Healio (10/26) reports, “According to a recent poll conducted by the American Psychiatric Association” and announced in an Oct. 17 press release, “75% of Americans said mental health support should be provided to incarcerated persons.” The survey data were derived “from the latest Healthy Minds Monthly poll commissioned by the APA” and “included 2,111 adults, who responded between Sep. 30 and Oct. 2.” In the release, APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, MD, MPA, stated, “Lawmakers should heed this information and take action.”

Related Links:

— “Poll: 75% of Americans believe incarcerated persons should get mental health support “Shenaz Bagha, Healio, October 26, 2022

ABC News (10/25, Yegiants) reports, “As temperatures continue to increase worldwide, so do profound impacts on our health, including our mental health, according to a major reportby almost 100 experts, including the World Health Organization, recently published” online in The Lancet Countdown. The report revealed that “severe temperature increases, and heat waves have been associated with a decline in mental health and increased suicidality.” As the climate changes, “young people in particular have been more susceptible to depression, anxiety, substance use and issues with sleep, the report said.” Elizabeth Haase, MD, who chairs American Psychiatric Association’s Committee on Climate Change and Mental Health, told ABC News, “Eighty-four percent of young people, are moderately to extremely anxious about climate change.”

Related Links:

— “Increasingly warming planet jeopardizes human health, major report warns “Dr. Anna Yegiants, ABC News, October 25, 2022

Psychiatric News (10/25) reports, “About one in 15 children and adolescents hospitalized for COVID-19 experiences neurologic complications,” investigators concluded after analyzing data on a “total of 15,137 children and adolescents hospitalized for COVID-19.” Those complications included “an increased risk of admission to the intensive care unit…hospital readmissions, and death.” The findings were published online in Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Neurological Complications Associated With Worse Outcomes in Youth Hospitalized for COVID-19, Psychiatric News, October 25, 2022

Healio (10/25, Liptak) reports, “Antidepressants desvenlafaxine, paroxetine, venlafaxine and vortioxetine were found to have reasonable acceptability, efficacy and tolerability in the treatment of adults with stable major depressive disorder [MDD],” investigators concluded in a systematic review and meta-analysis that included “34 double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled trials involving 9,384 patients with MDD.” The findings were published online Oct. 17 in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Select antidepressants show balance in efficacy, acceptability in adults with MDD “Holly Liptak, Healio, October 25, 2022

Medscape (10/24, Swift Yasgur, Subscription Publication) reports, “Transgender and gender-diverse…individuals with mental illness appear to have higher rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD) compared with their cisgender counterparts,” investigators concluded in a study that “administered semistructured diagnostic interviews for DSM-IV disorders to 2212 psychiatric patients…presenting to the Rhode Island Hospital Department of Psychiatry Partial Hospital Program between April 2014 and January 2021.” The findings were published online Sept. 26 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

Healio (10/24, Downey) reports, “Telepsychiatry creates opportunities to increase access to treatment, flexibility, convenience of routine care and the potential of increased privacy,” according to a viewpoint authored by Carlos Blanco, MD, PhD, of the Division of Epidemiology at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and colleagues, and published Oct. 19 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Telepsychiatry offers access, flexibility, convenience, increased privacy “Ken Downey Jr., Healio, October 24, 2022

MedPage Today (10/22, Dotinga) reported, “Staff training in implicit bias curbed racial disparities in the use of mechanical restraints at one Seattle hospital,” according to a presentation given by Timothy Meeks, MN, RN, the Clinical Director at Harborview Medical Center, at the American Psychiatric Nurses Association annual meeting. The 4,506-patient study revealed that “from 2015-2017, about 13% of ethnic minority patients were restrained in the psychiatric units at Harborview Medical Center versus just over 8% of white patients,” but “after training began in 2017, the 2018-2020 numbers were about 9% for both groups.”

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Medscape (10/21, Swift Yasgur, Subscription Publication) reported, “Menopause appears to be an independent risk factor for relapse in women with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs),” investigators concluded after having “studied a cohort of close to 62,000 people with SSDs, stratifying individuals by sex and age.” The study revealed that beginning “between the ages of 45 and 50 years – when the menopausal transition is underway – women were more frequently hospitalized for psychosis compared with men and women younger than 45 years.” What’s more, the “protective effect of antipsychotic medication was highest in women younger than 45 years and lowest in women aged 45 years or older, even at higher doses.” The findings were published online Oct. 5 in the journal Schizophrenia Bulletin.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

According to the AP (10/22, Ungar), “a growing body of research shows that bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and the in-between diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder share common genetic underpinnings as well as overlapping symptoms and signs.” Some investigators, however, “while acknowledging common genetic underpinnings of bipolar, schizoaffective disorder and schizophrenia, are skeptical about framing them as on a psychosis continuum, particularly if that leads to changing categories” used “to diagnose people with each disorder.” Those experts “say the current criteria are useful in deciding treatment and care.”

Related Links:

— “Genes link bipolar, schizophrenia, once thought unrelated “Laura Ungar , AP , October 22, 2022

NBC News (10/20, McShane) reports “emergency department visits related to sexual assault increased more than tenfold over a span of 13 years, according to” a study that “showed that those visits increased 1,533% from 2006 to 2019 – a jump from 3,600 annual visits to 55,200.” The findings published in JAMA Network Open revealed that “the largest increase occurred between 2015 and 2016.” Furthermore, most ED visits “following sexual assault were by young adult women,” and “lower-income people were also an overrepresented group, the study found.”

Related Links:

— “Sexual assault-related ER visits increased more than tenfold since 2006, study finds “Julianne McShane, NBC News, October 20, 2022