Publications on Mental Health Topics

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. ”

PTSD Symptoms Improve Most When Patient Chooses Treatment, by Traci Pedersen, Psych Central, Oct 21 2018.

“Individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who receive their preferred form of treatment — whether drugs or therapy — are more likely to improve compared to those who are randomly prescribed the non-preferred treatment...The findings show that both medication — in this case, sertraline (brand name Zoloft) — and a specific form of therapy known as prolonged exposure were each effective in reducing PTSD symptoms during the course of treatment, with improvements maintained at least two years later. But patients who received their choice of treatment were more likely to stick to their treatment program, showed greater reduction in symptoms, and even lost their PTSD diagnosis over time. ”

Restless legs syndrome linked with risk for suicidal thoughts, by Linda Carroll, Reuters, Oct 16 2018.

“People with restless legs syndrome may be more likely to think about suicide or to actually make plans to take their own lives, compared to people without the troublesome condition, a new study suggests. Typically, people with restless legs syndrome say that when they’re lying down, 'they have a creepy-crawly feeling in their legs plus an irresistible urge to move,' explained study coauthor Dr. Brian Koo, an associate professor of neurology at the Yale Medical School. 'That urge to move prevents them from staying in bed...'It’s entirely possible that the poor sleep is leading to depression and suicidality... ”

Omega-3 Supplements May Ease Anxiety, by Nicholas Bakalar, New York Times, Oct 11 2018.

“Omega-3 supplements may help reduce anxiety symptoms, a review of studies has concluded. The analysis, in JAMA Network Open, concluded that people with clinically diagnosed anxiety disorders who took large doses of the supplement — up to 2,000 milligrams a day — benefited most...omega-3 is not a first-line treatment for anxiety, or a substitute for other evidence-based therapies. 'But for patients who are not responsive to psychotherapies, omega-3 might be a promising alternative.' ”

LGBT youth at higher risk for suicide attempts, by Linda Carroll, Reuters, Oct 8 2018.

“LGBT adolescents are more likely than other kids their age to try to kill themselves, a new analysis confirms. Data pooled from 35 earlier studies show that sexual minority youth were more than three times as likely to attempt suicide as heterosexual peers, researchers report in JAMA Pediatrics. Transsexual youth were at highest risk, nearly six times as likely to attempt suicide as heterosexual peers, researchers reported. ”

Teen Cannabis Use Linked to Impaired Cognitive Development, by Janice Wood, Psych Central, Oct 7 2018.

“A new study shows that the lasting effects of adolescent cannabis use can be observed on important cognitive functions and appear to be more pronounced than those observed for alcohol...'While many studies have reported group differences in cognitive performance between young users and non-users, what had yet to be established was the causal and lasting effects of teen substance use on cognitive development,' said Jean-François G. Morin, co-author and a Ph.D. student at the Université de Montréal. ”

Study: Lingering illnesses can trouble women for years after assault, workplace harassment, by Laura Geggel, Washington Post, Oct 6 2018.

“Women can experience lingering health problems years after workplace sexual harassment or sexual assault, a new study finds. These health problems can include high blood pressure, poor-quality sleep, anxiety and symptoms of depression, the researchers found after doing medical exams of about 300 women. 'There is a clear correlation between the experience of sexual harassment or sexual assault for a woman and adverse effects on her life, be they physical or mental health consequences,' said Maureen Sayres Van Niel, a women’s psychiatrist practicing in Cambridge, Mass., and president of the American Psychiatric Association Women’s Caucus. She was not involved with the study. ”

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. ”

Video-conferencing brings therapists to patients with anxiety, by Cheryl Platzman Weinstock, Reuters, Sep 25 2018.

“Talk therapy for anxiety disorders can be effective even when done via video-conference, a new study confirms. This finding could be especially helpful for patients in underserved and rural areas, researchers write in Family Practice...Fourteen of the studies reported statistically significant improvements in anxiety and 11 reported clinically significant improvements, meaning the improvements made a difference in patients’ daily lives. Four of the six gold-standard trials found statistically significant improvements with video therapy, and five of the six found clinically significant improvements. ”