General Mental Health Articles
- If you feel lonely, you’re actually in good company: Nearly 1 in 4 adults across the world have reported feeling very or fairly lonely, a new Meta-Gallup survey has found. The new survey, taken across 142 countries, found 24% of people age 15 and older self-reported feeling very or fairly lonely in response to the question, “How lonely do you feel?” Read more here.
- The emergency department is often the first point of care for patients experiencing a behavioral health crisis. However, a trip to the ED is expensive for patients and payers and often isn’t the most appropriate place for patients. New models of behavioral health urgent care have begun to emerge. These models don’t replace EDs but offer an alternative way to stabilize patients and prevent avoidable inpatient behavioral health stays. Read more here.
- Care farms are agricultural places for people with physical or mental health challenges to process their emotions, while performing farming tasks and working with animals. Participants are able to receive formal or informal care to address things like anxiety, depression and grief. It’s a popular concept in Europe that hasn’t gained as much traction in the United States yet. But a new national network hopes to change that. The Zilberstein family saw how care farms can help through a rough time. Read more here.
- A great deal of emphasis is placed on the emotional and mental impact of dementia — but a new study from the University of Michigan highlights the financial burden it puts on families as well. Among people who were diagnosed with dementia, out-of-pocket health care costs more than doubled within the first eight years, researchers found. Dementia patients also experienced more than a 60% reduction in their net worth, according to the study findings, which were published in JAMA Internal Medicine. Read more here.
- Since child mental health professionals declared the state of youth mental health a national emergency in 2021, emergency department visits have shown some signs of declining but remain a concern along with drug overdoses and suicide rates. Meanwhile, Black youth have been in crisis for 20 years and there are no signs of improvement. The Biden-Harris administration recently announced that over $200 million will be invested in the youth mental health. But with no mention of race, I'm concerned the research and interventions pursued may once again leave Black kids behind. Read more here.
- An alarming rise in overdose deaths among children and teenagers is colliding with an inadequate pediatric mental health system — including a lack of addiction treatment. Why it matters: Limited treatment options and coverage gaps mean that many kids aren't getting needed care that could help prevent them from developing a deeper and potentially deadly addiction. Read more here.
- Dozens of states sued Instagram-parent Meta on Tuesday, accusing the social media giant of harming young users’ mental health through allegedly addictive features such as infinite news feeds and frequent notifications that demand users’ constant attention. In a federal lawsuit filed in California by 33 attorneys general, the states allege that Meta’s products have harmed minors and contributed to a mental health crisis in the United States. Read more here.
- Leo's doctor at Northwestern Medicine suggested he work with the Mood, Anxiety, ADHD Collaborative Care Program (MAACC). Leo's doctor prescribed medicines and Leo was partnered with a therapist. Leo, with a diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, then set off on the road to improved behavior, concentration and mental health. Leo's experience is not an isolated case. A children's mental health crisis in Chicago and across the nation that predates the isolation and chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic has outgrown the abilities of psychiatrists and therapists to treat it alone. Read more here.
- Children of fathers with postpartum depression were significantly more likely to experience at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE) at age 5, according to data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Among 1,933 father and child pairs, 9% of fathers experienced depression within the year after their children were born and 70% of the children experienced at least one ACE at 5 years, reported Kristine Schmitz, MD, of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, New Jersey, during the American Academy of Pediatrics annual meeting. Read more here.
- Veterans who are female, LGBTQ and served after 9/11 are more likely to have experienced recent serious psychological distress compared to other veteran groups, according to a report released this week. But while younger veterans are more likely to experience that distress, they're also more inclined to proactively seek out mental health services and drug or alcohol abuse treatment, according to the report. These post 9/11 vets are part of a generation that is more racially and ethnically diverse than prior groups of vets. Read more here.
- The number of suicides among U.S. military members and their families dipped slightly in 2022, compared with the previous year, as the Defense Department tries to build prevention and treatment programs to address what has been a steadily growing problem over the past decade, The Associated Press has learned. While the total number of deaths decreased overall, suicides among active-duty troops went up slightly, fueled by significant spikes in the Marine Corps and the Air Force. Read more here.
Health Care Worker Burnout
- Staffing shortages, more dangerous workplaces, aging physicians and the increasing politicization of medicine: The warning signs for America's burned-out health care workforce are all there. Why it matters: A strained health care system may be heading in a dangerous direction in the pandemic's aftermath, according to new data points and a blunt warning from the head of the nation's leading medical association. Read more here.
- Healthcare workers reported increasing numbers of poor mental health days and increasing feelings of burnout from 2018 to 2022, although these issues were less common among those who trusted management and had help from their supervisor, a CDC study found. "While usually health workers care diligently for others in time of need, it's now health workers who are suffering, and we must act," said Deborah Houry, MD, MPH, the CDC's chief medical officer, on a phone call with reporters Tuesday. Read more here.
- Long hours and high-pressure situations have long characterized the health care profession — but in the wake of the pandemic, many workers are facing new challenges with regards to their mental health. Health care workers are facing a mental health crisis, struggling with burnout, anxiety, and depression, according to a Centers of Disease Control and Prevention report published Tuesday. Read more here.
- Barely four years before a gunman’s deadly rampage in Maine, a state that is staunchly protective of gun rights, the governor signed a law aimed at preventing a mass shooting like the one Wednesday night that claimed at least 18 lives. It was called a “yellow flag” law, different from the “red flag” laws cropping up in other states to seize weapons from gun owners viewed as a threat. Read more here.
- As a 21-year-old who grew up in San Francisco, Mike Sodini was plenty uncomfortable at his first gun show in 1998. Sodini’s family ran a firearms business in New Jersey, but he was raised on the other side of the country by his mother. He knew almost nothing about guns, yet he was expected to step into the business after college. At the gun shows, Sodini saw a lot of tough guys, some who he would discover were quietly living with depression and other mental health challenges. Read more here.
The Opioid Crisis and Addiction Issues
- America’s drug overdose crisis is out of control. Washington, despite a bipartisan desire to combat it, is finding its addiction-fighting programs are failing. In 2018, Republicans, Democrats and then-President Donald Trump united around legislation that threw $20 billion into treatment, prevention and recovery. But five years later, the SUPPORT Act has lapsed and the number of Americans dying from overdoses has grown more than 60 percent, driven by illicit fentanyl. The battle has turned into a slog. Even though 105,000 Americans died last year, Congress is showing little urgency about reupping the law since it expired on Sept. 30. Read more here.
- Christina Buttery’s death is part of yet another grim reality of the corruption that grips the Georgia Department of Corrections. Prisons are supposed to be secure, drug-free zones that support rehabilitation. But an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation has uncovered a spike in overdose deaths that reveals in startling terms the prevalence of illicit drugs inside Georgia’s prisons. In 2018, two Georgia prisoners died from drug overdoses. Since then, the number has grown dramatically. Between 2019 and 2022, at least 49 Georgia prisoners died from overdoses. Read more here.
- The White House on Wednesday requested $1.55 billion from Congress to address illicit fentanyl driving overdose deaths across the country as part of a broader funding package. The funds sought by the Biden administration would be included alongside money for grants to states, territories and tribes through a Department of Health and Human Services program that aims to help strengthen addiction treatment, overdose prevention measures and recovery support services. Read more here.
- Millions more Americans had difficulty securing enough food in 2022 compared to the year prior, including 1 million more households with children, a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) showed on Wednesday. The increase interrupted a years-long trend of declining hunger in the United States. Previous reports from food banks and the U.S. Census Bureau have indicated that hunger is increasing as low-income Americans struggle to recover from the pandemic and from the end of expanded food assistance. Read more here.
Health Insurance and Medical Debt
- As health care costs continue to rise, more than half of working-age Americans said they've struggled to afford care this year, according to a new Commonwealth Fund survey. Why it matters: The survey is the latest evidence of how people with insurance are struggling to pay medical bills, forcing them to forgo or delay needed care. By the numbers: Nearly a third of adults reported having medical or dental debt, and nearly half of them said it's at least $2,000. Read more here.
- Half of working-age Americans struggle to pay for healthcare and one in three owes money to a hospital, doctor or other healthcare provider, a new survey shows. The survey by The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that focuses on equitable access to healthcare, also reports that nearly two in five people skipped or delayed needed medical care or didn't fill a prescription in the past year because they couldn't afford the bills. The survey revealed that even people who get health insurance through the workplace or elsewhere often can't afford health costs. The financial strain of paying for rising healthcare costs has made Americans sicker and often put them in debt, said Sara Collins, a senior scholar and vice president at the New York-based foundation. Read more here.
- Is maternal ambient air pollution exposure associated with increased risks of postpartum depression (PPD)? Findings - In this cohort study of 340 679 pregnant women, antepartum and postpartum exposures to ozone, particulate matter less than or equal to 10 μm, and particulate matter less than or equal to 2.5 μm and its constituents (organic matter and black carbon) were associated with increased risks of PPD. Read more here.
- What are the treatment rates for mental disorders among children and adolescents? Meaning - This study suggests that the treatment rates of mental disorders among children and adolescents were generally low, especially for depression and anxiety; targeted interventions are needed to improve this situation. Read more here.
- What are the underlying patterns of the multidimensional social determinants of health (SDOH), and what are their associations with individual mental health, cognition, and physical health outcomes in children? Meaning - The SDOH patterns analyzed in this study were able to capture and quantify the multidimensional nature of SDOH that children experience, and the finding that socioeconomic deprivation was associated with the worst outcomes should guide more targeted public health and social policies to address causes of child development disparities. Read more here.
- A Mediterranean diet that's rich in vegetables, fruits and fish may help reduce or stave off symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to research published this week in the journal Nature Mental Health. Read more here.
- Doing a certain type of yoga may be especially good for your mental well-being. According to researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, heated yoga, commonly known as "hot yoga," could help treat symptoms of depression. In a randomized controlled trial, 80 adults with moderate to severe depression were randomized to either perform 90 minutes of Bikram yoga in a 105-degree Fahrenheit room at least twice a week for eight weeks or get placed on a waitlist. Read more here.
- As Pennsylvania shrinks its Medicaid roll by working to remove people who became ineligible during the pandemic, many children are feeling the impact – some of which shouldn’t have. Nearly a quarter of disenrollments reported by Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services so far are under age 21. And due to a nationwide system glitch, some eligible children could have wrongly lost coverage. Pennsylvania was among a few dozen states to report a problem in the way they conducted eligibility checks, automatically disqualifying entire families if they found one person was no longer eligible. Read more here.
- A new report reveals Medicaid issues facing thousands of New Mexicans. Nearly 100,000 locals have been unenrolled due to changing eligibility requirements and issues plague remaining customers, according to a report by the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC). Medicaid is the state’s largest single expenditure and serves almost half of all the people in New Mexico, according to the LFC. During the COVID-19 pandemic enrollment grew to a peak of about 1 million locals enrolled. But since the start of 2023, that enrollment has dropped. Read more here.
- About 76,000 people have been removed from the MassHealth rolls since March, and officials continue to forecast the biggest impacts are around the corner as a massive reevaluation of eligibility ramps up this fall. MassHealth published the latest monthly summary of its year-long redetermination effort Friday, showing that another 48,000 people lost MassHealth coverage in September. That was offset by about 18,000 new enrollees and 6,300 people who rejoined the publicly funded health insurance program after previously losing coverage. Read more here.
Gender-Affirming Care and LGTBQ Issues
- A keyword-based search in the electronic medical record (EMR) at an urban emergency department (ED) showed high rates of suicidal ideation among transgender and gender diverse (TGD) youth, according to a retrospective cross-sectional study. In 81% of ED encounters at a single tertiary children's hospital, TGD youth screened positive on the Ask Suicide-Screening Questions (ASQ), reported Amanda Burnside, PhD, of the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, during the American Academy of Pediatrics annual meeting. Read more here.
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