Publications on Mental Health Topics

For transgender kids, a frantic rush for treatment amid bans, by Sam Metz and Amancai Biraben , AP News, Apr 22 2023.

“Those who oppose gender-affirming care raise fears about the long-term effects treatments have on teens, argue research is limited and focus particularly on irreversible procedures such as genital surgery or mastectomies.  Yet those are rare. Doctors typically guide kids toward therapy or voice coaching long before medical intervention. At that point, puberty blockers, anti-androgens that block the effects of testosterone, and hormone treatments are far more common than surgery. They have been available in the United States for more than a decade and are standard treatments backed by major doctors’ organizations including the American Medical Association.  Multiple studies have shown that transgender youth are more likely to consider or attempt suicide and less at risk for depression and suicidal behaviors when able to access gender-affirming care. ”

Are you ready to forgive? A new study shows letting go is good for health., by Tara Parker-Pope, The Washington Post, Apr 20 2023.

“While the act of forgiving is often discussed by faith communities, Worthington has found that a secular approach to forgiveness also can be a useful strategy in improving health. He and his colleagues recently completed a study conducted across five countries showing that when forgiveness is taught, practiced and achieved, the result is better mental and overall well-being.  Worthington developed workbooks and included exercises and prompts that allow people to explore feelings of anger and resentment and learn to let go of them.  The latest version, which is free to download in five languages, promises that you can become a more forgiving person in about two hours, and includes thought exercises to help explore specific transgressions and work through feelings of anger and resentment. It’s based on the most effective exercises used in prior research, and has been condensed to save time and make the program more accessible. The randomized study, which was conducted among 4,598 participants in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ukraine, Colombia and South Africa, asked half the participants to complete the workbook exercises over a two-week period. (The other half were allowed to try the workbook later.) After two weeks, the study showed that the workbook had promoted forgiveness and shown a statistically meaningful reduction in depression and anxiety symptoms among users compared with the control group. The research is being presented this weekend at Harvard University at an interdisciplinary conference on forgiveness.  ”

Military veterans can now receive free emergency mental health care, by Haley Britzky, CNN, Jan 17 2023.

“As of Tuesday, US military veterans in an “acute suicidal crisis” can receive free treatment including inpatient care up to 30 days and outpatient care for up to 90 days.  The expanded care was announced by the Department of Veterans Affairs on Friday, and is meant to “prevent veteran suicide by guaranteeing no cost, world-class care to veterans in times of crisis.” Veterans who are seeking that care can go to any VA or non-VA health care facility, the release said, and they do not have to be enrolled in the VA system to receive care. ”

Social isolation linked to an increased risk of dementia, new study finds, by Kaitlyn Radde, NPR, Jan 17 2023.

“Socially isolated older adults have a 27% higher chance of developing dementia than older adults who aren't, a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers found.  "Social connections matter for our cognitive health, and it is potentially easily modifiable for older adults without the use of medication," Dr. Thomas Cudjoe, an assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins and a senior author of the study, said in a news release. ”

988 Lifeline sees boost in use and funding in first months, by Rhitu Chatterjee, NPR, Jan 16 2023.

“The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline received over 1.7 million calls, texts and chats in its first five months. That's nearly half a million more than the old 10-digit Suicide Prevention Lifeline fielded during the same period the year before.  Launched in mid-July last year, the 988 number is modeled on the 911 system and is designed to be a memorable and quick number that connects people who are suicidal or in any other mental health crisis to a trained mental health professional.  "We see the uptick in volume as an indicator that more people are aware of the service and are able to access it," says Kimberly Williams, the president and CEO of Vibrant Emotional Health, the non-profit that oversees the national 988 network of nearly 200 crisis centers spread across the nation. ”

For adolescents, social media might be a brain-changer, researchers say, by Madeline Holcombe, CNN, Jan 3 2023.

“Frequent use of social media could be reshaping how adolescents’ brains develop, a new study found.  Those who checked their platforms more often were more likely to be sensitive to general social rewards and punishments, according to the study published Tuesday. ”

Psychedelic drugs may launch a new era in psychiatric treatment, brain scientists say, by Jon Hamilton, NPR, Dec 27 2022.

“A study of mice found that psilocybin altered dendrites, the branch-like structures that extend from a nerve cell and receive input from other cells.  Dendrites form connections through small protrusions known as dendritic spines. And in mice that got psilocybin, the size and number of these spines increased by about 10%, which allowed cells to form new connections.  "When we give mice a single dose of psilocybin, we can see those new connections form within a day," Kwan says. "And then they can last more than a month," which is the equivalent of many months in a human.  Brain plasticity may explain why a single dose of a psychedelic drug can have a long-lasting impact on disorders like anxiety, depression and PTSD.  "It can be months or years," says Dr. Gitte Knudsen a neurologist from University of Copenhagen in Denmark who spoke at the psychedelics session. "It's a stunning effect."  These long-term effects have been shown with drugs including psilocybin, LSD and DMT (ayahuasca), Knudsen says. In contrast, most existing psychiatric drugs need to be taken every day. ”

Mental health-related emergency department visits and revisits are on the rise among children, study finds, by Jacqueline Howard, CNN, Dec 27 2022.

“Emergency department visits and revisits in children’s hospitals that are related to mental health are “increasing rapidly,” a new study suggests.  Between 2015 and 2020, mental health visits in pediatric emergency departments increased by 8% annually, with about 13% of those patients revisiting within six months, according to the study published Tuesday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. Whereas, all other emergency department visits increased by 1.5% annually.  Mental health revisits increased by 6.3% annually, but in general, the percentage of mental health visits that had a subsequent revisit remained stable, “which may reflect that the factors associated with revisit did not change substantially during the study period, even as the pediatric mental health crisis worsened,” wrote the researchers, from Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the University of Southern California and Boston Children’s Hospital.  The ongoing surge in pediatric mental health emergency department visits may be associated with “a combination of factors, including a worsening crisis of pediatric mental illness and shortage of mental health clinicians,” the researchers wrote.  The most common diagnoses among the mental health emergency department visits were suicidal ideation or self-harm, representing 28.7% of patients; mood disorders at 23.5%; anxiety disorders at 10.4%; and disruptive or impulse control disorders at 9.7%. ”

Nature may protect against Alzheimer’s and Parkinson's, study finds, by Martha Bebinger, WBUR, Dec 20 2022.

“A sweeping review of Medicare records expands on research that shows spending time in nature may reduce the risk of a hospitalization for  Alzheimer’s, dementia and Parkinson's.  The findings suggest a more extensive link for Parkinson's than for Alzheimer’s but show potential prevention benefits for both. ”

Justice Department warns of dramatic increase in ‘sextortion’ schemes targeting boys, by Holmes Lybrand, CNN, Dec 19 2022.

“At least 3,000 minors, mostly boys, have been targeted by financial “sextortion” schemes this year, a dramatic increase from previous years, the Justice Department announced in a public safety alert on Monday.  Using social media platforms, predators will, in some cases, start communicating with the targeted minor before moving the conversation to a different platform that primarily uses direct messaging, according to the department. Victims are tricked into providing explicit material, and then the perpetrators will demand money – sometimes thousands of dollars – threatening to release the images to family members and friends of the victim, the department says.  “The FBI has seen a horrific increase in reports of financial sextortion schemes targeting minor boys — and the fact is that the many victims who are afraid to come forward are not even included in those numbers,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.  At least a dozen victims have died by suicide as a result of these crimes, according to the department.  The schemes, which have primarily targeted boys ages 14 to 17 – though some as young as 10 – largely originated from West African countries, including Nigeria and the Ivory Coast, according to the department. It’s unclear if these cells of perpetrators are connected.  Wray said that the FBI needs “parents and caregivers to work with us to prevent this crime before it happens and help children come forward if it does.”  “Victims may feel like there is no way out – it is up to all of us to reassure them that they are not in trouble, there is hope, and they are not alone,” the director said. ”

After a record high, overdose deaths may be declining slightly in Massachusetts, by Martha Bebinger, WBUR, Dec 14 2022.

“The record-breaking pace of the opioid overdose crisis may be slowing, according to preliminary numbers from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. The agency estimated a 1.5% decrease in overdose deaths through September of this year, compared to the first nine months of 2021.  Last year, 2,301 Massachusetts residents died after drug overdoses, a 9.4% increase from 2020. State officials welcomed a decline, even if it is a small one. ”

Teen brains aged faster than normal from pandemic stress, study says, by Katherine Lewis Reynolds, The Washington Post, Dec 1 2022.

“The stress of pandemic lockdowns prematurely aged the brains of teenagers by at least three years and in ways similar to changes observed in children who have faced chronic stress and adversity, a study has found.  The study, published Thursday in Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science, was the first to compare scans of the physical structures of teenagers’ brains from before and after the pandemic started, and to document significant differences, said Ian Gotlib, lead author on the paper and a psychology professor at Stanford University.  Researchers knew teens had higher “levels of depression, anxiety and fearfulness” than “before the pandemic. But we knew nothing about the effects on their brains,” said Gotlib, who is director of the Stanford Neurodevelopment, Affect, and Psychopathology Laboratory. “We thought there might be effects similar to what you would find with early adversity; we just didn’t realize how strong they’d be.”  Premature aging of children’s brains isn’t a positive development. Before the pandemic, it was observed in cases of chronic childhood stress, trauma, abuse and neglect. These adverse childhood experiences not only make people more vulnerable to depression, anxiety, addiction and other mental illnesses, they can raise the risk of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and other long-term negative outcomes. ”

Alzheimer’s drug shows promise but needs more study for safety, researchers say, by Daniel Gilbert, The Washington Post, Nov 30 2022.

“An experimental Alzheimer’s drug moderately slowed the effects of the disease but was linked to patient safety risks that warrant longer clinical trials, according to a study published late Tuesday.  The study, in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that a drug developed by Tokyo-based Eisai and Cambridge, Mass.-based Biogen reduced a key marker of Alzheimer’s disease, the amyloid beta protein, and that patients who received the drug performed better on cognitive and physical measures than a placebo group. The companies funded the study.  The new details have been the subject of intense anticipation by doctors and Wall Street since Eisai and Biogen announced in September that lecanemab had slowed cognitive decline by 27 percent compared with a placebo. ”

How some therapists are helping patients heal by tackling structural racism, by Lauren Beard, NPR, Nov 25 2022.

“Many of the founding ideas, techniques and schools of practice of therapy were developed by white scholars or practitioners. As a result, the field has marginalized the experiences of people of color, therapists and patients say. Microaggressions are also pervasive in psychological practice, researchers note, and many immigrants report not attending therapy because of language barriers, a lack of insurance and high costs.  That's why Teng wanted to take a new approach. For her, that meant joining a growing movement of other counselors hoping to transform the practice of therapy, to make it more accessible and relevant to people of color and — ultimately — to help them find healing.  Teng was initially inspired by people like Dr. Jennifer Mullan, who refer to this work as "decolonizing therapy," a process of addressing the structural racism and other forms of oppression that keep therapy from serving many marginalized communities. ”

Don’t serve disordered eating to your teens this holiday season, by Katie Hurley, CNN, Nov 20 2022.

“The fact that diet culture all over social media targets grown women is bad enough, but such messaging also trickles down to tweens and teens. (And let’s be honest, a lot is aimed directly at young people too.) It couldn’t happen at a worse time: There’s been a noticeable spike in eating disorders, particularly among adolescent girls, since the beginning of the pandemic.    “As we approach the holidays, diet culture is in the air as much as lights and music, and it’s certainly on social media,” said Dr. Hina Talib, an adolescent medicine specialist and associate professor of pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in The Bronx, New York. “It’s so pervasive that even if it’s not targeted (at) teens, they are absorbing it by scrolling through it or hearing parents talk about it.”  Social media isn’t the only place young people encounter harmful messaging about body image and weight loss. Teens are inundated with so-called ‘healthy eating’ content on TV and in popular culture, at school and while engaged in extracurricular or social activities, at home and in public spaces like malls or grocery stores — and even in restaurants. ”