In a nearly 3,000-word special piece for USA Today (2/27), Alia E. Dastagir, a “recipient of a Rosalynn Carter fellowship for mental health journalism,” writes that according to “suicide prevention experts…outside of psychiatrists, the majority of mental health professionals have minimal to no formal training in how to effectively treat suicidal people.” In fact, “suicide-specific training is not commonly offered as part of college curriculums, optional post-graduate training opportunities are limited, costly and time-consuming, and experts say some therapists may not be aware they even need the education.”

Related Links:

— “We tell suicidal people to go to therapy. So why are therapists rarely trained in suicide?, “Alia E. Dastagir, USA TODAY, February 27, 2020

Newsweek (2/27, Gander) reports researchers at the University of Rochester examined “data on people who died of drug overdoses between 1999 to 2016 from a database kept by the National Center for Health Statistics in the U.S., which included a total of 632,331 cases,” and concluded that “the number of deaths linked to opioids in the U.S. over the past two decades could be almost 30 percent higher than previously thought.” The researchers published their findings in the journal Addiction.

Related Links:

— “Opioid-related deaths in the u.s. could be far higher than previously thought, study suggests, “Kashmira Gander, Newsweek, February 27, 2020

CNN (2/27, Rogers) reports, “Around one in six US youth ages six to 17 has a mental, behavioral or developmental disorder such as anxiety, depression or attention-deficit/hyperactive disorder,” researchers concluded in a research letter published last February in JAMA Pediatrics. However, “less than 20% of these youth receive the care they need, meaning many of them likely go into adulthood with undiagnosed mental illness.” Child psychologist Rebecca Berry, PhD, a “clinical associate professor in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at New York University Langone Health,” stated, “It is important for parents to notice whether the behaviors are excessive, cause distress, are consistent and unrelenting and lead to problems in key life areas.”

Related Links:

— “Moodiness or more? How to tell if your kid’s suffering from a mental disorder, “Kristen Rogers, CNN, February 27, 2020

Reuters (2/26, Crist) reports that “parents of children with food allergies should acknowledge their kids’ anxiety, as well as their own, a group of allergy experts advises” in an article published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Dr. Ruchi Gupta, director of Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine’s Center for Food Allergy and Asthma Research and one of the authors of the article, said, “Coping with food allergies impacts relationship skills with peers and classmates, emerging independence and sense of self-efficacy, social skills and confidence, willingness to participate in sports teams, dating and more. Coping is an individual internal experience, too: Feelings of worry and anxiety can color all thinking and generate anxiety about many life experiences.”

Related Links:

— “Allergists offer advice to parents of kids with food allergies, “Carolyn Crist,  Reuters, February 26, 2020

Healio (2/26, Gramigna) reports, “A cognitive test identified individuals aged 100 years or older who had high levels of cognitive performance,” researchers concluded after analyzing data on “340 centenarians” whose cognition was evaluated by using the Mini-Mental State Examination. Investigators then “posited that investigation of these individuals may reveal the mechanisms underlying resilience against cognitive decline risk factors.” The findings were published online Feb. 26 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Centenarians with high cognitive test scores may ward off dementia, decline, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, February 26, 2020