Psychiatric News (8/22) reported a study found that “nonfatal firearm injuries raise the risk of mental and substance use disorders (SUD).” The researchers used data from Marketscan “to compare claims from 2007 with claims from 2019.” They observed “a higher prevalence of diagnoses before injury among survivors but not among family members relative to controls.” Specifically, they found that “after nonfatal firearm injury, psychiatric disorders increased among survivors, including 77% for mood disorders, 146% for trauma-related disorders, 57% for anxiety disorders, and 73% to 305% for psychotic, neuropsychiatric, and other disorders.” They also found that SUD diagnoses “rose after firearm injury, including 99% for tobacco use disorder, 186% for alcohol use disorder, and 49% to 195% for opioid, cannabis, sedative, stimulant, and other substance use disorders.” The study was published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Psychiatric and Substance Use Disorders After Nonfatal Firearm Injury,” Katherine A. Koh, MD, MSc1; Mia Giuriato, BBA, MA3; Chana A. Sacks, MD, MPH JAMA Psychiatry, August 20, 2025 (Access Required)

HealthDay (8/22, Thompson) reported a study found that “local parks and neighborhood greenery protected people’s mental health from the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic.” Researchers noted that “depression increased nearly two-fold during the pandemic, with both men and women more frequently diagnosed,” but observed that “middle-aged adults and seniors had a reduced risk of depression if they lived in greener neighborhoods.” Furthermore, they found that “the greener a person’s neighborhood, the lower their risk for depression.” Researchers concluded, “Our findings suggest that green spaces may have played a modest, yet meaningful, role in supporting the mental well-being of lower-income Canadians during the pandemic, offering some relief amid deepening socio-economic inequities.” The study was published in PLOS One.

Related Links:

— “Green Spaces Provided Pandemic Protection Against Depression, Study Says,” Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, August 22, 2025

Healio (8/22, Laboy) reported a study found that “suicide and overdose rates notably increased at the onset of the 2023 Maui wildfires in Hawaii.” The researchers “analyzed suicide or overdose-related deaths in five Hawaii counties, including Maui, from January 2014 to December 2023.”

They found that “August 2023 was independently associated with a 97% increase in suicide and overdose rates in Maui alone and a 46% increase in both rates across counties. When suicide and overdose were analyzed separately, only the suicide rates were significantly higher in Maui compared to the other counties.”

According to Healio, “the findings indicate an immediate correlation between behavioral health outcomes and wildfires, suggesting a need for tailored interventions and protocols in the wake of natural disasters, the researchers wrote.” The study was published in JAMA.

Related Links:

— “Suicide, overdose rates increased in immediate wake of Maui wildfires,” Lucas Laboy, Healio, August22 , 2025

MedPage Today (8/21, Henderson) reports a survey study from two academic medical centers suggested that “passive documentation of clinic visits using artificial intelligence (AI)-drafted notes was linked to reduced burnout and improved well-being.” According to the survey, clinicians at Mass General Brigham Hospital in Boston who used the “system, dubbed ambient documentation technology (ADT), had a 21.2% absolute reduction in burnout.”

Likewise, clinicians at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta “showed a 30.7% absolute increase in documentation-related well-being, albeit with low survey response rates at both centers.” Researchers noted that “free-text survey responses included some users saying that ADT improved their clinic experience and subjective patient experience.” They concluded, “Documentation burden has been associated with clinician burnout, which is why there has been much interest in using technology solutions.” The study was published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (8/21) reports a study found that “rates of civil commitment vary widely across the country, with nine states and the District of Columbia (D.C.) reporting significant increases from 2010 to 2022,” and no states showing “a significant decrease.” Researchers were able to obtain “data on civil commitment rates between 2010 and 2022 for 32 states and D.C.” They observed that across these states, “there were an average of 213.84 involuntary civil commitments per 100,000 population. Rates ranged from 13.50 per 100,000 population in Tennessee to 875.98 per 100,000 in Florida.” Rates reported by state mental health authorities (SMHAs) “were significantly higher than rates obtained from state court data.” The researchers “said that the findings underscore the need for consistent and transparent reporting standards.” The study was published in Psychiatric Services.

Related Links:

— “Involuntary Inpatient Civil Commitment: Trends From 2010 to 2022,” Mustafa Karakus, Ph.D., Victoria Nelson, Ph.D., Emma Scott, B.A., Sushmita Shoma Ghose, Ph.D., Tina Marshall, Ph.D., John Cosgrove, Ph.D., N. Phil Masiakowski, B.A., and David Cohen, Ph.D., Psychiatric Services, August 21, 2025

Healio (8/19, Herpen) reports a study found that “use of gabapentin among adults with chronic low back pain was significantly associated with increased risk of dementia and mild cognitive impairment.” Researchers observed that participants in “all age groups who were given six or more gabapentin prescriptions logged an increased incidence of dementia and MCI. When stratified by age, adults aged 18 to 64 years who were prescribed gabapentin had more than twice the risk of dementia and MCI compared with those who were not prescribed gabapentin.” The research team “further reported this risk increased with more frequent gabapentin prescriptions, as those in all age groups with 12 or more prescriptions had a higher incidence of dementia and MCI vs. those only prescribed the drug three to 11 times.” The study was published in Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Gabapentin linked to higher risk of dementia, cognitive issues in adults with chronic pain,” Robert Herpen, MA, Healio, August 19, 2025

MedPage Today (8/19, George) reports a study found that “people with hearing loss who started using hearing aids in their 60s had less dementia risk for up to two decades.” Researchers observed that “over up to 20 years of follow-up, participants ages 60 to 69 who used hearing aids had a 61% lower risk of incident dementia than their counterparts with hearing loss who didn’t use a hearing aid.” Furthermore, “people in their 60s with no hearing loss also had a lower risk of dementia over time compared with those who had hearing loss and no hearing aid.” According to MedPage Today, “The analysis may be the first to identify that reduced risk depends on early intervention for hearing loss, the researchers noted.” The study was discussed in a JAMA Neurology research letter.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

MedPage Today (8/20, Bankhead) reports, “Cancer survivors had disproportionately higher rates of drug prescriptions for antidepressants and anxiolytics in a survey of more than 50,000 people.” Researchers found that “individuals who reported a personal history of cancer had a 32% higher rate of prescriptions for medications used to treat depression, increasing to almost 40% higher for anti-anxiety medications, compared with the general population.” MedPage Today adds, “In particular, patients on Medicare or Medicaid had more prescriptions for anxiolytics, and those with a history of certain poor-prognosis cancers more often reported prescriptions for antidepressants.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Managed Healthcare Executive (8/20, Lutton) reports a study found that “artificial intelligence large language models (LLMs) showed the most racial bias when dealing with” patients with schizophrenia “when compared with patients with eating disorders, depression, anxiety or attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).” Researchers asked “four of the most popular LLMs in psychiatry (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and NewMes-1) for a diagnosis and treatment plan for 10 hypothetical patient cases. For each case, race was either explicitly stated, implied or left ambiguous. Responses were then rated by a clinical neuropsychologist and a social psychologist using a 0-3 assessment scale, with 3 indicating the highest bias.” The researchers observed that “LLMs were more likely to propose inferior treatments when patient race was explicitly or implicitly indicated. Diagnostic decisions showed less bias, with most scores at a 1.5 or below.” The study was published in npj Digital Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Schizophrenia Diagnoses Have Highest Likelihood of AI Racial Bias, Study Shows,” Logan Lutton, Managed Healthcare Executive, August 20, 2025

Healio (8/20, Gawel) reports a study found that “routine psychological therapy for depression and anxiety is less effective for young adults compared with older adults.” Researchers noted that “prior to treatment, younger adults had lower mean scores on the Patient Health Questionnaire 9-item (PHQ-9) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale 7-item (GAD-7), compared with older adults.” Later, they observed that “mean PHQ-9 scores fell from 15.7 before treatment to 10.2 afterward for young adults and from 15.9 to 9.4for older adults. Mean GAD-7 scores fell from 14.4 to 9.2 for young adults and from 14.5 to 8.5 for older adults. As patients got older, mean changes in PHQ-9 and GAD-7 symptom scores increased.” Based on the findings, “researchers concluded that younger adults had worse outcomes with psychological treatment than older adults.” The study was published in The Lancet Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Psychological therapy less effective among younger adults,” Richard Gawel, Healio, August 20, 2025