Psychiatry Advisor (5/13, Kuhns) reports that research indicates that “dementia in” patients with “severe, extremely treatment-resistant schizophrenia is a distinct cognitive syndrome that is not adequately explained by Alzheimer disease (AD), other neurodegenerative dementias, antipsychotic exposure, cardiometabolic risk factors, poor effort, premorbid intellectual disability, or long-term institutionalization.” Investigators came to this conclusion after using data from New York state hospitals to study “continuously hospitalized adults with schizophrenia,” all of whom had been “hospitalized for at least 5 years.” The findings were published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Dementia in Schizophrenia Reflects Intrinsic Disease Not Neurodegeneration,”Lisa Kuhns, Psychiatry Advisor, May 13, 2026

The AP (5/13, Stobbe) reports preliminary data released Wednesday by the CDC show that “about 70,000 Americans died of drug overdoses last year – about 14% fewer than the previous year.” This marks the “third straight annual drop, making it the longest decline in decades.” Declines were observed “across a number of drug types, including fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine. Overdose deaths fell in the vast majority of states, although seven saw at least slight increases, including jumps of 10% or more in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico.” Nevertheless, “the number of Americans dying from overdoses is still high, and deaths declined at a slower pace last year.” Researchers believe that “a number of things could cause deaths to rise again – including government policy changes or a shift in the drug supply.”

Reuters (5/13, Sunny) reports the wide availability of naloxone “has significantly contributed ​to the drop, according to experts.” Furthermore, “deaths involving opioids ‌fell ⁠to an estimated 44,564 in 2025 from 55,296 a year earlier, the CDC estimates showed. Synthetic opioids, including Fentanyl, ​are the ​single largest ⁠contributor to overdose deaths in the country.”

Related Links:

— “US overdose deaths fell again in 2025, but some worry about policy and drug supply changes,”Mike Stobbe , AP, May 13, 2026

The American Journal of Managed Care (5/12, Hohmann) reports, “A study of more than 3 million insured Americans found that the dramatic expansion of telemedicine following the COVID-19 pandemic has not significantly increased total healthcare visits or medical spending.” For clinicians and healthcare “administrators navigating telemedicine coverage decisions, this study provides meaningful reassurance that adopting or expanding virtual care in their systems is unlikely to meaningfully increase total visit volume or costs.” For policymakers, “the data suggest that extending CMS telemedicine flexibilities carries limited near-term fiscal risk, though the question of whether telemedicine can meaningfully expand access to underserved populations remains open.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Telehealth Didn’t Break the Bank—and the Data Prove It,”Maggie L. Shaw, Ella Hohmann, American Journal of Managed Care , May 12, 2026

Bloomberg Law (5/12, Watwe, Subscription Publication) reports a new lawsuit filed against OpenAI Foundation and Sam Altman by the family of a college student alleges that “ChatGPT caused their son’s fatal overdose after he followed medical advice about mixing substances from the chatbot.” According to the complaint filed Tuesday in the Court of California for the County of San Francisco, “on the day of the overdose, the chatbot ‘actively recommended’ a mixture of Xanax and Kratom,” and further suggested the student “could add Benadryl to get the effect he wanted.” The lawsuit is the latest “in a string of litigation over the real-world harms linked to chatbot usage. Earlier lawsuits have focused on harmful mental health effects caused by…frequent chatbot interactions.”

Related Links:

— “OpenAI Hit With Overdose Suit Targeting ChatGPT Drug Advice (1),”Shweta Watwe, Bloomberg Law, May 12, 2026

Fierce Healthcare (5/12, Gliadkovskaya) reports, “As almost 1 in 4 American teens identify as LGBTQ, affirming therapy can be life-saving,” but “availability is shrinking.” Additionally, many therapists do not “accept insurance, citing difficulties in becoming in-network with payers and low reimbursement rates.” Although “parity laws have been around for decades…true parity has not been achieved and is not well enforced.”

Related Links:

— “The broken pipeline of mental healthcare for LGBTQ teenagers,” Anastassia Gliadkovskaya, Sam Donndelinger, Fierce Healthcare, May 12, 2026

HealthDay (5/11, Thompson) reports, “The relationship between depression and age-related brain decline might depend on a person’s history with the mood disorder, a new study says.” Investigators “had thought that people experiencing ‘brain fog’ from aging might be more apt to relapse into depression.” However, “they found the opposite was true – people with sharper brains were more likely to fall back into depression.” One researcher said, “People often think of memory problems as simply a consequence of depression, but our findings suggest the relationship is more complex. … Among people with a history of depression, those with better cognitive performance were actually more likely to experience future depressive symptoms.” Meanwhile, “people who’d never had depression were more likely to have their first bout if their cognitive scores were lower, researchers found.” The findingswere published in BMJ Mental Health.

Related Links:

— “Sharper Brains May Face Higher Depression Relapse Risk, Study Finds,”Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, May 11, 2026

HealthDay (5/8, Thompson) reported a study suggests that “stereotypes of autistic men in films and TV could be contributing to delayed autism diagnosis of women and non-binary people.” While characters “like Sheldon Cooper in ‘The Big Bang Theory’ and Raymond Babbitt in ‘Rain Man’ are designed to be immediately identifiable to people without autism,” researchers argue “these portrayals are overly exaggerated and simplified, to the point that they’re not relatable to people who have autism.” For the study, “researchers held a series of in-person focus group sessions involving four women with autism.” The participants “said media portrayals” of characters with autism “are typically dehumanizing, reducing people to a narrow set of traits and deficits. These characters lack complexity, autonomy and emotional depth.” Notably, one participant “reported that media stereotypes contributed to a late diagnosis of autism for both herself and her daughter.” The studywas published in Societies.

Related Links:

— “TV, Movies Offer Flawed Depictions Of Autism, Add To Delayed Diagnosis, Study Says,”Dennis Thompson, HealthDay , May 8, 2026

HealthDay (5/8, Thompson) reported, “Previously, it was estimated that about 6% of people who survived an opioid overdose wound up with a repeat overdose during the following year,” but “new results indicate that 21% experience a repeat OD after an emergency department visit for opioid overdose, researchers reported…in the Journal of the American Medical Association.” Furthermore, “patients’ risk of death…increased alongside their number of additional overdoses, the study found.”

Related Links:

— “Opioid OD Survivors Have Triple Rate Of Repeat Overdoses Than Previously Estimated,”Dennis Thompson, HealthDay , May 8, 2026

NPR (5/7, Chatterjee) reports that as HHS plans to “wean patients off antidepressants, mental health advocates and psychiatrists say blaming the United States’ mental health crisis on overmedicalization and overprescription of psychiatric medications is an inaccurate portrayal of a complex problem.” Theresa Miskimen Rivera, MD, President of the American Psychiatric Association, told NPR, “It really is an oversimplification. And it really ignores the larger reality, which is that too many patients really cannot access timely, comprehensive care that is much needed for our nation.” Nevertheless, she “adds that she and the American Psychiatric Association support any plans to better train healthcare [professionals] to safely prescribe and wean patients off antidepressants.” Miskimen Rivera said, “We’re also very much in support of the Administration’s plans to further investment in research and the efforts to improve quality, safety [and] evidence-based mental health treatment.”

Related Links:

— “Psychiatrists say RFK Jr.’s take on SSRIs is an ‘oversimplification’ of the problem,”Rhitu Chatterjee, NPR, May 7, 2026

HealthDay (5/7, Thompson) reports a survey by The Trevor Project found that “more than a third of LGBTQ+ young people have seriously considered suicide in the past year, driven by bullying from both peers and politicians.” The survey included 16,667 LGBTQ+ individuals ages 13 to 24 living in the US. Results show about 36% of respondents “seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, including 40% of transgender and nonbinary young people.” Additionally, the survey found that “1 in 10 LGBTQ+ young people attempted suicide in the past year,” and that “nearly two-thirds (62%) reported recent symptoms of anxiety and almost half (47%) symptoms of depression.” Furthermore, “nearly 3 out of 5 (59%) LGBTQ+ teens experienced bullying in the past year,” and that “about 22% of those who’d been bullied had attempted suicide in the past year, compared to 7% of those who hadn’t.”

Related Links:

— “Bullying and Politics Fuel Suicide Risk for LGBTQ+ Teens and Young Adults, Survey Finds,”Dennis Thompson, HealthDay , May 7, 2026