The AP (3/25, Ritter) reports, “The pandemic is worrisome enough for most people. For those with anxiety disorders, it presents a special challenge, especially if they are not receiving treatment.” This is “the case for about two-thirds of people with anxiety disorders, says Dr. Bruce Schwartz, president of the American Psychiatric Association.” Schwartz said, “Those are the ones I’m worried about.” Some psychologists “say the have noticed an uptick in symptoms with the spread of the virus,” and “for some anxiety conditions, the recommendations from health officials can appear to feed the problem.”
        
Psychiatrists Transition To Virtual Appointments As Coronavirus Pandemic Takes Reported Toll On The Mental Health Of Many. MedPage Today (3/24, Hlavinka) reports “psychiatric appointments across the country have been going virtual as mental health professionals try to limit potential exposures by moving to home offices and keeping outpatient visits to a minimum,” and the APA has “put together resources for treating patients amidst the developing pandemic and policy changes.” Meanwhile, a recent poll suggests that the coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll on the mental health of many people, so there could be a significant increase in demand for mental health services. Dr. Joshua Morganstein, chair of the APA’s Committee on the Psychiatric Dimensions of Disaster, “stressed the importance of normalizing concerns and understandable fear surrounding the pandemic,” saying, “It’s important to avoid giving people the message that somehow there is something wrong with how they are feeling or it is somehow a medical diagnosis.”

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— “They already had an anxiety disorder. Now comes a pandemic, “Malcolm Ritter , AP, March 25, 2020

The Hill (3/24, Coleman) reports that the number of US adults practicing social distancing increased from 54% last week to 72% this week, according to a Gallup poll. The article says that “the biggest change from last week is the number of people who are not attending small gatherings of friends and family,” which jumped from 46% last week to 68% this week.

Related Links:

— “Percentage of Americans practicing social distancing jumps in past week: Gallup, “Justine Coleman, The Hill, March 24, 2020

The AP (3/25, Ritter) reports, “The pandemic is worrisome enough for most people. For those with anxiety disorders, it presents a special challenge, especially if they are not receiving treatment.” This is “the case for about two-thirds of people with anxiety disorders, says Dr. Bruce Schwartz, president of the American Psychiatric Association.” Schwartz said, “Those are the ones I’m worried about.” Some psychologists “say the have noticed an uptick in symptoms with the spread of the virus,” and “for some anxiety conditions, the recommendations from health officials can appear to feed the problem.”

Psychiatrists Transition To Virtual Appointments As Coronavirus Pandemic Takes Reported Toll On The Mental Health Of Many. MedPage Today (3/24, Hlavinka) reports “psychiatric appointments across the country have been going virtual as mental health professionals try to limit potential exposures by moving to home offices and keeping outpatient visits to a minimum,” and the APA has “put together resources for treating patients amidst the developing pandemic and policy changes.” Meanwhile, a recent poll suggests that the coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll on the mental health of many people, so there could be a significant increase in demand for mental health services. Dr. Joshua Morganstein, chair of the APA’s Committee on the Psychiatric Dimensions of Disaster, “stressed the importance of normalizing concerns and understandable fear surrounding the pandemic,” saying, “It’s important to avoid giving people the message that somehow there is something wrong with how they are feeling or it is somehow a medical diagnosis.”

Related Links:

— “They already had an anxiety disorder. Now comes a pandemic, “Malcolm Ritter, AP, March 25, 2020

The Hill (3/23, Wilson) reports on Monday, the WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “The pandemic is accelerating” with more than 350,000 cases in the world. Tedros called for countries to cooperate, “We need to attack the virus with aggressive and targeted tactics.” The article says that “it took 67 days to confirm the first hundred thousand cases, 11 days to confirm the second hundred thousand cases and just four days to confirm the third hundred thousand cases.”

Almost 100 Million Americans Are Subject To Stay-At-Home Orders That Aim To Reduce Spread Of Coronavirus. In an analysis piece, the Washington Post (3/23, Cunningham) reports that almost 100 million Americans are subject to stay-at-home orders issued by multiple states and cities to reduce the spread of coronavirus. The article says that “President Trump insists he won’t issue a nationwide lockdown to halt the coronavirus. But it may be just a matter of time before virtually every American is living in an area with a shelter-in-place or stay-at-home order,” because the number of states and cities issuing such orders continues to grow.

More Than 100,000 People In The World Have Recovered From Coronavirus, Data Show .Newsweek (3/23, Kim) reports that “more than 100,000 people have recovered from the novel coronavirus, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University.” The article says that “more than 70,000 people in China have recovered from the virus” with almost 59,000 people alone in Hubei province, the original epicenter of the outbreak in China.

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— “WHO chief: ‘Pandemic is accelerating’, “Reid Wilson, The Hill, March 23, 2020

The New York Times (3/23, Goldberg) reports that many healthcare workers are facing questions about coronavirus that they don’t know how to answer. The article says that “physicians across every field who are trained to care for very specific medical problems are confronting a surge of patient questions and scrambling to keep up with rapid changes in case numbers and advisories from governments and health agencies.” While “specialists in heart medicine, lung care and obstetrics have training that is highly pertinent to treating the effects of the coronavirus…specialists in other fields are hearing queries they may not be used to answering.” The article says that “psychiatrists, especially on campuses, are facing a barrage of questions on an array of topics, like potential virus exposure and the sudden upending of work and academic schedules.” Dr. Gauri Khurana, a psychiatrist who works mainly with college students, said that he has been flooded with questions from young people who are concerned about the risk of being infected and whether they will be able to graduate, “I don’t think a lot of them have primary care doctors and at this point everyone is terrified, wondering what’s going to happen. I have patients that want to drop out of school, move to Canada. They’re grateful for any advice, especially coming from a doctor because there’s so much misinformation.”

Related Links:

— “These Doctors Have Specialties. Fighting Coronavirus Wasn’t One of Them., “Emma Goldberg, The New York Times, March 23, 2020

MD Magazine (3/23, Rosenfeld) reports, “Frontline healthcare workers, women, and nurses exposed to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are at a greater risk of developing unfavorable mental health outcomes,” research indicates. Investigators in China “used data from >1200 healthcare workers to assess the magnitude of mental health outcomes and associated factors among those treating patients who were exposed to the virus in” that country. Researchers “found that among the Chinese workers exposed to COVID-19, women, nurses, those in Wuhan, and frontline healthcare workers had a greater risk of worsening mental health outcomes than average,” which suggests that “such individuals may need psychological support or interventions.” The findings were published online March 23 in JAMA Network Open.

Psychiatric News (3/23) quotes the author of an accompanying commentary, who wrote, “These findings, consistent with those observed in the 2003 severe acute respiratory system (SARS) epidemic, may help to guide strategies for responding to mental health sequelae of this and future epidemics.” He added the study “provides a reminder of the toll that will likely linger” after the COVID-19 pandemic is over, that is, “the consequences of chronic stress, including major depression and anxiety disorders.”

Related Links:

— “COVID-19 Affects Mental Health of Nurses, Frontline Workers More Than Others, “Samara Rosenfeld, MD Magazine, March 23, 2020

Healio (3/20, Gramigna) reported, “Access to identity documents that reflected transgender individuals’ identified gender helped to improve their mental health and reduced suicidal thoughts,” investigators concluded after obtaining and analyzing data derived from “27,715 participants in the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey.” The study revealed that while just “11% of transgender individuals had their preferred name and gender markers on all IDs…this group saw a marked reduction in serious psychological distress and suicide ideation.” The findings of the “cross-sectional observational study” were published online March 16 in The Lancet Public Health.

Related Links:

— “Gender-concordant IDs improve mental health, reduce suicidal thoughts among transgender individuals, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, March 20, 2020

CQ Roll Call (3/19, Raman) reports the coronavirus pandemic is requiring healthcare professionals to change how they offer behavioral treatments in light of social distancing practices and stay-at-home orders. The article outlines what government agencies and behavioral health organizations are doing to try to address the problem.

For example, Psychiatric News (3/19) reports, “In light of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, some patients receiving treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) may take a 28-day supply of their medications home to avoid daily trips to their clinic, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)” announced “in a guidance [pdf] issued on” March 16.

Related Links:

— “Mental health care adapts to telehealth because of COVID-19, “Sandhya Raman, CQ Roll Call, March 19, 2020

Medscape (3/19, Brooks, Subscription Publication) reports, “Media reports of celebrity suicides are associated with a ‘clear and compelling’ increase in suicide rates in the general population,” investigators concluded after identifying and then analyzing data from “31 relevant studies.” The conclusions of the “systematic review and meta-analysis show reports of celebrity suicide were linked to an increase in suicide of up to 18% over the following one to two months.” Additionally, “reporting the method of suicide was associated with an increase of 18% to 44% in the risk of suicide by the same method.” The findings were published online March 18 in BMJ. The authors of an accompanying editorial wrote that “these findings will help give media outlets a ‘clearer sense of the potential effect of their reporting.’” HealthDay (3/19, Norton) also covers the story.

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— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

Medscape (3/19, Brooks, Subscription Publication) reports, “Opioid overdose deaths in the United States involving prescription opioids and heroin decreased from 2017 to 2018, while deaths involving synthetic opioids (excluding methadone) increased,” CDC data indicate. Specifically, “from 2017, to 2018, US overdose death rates involving all opioids, prescription opioids, and heroin fell 2%, 13.5%, and 4.1%, respectively, while deaths involving synthetic opioids (other than methadone) jumped by 10%.”

Healio (3/19, Miller) reports the study authors “linked the decrease in prescription opioid-involved deaths to an increase in efforts to reduce high-dose opioid prescribing.” Investigators also “associated the increase in synthetic opioid-involved deaths to an uptick in illicitly manufactured fentanyl or fentanyl analogs in the illegal drug supply.” The findings were published online in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)