Publications on Mental Health Topics

U.S. suicide attempts up most among younger adults, less educated, by Andrew M. Seaman, Reuters, Sep 13 2017.

“Young adults with low levels of education and people with mental health disorders bore the greatest burden of a recent increase in suicide attempts in the U.S., a new study shows...For the new study, the researchers analyzed survey data collected in 2004-2005 and 2012-2013. Nearly 70,000 U.S. adults were asked the same questions during those two periods...In both surveys, most suicide attempts occurred among women and people younger than age 50. ”

Antenatal Exposure to Antidepressant and Risk of Psychiatric Illness in the Child, by Ruta Nonacs, MD PhD, MGH Center For Women's Mental Health, Sep 11 2017.

“When we provide consultations regarding the use of antidepressants during pregnancy, one of the most difficult questions we have to answer is related to the long-term effects of prenatal antidepressant exposure. Specifically, do antidepressants used by the mother during pregnancy affect the long term development of the fetus?  While many studies have attempted to look at the effects of prenatal antidepressant exposure on neurodevelopment and behavior, most of these studies have been relatively small and have followed children over shorter periods of time.  Thus, it is difficult to fully appreciate the long-term consequences of prenatal exposure to antidepressants.   The analysis of large medical databases have given us the opportunity to assess outcomes in larger numbers of children exposed to antidepressants during pregnancy.  A recent study, using Danish medical registers, assesses risk for psychiatric illness in children exposed to antidepressants in utero. ”

Dads Can Develop Postpartum Depression if ‘T’ Drops, by Rick Nauert, PhD, Psych Central, Sep 7 2017.

“Postpartum depression is a relatively common occurrence among females. Now, a new study finds that an elevation or a decline in a father’s testosterone level after childbirth may play a significant role in emotional health and relationship satisfaction...fathers whose testosterone levels spiked faced a greater risk of experiencing stress due to parenting and experienced a greater risk of acting hostile. Characteristics of hostile behaviors include showing emotional, verbal, or physical aggression toward their partners.  ”

Increased Risk for Suicidal Thoughts Among Transgender Students, by Rick Nauert, PhD, Psych Central, Sep 6 2017.

“Emerging evidence suggests school-based mental health services are urgently needed to protect against suicidal thoughts among transgender students...Nearly 35 percent of transgender youth in California reported suicidal thoughts in the past year, compared to 19 percent among non-transgender youth...The study also reports that higher rates of depression and victimization among transgender youth compared to non-transgender youth partly explain higher risk of suicidal thoughts among transgender students...Study authors explain that this research is only a beginning as the results may represent an underestimate of the gender identity-related disparity in suicidal thoughts.  ”

Maximizing children's resilience, by Kirsten Weir , American Psychological Association , Sep 2017.

“They call them "the formative years" for a reason. A wealth of research has shown that stress and hardship in childhood—such as that caused by abuse, neglect, exposure to violence and mental illness in caregivers—can alter the brain architecture of a developing child. Those physiological changes, in turn, raise the risk of cognitive and developmental delays, physical health problems such as diabetes and heart disease, and behavioral and mental health problems such as substance abuse and depression. Yet some people flourish despite those long odds, and psychologists are homing in on the factors that boost resilience...Researchers agree that, of all the factors that boost resilience, good parenting is often the most significant. 'The thing that makes the biggest difference, over and above one's genetic blueprint, is the relationship a child has with a primary caregiver,' says Philip Fisher, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of Oregon who studies early childhood interventions to improve the functioning of children from disadvantaged backgrounds. 'The presence of a supportive, consistent and protective primary caregiver—especially when the underlying stress systems are activated—is the factor that makes the biggest difference in healthy development.' ”

School Suspensions Tied to Poor Mental Health, by Traci Pedersen, Psych Central, Sep 1 2017.

“Children who are suspended from school are more likely to develop a range of mental disorders, such as depression and anxiety as well as behavioral disturbances, according to a new study published in the journal Psychological Medicine...The findings show that consistently poor behavior in the classroom is the primary reason for school exclusion, with many students, particularly those in middle and high school, facing repeated dismissal from school. Relatively few pupils are completely expelled from school, but the researchers warn that even temporary exclusions can exacerbate psychological distress. ”

Witnessing Parental Psychological Abuse May Do More Harm Than Physical Abuse, by Traci Pedersen, Psych Central, Aug 28 2017.

“Childhood exposure to parental psychological abuse — name-calling, intimidation, isolation, manipulation, and control — appears to be more damaging to children’s future mental health than witnessing physical violence between parents, according to a new study conducted at the University of Limerick (UL), Ireland...The findings, published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, show that young people who grew up in homes with psychological abuse only tended to have poorer long-term mental health than those exposed to both psychological and physical violence. The long-term effects of children seeing one parent being psychologically cruel to the other include anxiety, low mood, and low social functioning. ”

How Therapy Can Cure Overeating, by Claire Zulkey , The Atlantic, Aug 23 2017.

“Many struggling dieters actually suffer from binge eating disorder, and could manage their condition—and lose weight—with the help of a psychologist...One out of every 35 adults suffers from binge eating disorder, almost twice the combined rate for anorexia and bulimia. It is characterized by repeated episodes of eating large quantities of food quickly and to the point of discomfort; a feeling of a loss of control during the binge; and guilt following the binge, but without any consistent purging behavior...The good news is that BED is highly treatable, particularly with the help of cognitive behavioral therapy...However, a 2013 study in Biological Psychiatry found that less than half of lifetime bingers receive treatment.  ”

Vision loss associated with cognitive decline, dementia, by Carolyn Crist, Reuters, Aug 23 2017.

“Hearing impairment is already linked to a heightened risk of cognitive decline in old age, and a new study suggests that impaired vision may carry the same risk...Regular vision screening of older Americans could help to catch people at greater risk of cognitive problems and dementia, the study team writes in JAMA Ophthalmology. ”

Preventing Teen Suicide: What the Evidence Shows, by Aaron E. Carroll, New York Times, Aug 17 2017.

“Rates of teen suicide continue to rise, federal health officials reported this month, with rates for girls higher than at any point in the last 40 years...The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has an evidence-based giude on how to prevent suicide as well. There are things the government can do, including strengthening economic supports, making sure families are more financially secure and have stable housing. The health care system needs to strengthen access to and delivery of mental health care, as well as improving our ability to identify and support teens at risk. There are things we as a society can do as well. We need to make things safer for teenagers, which includes reducing their access to the means they might likely use in a suicide attempt. Also important but more difficult, we need to promote connectedness and limit isolation. The best thing we can do for teens at risk is to prevent them from cutting themselves off from others...Our inability to address the issue of guns exacts a cost. There are about twice as many suicides annually using guns (more than 21,000 in 2014) as there are homicides using guns. ”

Suicides under age 13: One every 5 days, by Jason Hanna, CNN, Aug 14 2017.

“From 1999 through 2015, 1,309 children ages 5 to 12 committed suicide in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. That means one child under 13 died of suicide nearly every five days, on average, over those 17 years...By far, most children under 13 who commit suicide are boys: 76% of those who died in 1999-2015 were male...36.8% of the 5-11 set who committed suicide were black -- nearly double the rate reported in the same demographic group between 1993 and 2002.  ”

Drinking On The Rise In U.S., Especially For Women, Minorities, Older Adults, by Camila Domonoske, NPR, Aug 10 2017.

“More Americans are drinking alcohol, and a growing number of them are drinking to a point that's dangerous or harmful, according to a new study published in JAMA Psychiatry this week...They found that drinking, in general, rose substantially over that time frame. Problem drinking increased by an even greater percentage, and women, racial minorities, older adults and the poor saw particularly large spikes. The findings suggest 'a public health crisis,' the researchers say, given the fact that high-risk drinking is linked to a number of diseases and psychiatric problems, as well as violence, crime and crashes. ”

Victims of Sexual Assault Face More Risk of Mental Disorders, by Rick Nauert, PhD, Psych Central, Aug 10 2017.

“University of Illinois researchers report the trauma associated with a sexual assault places victims at increased risk of a wide range of mental health conditions. Investigators analyzed nearly 200 studies involving more than 230,00 adult participants and discovered the elevated risk was apparent regardless of how a researcher may have defined the sexual assault. Researchers found a history of sexual assault is associated with significantly increased risk of anxiety, depression, suicidality, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and bipolar disorder. ”

Few U.S. gun owners get training that includes suicide prevention, by Carolyn Crist, Reuters, Aug 8 2017.

“About 61 percent of firearm owners in the U.S. have received formal training in handling their guns, but only one in seven say it included prevention of suicide - the number one cause of gun deaths, according to a new study...Safe handling was the most common topic covered in training, with 61 percent of gun owners saying it had been included in their training. In contrast, suicide prevention was the least common topic - just 14 percent of gun owners said it had been part of their training... The low percentage of owners who have received training in suicide prevention is notable because there is a strong association between gun access and suicide, said Dr. Emmy Betz, an associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora. ”

Born this way? Researchers explore the science of gender identity, by Daniel Trotta, Reuters, Aug 3 2017.

“A consortium of five research institutions in Europe and the United States, including Vanderbilt University Medical Center, George Washington University and Boston Children's Hospital, is looking to the genome, a person's complete set of DNA, for clues about whether transgender people are born that way. Two decades of brain research have provided hints of a biological origin to being transgender, but no irrefutable conclusions.  Now scientists in the consortium have embarked on what they call the largest-ever study of its kind, searching for a genetic component to explain why people assigned one gender at birth so persistently identify as the other, often from very early childhood. ”