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Latest News Around the Web

Mothers’ Health During Pregnancy Not Likely To Influence Children’s Risk Of Autism, Study Suggests

HealthDay (1/31, Thompson ) reported, “A mom’s health during pregnancy is not likely to influence her child’s risk of autism, a new study argues.” Numerous “previous studies have reported such a link, but researchers say nearly all these associations can be explained by other autism risk factors – genetics, pollution exposure, access to health care and the like.” One researcher said, “Our study shows that there is no convincing evidence that any of these other diagnoses in the mother can cause autism.” The findings were published in Nature Medicine.

Related Links:

— “No Link Between Maternal Health During Pregnancy and Autism, Researchers Say,”Dennis Thompson, HealthDay , January 31, 2025

Calorie Labels On Restaurant Menus Harm People With Eating Disorders, Review Suggests

HealthDay (1/31, Thompson ) reported, “Calorie labels on restaurant menus are harming people with eating disorders, a new evidence review claims.” Individuals “diagnosed with eating disorders tend to respond poorly when presented with a menu featuring calorie labels, researchers reported.” Investigators found that “unhealthy responses included avoiding restaurants altogether, triggering harmful thoughts associated with eating disorders, and obsessing over the calorie counts.” The findings were published in BMJ Public Health.

Related Links:

— “Calorie Labels Harmful For People With Eating Disorders,”Dennis Thompson, HealthDay , January 31, 2025

Physical activity reduces chronic disease risks, improves function, and extends lifespan

Medscape (1/30, Larkin , Subscription Publication) reports, “Physical activity reduces chronic disease risks, improves function, and extends lifespan, thus supporting clinicians’ use of exercise prescriptions as a health intervention, new research suggests.” The “review of the effects of physical activity for older adults documented specific benefits, such as preventing or reducing the risks for > 30 chronic conditions including coronary artery disease, heart failure, type 2 diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, osteoporosis, depression, dementia, and cancer.” The findings were published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

Ambient Temperature Has Distinct Associations With Psychiatric Symptoms In Adolescents, Study Suggests

Medscape (1/30, Brooks , Subscription Publication) reports, “A new study released this week adds to mounting evidence that suggests climate change, with extreme hot and cold temperatures, threatens not only physical health but also mental well-being.” By “analyzing data from two population-based birth cohorts in Europe, researchers found that ambient temperature has distinct associations with psychiatric symptoms in adolescents, with cold exposure in the Netherlands associated with more internalizing symptoms and heat exposure in Spain associated with more attention problems.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open. Joshua Wortzel, MD, Chair of the APA Committee on Climate Change and Mental Health, said that it is “novel to have these kinds of rich datasets (both mental health measures and temperature data) with large sample sizes. However, interpreting these data [is] difficult.”

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

Study Finds Number Of US High School Girls Who Identify As LGBQ Is Increasing Alongside Rise In Suicidal Thoughts, Attempts Among Women

Healio (1/30, Rhoades) reports, “Approximately one-third of high school girls surveyed in the United States in 2021 identified themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or questioning their sexuality, according to results of a cohort study.” That marks “a dramatic and significant increase from previous polling just 2 years earlier that showed 22% of high school aged girls identifying as LGBQ.” This change “is occurring alongside increases in suicidal thoughts, planning and attempts among women, with significant upticks among those identifying as LGBQ, researchers reported.” The findings were published in Educational Researcher.

Related Links:

— “Increasing LGBQ identification may contribute to surge in suicide among high school girls,”Andrew (Drew) Rhoades, Healio, January 30, 2025

Foundation News

Latest Foundation Radio PSA Examine How Extreme Weather Changes Affect Mental Health

Hotter summers and more severe storms can seriously affect people with psychiatric disorders. Medicines prodded can make one more prone to heat stroke, and each degree rise in temperature has been shown to cause significant rises in hospitalizations for mental disorders. The Foundation covers this and more in their latest Public Service Announcement.

How Extreme Weather Changes Affect Mental HealthHow Extreme Weather Changes Affect Mental Health, MP3, 1.0MB

You can listen to the ad using the player in the upper right of the website’s homepage. All past public service spots are also available for listening or to download on our Radio Advertisements page.

Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller to Receive MFP Anti-Stigma Advocacy Award

The 2024 Maryland Foundation for Psychiatry (MFP) Anti-Stigma Advocacy Prize will be awarded to Maryland Lieutenant Governor Aruna Miller for her Personal Interview on May 23, 2023 with WBAL News.
Lt. Gov. Miller was very helpful, conveying to the public in a very personal way the impact of her father’s mental illness – not only on him, but on their family. Her experience also demonstrated that one can live through this kind of experience and still become very successful adults. She also made an important point that mental illness isn’t a moral failing, but is a chronic health condition.

The Anti-Stigma Advocacy Award will be formally presented at the Maryland Psychiatric Society annual meeting on April 18.

The Foundation established this annual prize for a worthy media piece, preferably local or regional, that accomplishes one or more of the following:

  • Shares with the public their experience with mental illness in themselves, a family member, or simply in the community.
  • Helps others to overcome their inability to talk about mental illness or their own mental illness.
  • Imparts particularly insightful observations on the general subject of mental illness.

Click here for information about past winners.

PSA Examines Anxiety from Political and Social Media

The Foundation has re-released a Public Service Announcement to local Maryland radio stations that examines anxiety caused by political and social media. People experience a wide variety of feelings after a particularly divisive political campaign or a significant event getting 24 hour coverage across networks and online. Those feelings can include alienation from family and friends, anger at a system or event out of their control, and grief or helplessness at what may come. There are things that can be done to help, ranging from breaks from Facebook and TikTok and similar sites to seeking actual help from professionals.

Listen to the PSA on our home page or from our PSA collection, where you can listen to or download other advice given in past PSAs.

Call for Nominations for Anti-Stigma Advocacy Award

The Maryland Foundation for Psychiatry presents an annual award to recognize a worthy piece published in a major newspaper or on public media that accomplishes one or more of the following:

· Shares with the public their experience with mental illness in themselves, a family member, or in the community.
· Helps others to overcome their inability to talk about mental illness or their own mental illness.
· Imparts particularly insightful observations on the general subject of mental illness.

The article should be published or produced during the period from January 15, 2023 to January 9, 2024. A Maryland author and/or newspaper or major media outlet is preferred. Click here for past winners and published articles.

The award carries a $500 prize, which is given at the Maryland Psychiatric Society annual meeting in April. Please send nominations to mfp@mdpsych.org by January 10, 2024.

New Foundation Radio Spot Looks at Maryland’s Extreme Risk Protection Order

More than 2/3 of people who die from guns in the United States have their own finger on the trigger. A gun in the home increases the chance of a suicide there by three fold. The Maryland Extreme Risk Protection Order seeks to help mitigate that. This new radio spot from the Foundation examines how the order allows family, police, and clinicians to petition a judge to temporarily remove guns from the home of someone who is at risk for using them to harm themselves or others.

Gun Suicide Risk and Maryland LawGun Suicide Risk and Maryland Law, MP3, 1.1MB

You can listen to the ad using the player in the upper right of the website’s homepage. All past public service spots are also available for listening or to download on our Radio Advertisements page.