Publications on Mental Health Topics

Some mothers may not seek early help for kids with developmental delays, by Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, Oct 16 2017.

“When mothers trust their friends and neighbors more than doctors or struggle to access or afford care, they may be less likely to seek out medical help for young kids with developmental delays, a small U.S. study suggests...The study team interviewed 22 low-income mothers of African-American and Latino children up to 36 months old who qualified for Early Intervention...'Many mothers in our study experienced challenges accessing early intervention services due to logistical challenges or competing social and financial stressors that resulted in delayed or forgone care,' Magnusson said by email. 'These findings highlight the importance of supporting families throughout the referral process and helping to address their social and financial needs.'   ”

For some kids, bullying may not leave lasting mental scars, by Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, Oct 11 2017.

“Children who are bullied during their pre-teen years may experience mental health issues like anxiety and depression, but a study of twins suggests that some victims may not experience lasting psychological problems. .. At age 11, kids who reported bullying were more likely than children who weren’t victims of peer victimization to report anxiety, depression, hyperactivity, inattention and conduct problems, the study found. Some effects appeared to diminish over time, however. After five years, there no longer appeared to be a link between bullying and anxiety, but an association persisted for issues like cognitive disorganization and paranoid thoughts.  'Most children will get better,' said Judy Silberg, author of an accompanying editorial and a researcher at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.     ”

School Year Bias May Influence ADHD Diagnosis, by Rick Nauert, PhD, Psych Central, Oct 11 2017.

“Researchers have discovered that younger children in elementary schools are more likely to be diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) than their older peers within the same school year. The European study suggests that adults involved in raising concerns over a child’s behavior, such as parents and teachers, may be mistaking signs of relative immaturity as symptoms of the disorder...Investigators are concerned that adults may be benchmarking the development and abilities of younger children against their older peers in the same year group and inadvertently misinterpreting immaturity for more serious problems. ”

We Need to Talk About Kids and Smartphones, by Markham Heid, Time Magazine, Oct 10 2017.

“It seems like every generation of parents has a collective freak-out when it comes to kids and new technologies; television and video games each inspired widespread hand-wringing among grown-ups. But the inescapability of today’s mobile devices—coupled with the personal allure of social media—seems to separate smartphones from older screen-based media. Parents, teens and researchers agree smartphones are having a profound impact on the way adolescents today communicate with one another and spend their free time. And while some experts say it’s too soon to ring alarm bells about smartphones, others argue we understand enough about young people’s emotional and developmental vulnerabilities to recommend restricting kids’ escalating phone habit. ”

6 Ways Technology Can Help Mental Health Disorders, by Kirstin Fawcett, Mental Floss, Oct 10 2017.

“Mental health issues affect hundreds of millions of people around the globe; according to the World Health Organization, some 300 million suffer from depression, and another 260 million grapple with anxiety disorders. While researchers haven't developed any breakthrough mental health drugs in nearly three decades, new technological innovations are helping some patients connect with a therapist, get diagnosed, track moods, manage or mitigate symptoms, and stick to treatments. Here are just a sampling of them. ”

Older adults more likely to disclose suicidal thoughts as they age, by Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, Oct 4 2017.

“More than one in five older adults who commit suicide disclose their intention to kill themselves before taking their own lives, a U.S. study suggests. Overall, 23 percent of suicide victims age 50 or older shared suicidal thoughts with another person in the month before their death, the study found. Disclosure rates were higher among the elderly, and more common when people had chronic health problems or suffered from depression...'Healthcare providers, especially primary care physicians who frequently see older adults with health problems and depression, should routinely assess suicide risk along with access to guns and other means of suicide,' Choi added. ”

An Inner Look into the Minds and Brains of People with OCD, by Simon Mankin, Scientific American, Oct 4 2017.

“"Complex computer modeling demonstrates that obsessive-compulsive disorder patients learn about their environments but don’t use that information to guide their actions" ”

An Inner Look into the Minds and Brains of People with OCD, by Simon Mankin, Scientific American, Oct 4 2017.

“"Complex computer modeling demonstrates that obsessive-compulsive disorder patients learn about their environments but don’t use that information to guide their actions" ”

Will Technology Transform Mental Health Care? A Future Tense Event Recap., by Tonya Riley, Slate, Oct 3 2017.

“Though the impact our digital habits have on mental health may be increasingly grabbing the spotlight, there’s less talk about how these same technologies may one day be used to revolutionize how we treat mental illness.  On Sept. 28, Future Tense convened leading researchers in the field to discuss the ways technology is changing approaches to psychiatric study and care. The question at the heart of the discussion was: Are we on the verge of a new era in psychiatric care, or will these treatments go the way of other now-condemned methods? ”

For Children With Severe Anxiety, Drugs Plus Therapy Help Best, by Angus Chen, NPR, Oct 2 2017.

“Teens and children struggling with anxiety are often prescribed medication or therapy to treat their symptoms. For many, either drugs or therapy is enough, but some young people can't find respite from anxious thoughts. For them, a study suggests that using both treatments at once can help...Roughly 60 percent of the participants with severe anxiety that got both treatments were free of an anxiety disorder at 12 weeks when the treatment ended. About 25 to 30 percent of the participants with severe anxiety who only got one of the options had the same outcome. The study confirms what many clinicians have long felt is the best way to treat children with severe anxiety, says Strawn. 'For the most severe cases of anxiety, most prefer the combination treatment already, I think [based on] clinical intuition. It's just that we didn't have explicit data supporting that until this study,' he says. ”

Postpartum Depression: Signs and Resources for Help, by Nursing@Georgetown, Georgetown University, Oct 2 2017.

“'I was so excited I decorated the nursery months before the baby arrived. But when she came, it was not a dream. I had no energy to smile or even to cry. I didn’t even want to pick her up. This was not how I thought it was going to be, and I was ashamed of how I felt.'  Such sentiments are often expressed by women with postpartum depression (PPD), a serious condition that affects 10 to 15 percent External link  of new mothers, according to the Office on Women’s Health (OWH). The crippling sadness and overwhelming fatigue associated with PPD can disrupt a woman’s ability to care for herself and her child. By recognizing the symptoms and getting the right help from health care providers — such as Nurse-Midwives — PPD can be treated so a new mom can better enjoy her baby and this special time in her life. ”

Many Young Adults With Autism Also Have Mental Health Issues, by Tara Haelle , NPR, Oct 1 2017.

“Young adults on the autism spectrum are more likely to also have been diagnosed with a psychiatric condition, such as depression, anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) than are typically developing people or those with other developmental disabilities, a study finds. And managing those multiple conditions can make the transition to young adulthood especially difficult. ”

New Genetic Test Can Assess Alzheimer’s Risk, by Rick Nauert, PhD, Psych Central, Sep 25 2017.

“Researchers at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and University of California, San Diego explain that although the genetic variant APOE E4 has long been considered the strongest genetic predictor of whether someone is likely to develop Alzheimer’s, it is only carried by 10 to 15 percent of the population. Moreover, recent studies suggest its effects have been overstated.The new test calculates a polygenic hazard score (PHS), that provide risk estimates for the remaining 85 to 90 percent of people who do not carry at least one copy of APOE E4 but still have some combination of other genetic variants that put them at risk of Alzheimer’s...Autopsies of those who did develop Alzheimer’s showed that, even among those who did not carry a copy of the APOE E4 variant, a higher PHS was associated with a higher level of amyloid plaque — a protein aggregate that is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s — in the brain. ”

Women With Opioid Addiction Live With Daily Fear Of Assault, Rape, by Marta Bebinger, NPR, Sep 21 2017.

“In Cambridge, Mass., a woman named Kristin sits down on a stone bench to talk about a common but rarely discussed injury that's starting to grow along with the opioid epidemic: rape...It's an assault active drug users often don't report out of shame, distrust of police, or fear they'll be labeled a "cop caller" and have trouble buying heroin. It's an injury women say they can't figure out how to prevent. And it's one few doctors think to ask about, and thus rarely treat...One Boston physician says virtually all of her patients, mostly homeless women, have stories about sexual assaults. I wasn't aware of this until more recently but I'm just struck by how common it is. In fact, it seems ubiquitous," says Dr. Jessie Gaeta, medical director at the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program. Few emergency room doctors routinely ask overdose patients if they've been raped. Gaeta says this is understandable in the chaos of trying to save a life, stabilize the person, and persuade them to consider treatment. But she says screening must become routine, because there are many reasons to worry about a patient who's been raped. ”

Gun laws targeting domestic abusers tied to fewer homicides, by Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, Sep 18 2017.

“When people convicted of domestic violence or covered by restraining orders are not only banned from buying guns but forced to give up firearms they already own, they may be less likely to murder their intimate partners, a U.S. study suggests. Every year, more than 1,800 people nationwide are killed by intimate partners, and approximately half of these homicides are committed with firearms, researchers note in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Nearly all the victims are women.Over the past quarter-century, intimate partner homicide rates were 9.7 percent lower in states with domestic violence gun laws that kept offenders from getting or keeping firearms, and firearm-related intimate partner murder rates were 14 percent lower, the study found. ”