Martin Kaste , NPR, Nov 17 2018.

“A year ago, Facebook started using artificial intelligence to scan people's accounts for danger signs of imminent self-harm. Facebook Global Head of Safety Antigone Davis is pleased with the results so far. ”

Migrant Kids Survive Hardship To Reunite With Parents. Then What?, by RHITU CHATTERJEE, NPR, Nov 17 2018.

“US Customs and Border Protection reports that, between 2010 and 2017, officers with the agency intercepted roughly 300,000 unaccompanied children. Many had at least one parent or a relative already living in the United States — these young people came to be reunited with family.  But, that reunification is rarely as easy or joyful as the children or their parents expect, at least initially, say researchers and therapists who work with these families. Years of separation, a history of grief and trauma, and the stresses of suddenly having to adapt to a new culture often get in the way.  And the cost of unhappiness at home can be high for such youth. They may be be at a higher risk of depression, anxiety and substance-abuse, says Rachel Osborn, a licensed social worker at Mary's Center, a health clinic in Washington, D.C. And an unhappy family life can make it even less likely that those who are struggling in school will complete their education. ”

Concussions tied to doubled risk of suicide, by Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, Nov 13 2018.

“Survivors of traumatic brain injuries may be more than twice as likely to die by suicide as individuals without a history of injuries like concussions or skull fractures, a research review suggests...The current analysis focused on concussions and mild traumatic brain injuries and found these events associated with an elevated risk of suicidal thoughts and attempted suicides in addition to suicide deaths. While the exact reason for this connection isn’t clear, it’s possible that concussions and mild traumatic brain injuries lead to lasting changes in regions of the brain associated with regulating mood and decision making, the study authors note.   ”

States may now broaden mental health treatment under Medicaid, by Michael Nedelman, CNN, Nov 13 2018.

“The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services may now allow for states to pursue Medicaid reimbursements for short-term inpatient treatment in mental health facilities despite a decades-old exclusion, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced Tuesday. In a letter to state Medicaid directors, CMS detailed a new Medicaid waiver opportunity through which states may bypass longstanding reimbursement restrictions on inpatient psychiatric treatment, which apply to mental health facilities with more than 16 beds. Azar said the original policy has posed a "significant barrier" to people getting the treatments they need. ”

Time Spent on Social Media Linked to Mental Health Issues, by Rick Nauert, PhD, Psych Central, Nov 11 2018.

“Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram may be hazardous to your mental health. The first experimental study examining use of multiple platforms shows a causal link between time spent on these social media and increased depression and loneliness, according to University of Pennsylvania researchers. The link between the two has been talked about for years, but a causal connection had never been proven. In the new study,  collected experimental data connected Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram use to decreased well-being. ”

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. ”

Mental health diagnoses rising among U.S. college students, by Carolyn Crist, Reuters, Nov 1 2018.

“A range of common mental health conditions are being diagnosed more often in U.S. university students, according to a study that also finds students are more willing to seek help than in the past. Based on surveys of more than 450,000 college students at 452 institutions, researchers found that from 2009 to 2015, the proportion who report having a diagnosis or being treated has gone up for anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, insomnia, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and panic attacks...The study wasn’t designed to determine why diagnoses might be up or down, the authors caution. The results raise the question of whether college students’ mental health has been deteriorating, or whether it only appears this way because efforts to encourage students to seek help have succeeded, they write. ”

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. ”

When Adolescents Give Up Pot, Their Cognition Quickly Improves, by Rachel D. Cohen, NPR, Oct 30 2018.

“A study published Tuesday in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry finds that when adolescents stop using marijuana – even for just one week – their verbal learning and memory improves. The study contributes to growing evidence that marijuana use in adolescents is associated with reduced neurocognitive functioning...Researchers are particularly concerned with use of marijuana among the young because THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, most sharply affects the parts of the brain that develop during adolescence...The researchers found that after four weeks, there was no noticeable difference in attention scores between the marijuana users and the non-users. But, the memory scores of the non-users improved, whereas the users' memories mostly stayed the same. ”