In a parenting column for CNBC (5/12), Jen Zamzow, an adjunct professor of healthcare ethics at Concordia University Irvine, wrote, “It’s hard for parents to give kids the mental health support they need without affordable and accessible mental health services.” Currently, the United States “has ‘a chronic shortage of psychiatrists, and it’s going to keep growing, says Saul Levin,” MD, MPA, FRCP-E, FRCPsych, “medical director of the American Psychiatric Association.” This “situation is even worse for rural areas: 60% of rural Americans live in an area with” a shortage of mental health clinicians.

Related Links:

— “Here’s the No. 1 phrase moms are ‘sick of hearing’ on Mother’s Day, says parenting expert—what to say instead “Jen Zamzow, CNBC, May 12, 2023

HealthDay (5/12, Solomon) reported, “Among U.S. youth ages 13 and 14 years, suicide rates more than doubled from 2008 to 2018,” researchers concluded in a study that “used death certificate data collected by the” CDC “to explore trends in suicide by sex, race, level of urbanization, census region, month of the year, and day of the week among U.S. youths aged 13 to 14 years.” The findings were published online April 19 in the Annals of Pediatrics and Child Health.

Related Links:

— “Suicide Rates for 13- and 14-Year-Olds Doubled From 2008 to 2018 “Lori Solomon, HealthDay, May 12, 2023

Medscape (5/11, Brooks, Subscription Publication) reports, “Most adults in the United States (70%) are anxious or extremely anxious about keeping themselves or their families safe, with 42% very anxious about gun violence,” according to findings from “a national mental health poll conducted by the American Psychiatric Association (APA)” that “was conducted between April 20-22 among a nationally representative sample of 2201 adults.” Additionally, the analysis “tracks data from a poll conducted between April 23-24, 2022, among a sample of 2210 adults.” In a May 10 press briefing, APA President Rebecca W. Brendel, MD, JD, “said the results are an important reminder and opportunity for psychiatrists to put their finger on the pulse of Americans’ mental health.” In that briefing, Saul Levin, MD, MPA, chief executive officer and medical director at the APA, stated, “The majority of the public understands something we’ve been saying for a long time: your mental health is about your health.”

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

Reuters (5/11, Roy) reports, “U.S. adolescents made fewer weekly emergency department (ED) visits for mental health conditions in Fall 2022 compared to a year earlier, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on” May 11.

CBS News (5/11, Tin) reports, “The data” are “an early sign that the surge in suicide attempts and mental health conditions that filled emergency rooms with adolescent patients, many teen girls, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic might be subsiding nationwide.”

CNN (5/11, McPhillips) reports, “A return to school and other community settings that were more similar to pre-pandemic environments may have helped adolescents feel less isolated and more engaged, CDC researchers said in the new report.”

According to Healio (5/11, Weldon), in coming to these conclusions, investigators examined “ED visit data from the National Syndromic Surveillance Program from January 2019 to early February 2023, comprising approximately 75% of EDs in the U.S.” The study revealed that when “compared with the fall of 2021, weekly ED visits for mental health conditions, suicide-related behaviors and drug overdoses decreased overall for boys and girls in the United States aged 12 to 17 years by fall 2022.” The findings were published online May 12 in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Related Links:

— “Teen mental health emergency visits decline in U.S. as pandemic eases, CDC says “Sriparna Roy, Reuters, May 11, 2023

Healio (5/10, Rhoades) reports, “Adolescents who casually used cannabis had two to four times greater odds of negative psychosocial events, including depression and suicidal thoughts, than those who did not use cannabis,” researchers concluded after conducting “a cross-sectional study using 2015 to 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health responses from 68,263 youth aged 12 to 17 years.” The findings were published online May 3 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Casual cannabis use in youth increases risk for depression, suicidal thoughts “Andrew Rhoades, Healio , May 10, 2023

Psychiatric News (5/10) reports, “The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) have issued a temporary rule that extends telemedicine flexibilities adopted during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE).” This rule is set to “go into effect…May 11 when the COVID-19 PHE expires, and extends the full set of telemedicine flexibilities adopted during the COVID-19 PHE for six months (through November 11),” with “additional flexibilities” extending “to established patients until November 11, 2024.”

Related Links:

— “DEA, SAMHSA Release Temporary Rule Extending Telemedicine Flexibilities, Psychiatric News , May 10, 2023

The New York Times (5/10, Hoffman) reports, “Despite the continuing rise in opioid overdose deaths, one of the most effective treatments for opioid addiction is still drastically underprescribed in the United States, especially for Black patients, according to a large new study.”

MedPage Today (5/10, DePeau-Wilson) reports, “Black and Hispanic patients with a disability had a tougher time getting medication to treat opioid use disorder (OUD) despite frequent contact with healthcare” professionals, investigators concluded after analyzing “Medicare claims data.” The study revealed that “within 180 days of an index OUD-related event, Black patients received a prescription for buprenorphine 12.7% of the time, Hispanic patients 18.7% of the time, and white patients 23.3% of the time.” Likewise, “naloxone receipt followed a similar pattern, occurring after 14.4%, 20.7%, and 22.9% of index events, respectively, the authors reported” in the findings of a 23,370-beneficiary study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Healio (5/9, VanDewater) reports, “Rates of suicidal behavior and ideation increased among high school girls,” investigators from the CDC concluded after analyzing “data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey…collected in 2019 and 2021.” The study revealed that “the percentage of girls reporting past-year suicidal ideation increased from 24.1% in 2019 to 30% in 2021,” with “increases in the percentage of girls who made a suicide plan (19.9% vs. 23.6%) and attempted suicide (11% vs. 13.3%).” In contrast, “the percentage of boys reporting suicidal ideation stayed about the same (13.3% vs. 14.3%), as did the percentage of boys who planned a suicide (11.3% vs. 11.6%), attempted suicide (both 6.6%) and had a suicide attempt requiring medical attention (both 1.7%).” The findings were published online in an April 28 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Supplement.

Related Links:

— “Suicidality increased in certain high schoolers from 2019 to 2021 “Kalie VanDewater, Healio , May 9, 2023

The Washington Post (5/9, Ovalle, Beard) reports that the DEA “will allow doctors to keep using telemedicine to prescribe certain medications for anxiety, pain and opioid addiction, extending for six months emergency flexibilities established during the coronavirus pandemic.” As such, “the ability to prescribe controlled medications will run through Nov. 11, 2023…and that deadline will be longer still if doctors have already established a telemedicine relationship with patients.” In the latter “circumstance, physicians can keep prescribing the medications virtually through Nov. 11, 2024.”

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

According to The Hill (5/8, Scully), Congressional legislators “are calling for extensive data on maternal mental health programs to examine their effectiveness, following an alarming spike in the country’s maternal mortality rate.” In their May 8 letter (PDF) “to the Health Resources and Services Administration led by Maternity Care Caucus co-chairs Reps. Young Kim (R-Calif.) and Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), lawmakers requested data on the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline one year after the program started.” Additionally, they “requested data on the Screening and Treatment for Maternal Depression and Related Behavioral Health Disorders…program overseen by the Health Resources & Services Administration,” calling for “qualitative and quantitative data on the two programs.”

Related Links:

— “Lawmakers ask for data on maternal mental health program’s effectiveness “Rachel Scully, The Hill , May 8, 2023