CBS News (9/28, Maddox) reports, “Data released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on September 9 showed that 45% more people contacted the new national suicide lifeline in August 2022 than in the same month” in 2021. Yet, even “though the new lifeline number has led to an increased call volume, concerns about the lifeline have circulated on social media,” with some people “even discouraging people from calling, citing concerns about the possibility of police involvement or forced hospitalization in the most critical of situations.” For their part, “many advocates and mental health experts have said that instead of law enforcement, mobile crisis teams should be sent in emergency situations” to “deescalate crises and connect people with crisis stabilization programs and other longer-term resources.”

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— “New 988 Lifeline is seeing a major uptick in calls — but concerns remain about police intervention, advocates say “Sarah Maddox, CBS News, September 28, 2022

The Washington Post (9/27, Gibson) reports research indicates that “children who were exposed to Sandy, a superstorm, while in utero had substantially increased risks for depression, anxiety and attention-deficit and disruptive behavior disorders,” symptoms of which “presented when the children were preschool-age.” The study revealed that “girls who were exposed to Sandy in utero experienced a 20-fold increase of generalized anxiety disorder and a 30-fold increase of depressive disorder, compared with girls who were not exposed to the storm,” while boys exposed to Sandy in utero were found to be “at an over 60-fold increased risk to develop” attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), “a 20-fold increased risk to develop conduct disorder and a 15-fold increased risk to develop oppositional defiant disorder.” The findings of the 163-child and 151-parent study were published online Sept. 21 in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (9/27) reports, “Black children brought to an emergency department [ED] for behavioral issues appear less likely to report suicidal thoughts than children of other races,” researchers concluded after analyzing “electronic medical record data from 504 patients aged 8 to 12 years visiting a pediatric” ED “with a psychiatric issue in 2019.” The study also revealed that “Black children were more likely to be brought to the emergency department by police and to be discharged rather than hospitalized for psychiatric care.” The findings were published online Sept. 27 in Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Black Children Less Likely to Report Suicidal Thoughts in Emergency Room, Study Suggests, Psychiatric News, September 27, 2022

Healio (9/26, Downey) reports, “Multimorbidity was associated with a 63% increased risk for incident dementia, with the greatest risk linked to hypertension and diabetes,” investigators concluded findingspublished online in JAMA Network Open. The study also revealed that “the global prevalence of dementia is projected to increase from 57 million to 153 million individuals by 2050 – a threefold increase.” Data from the UK Biobank cohort was used in this study.

Related Links:

— “Multimorbidity associated with increased risk for dementia “Ken Downey Jr., Healio, September 26, 2022

Healio (9/23, Rhoades) reported, “Physicians suffering from burnout were twice as likely to be involved in patient safety incidents and four times more likely to see a decrease in job satisfaction, a new study [PDF] published in The BMJ found.” The researchers “reviewed 170 organizational studies comprised of 239,246 physicians, who are ‘twice as likely to experience burnout than any other worker, including other health care professionals,’ they wrote.”

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— “Physicians experiencing burnout twice as likely to be involved in patient safety incidents “Andrew Rhoades, Healio, September 23, 2022

ABC News (9/23, Ramos, Su, Halsey, Valle) reported, “According to data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, in 2020, more than 18% of the Latinx community reported having a mental health condition,” and research available on the CDC’s “website also showed that 40.3% of Hispanic people experienced symptoms of depression, compared to 25.3% of white people.” Additionally, Latinos “face disparities in access and quality of mental health treatment, according to the American Psychiatric Association, which cites language barriers, lack of insurance and ‘lack of culturally tailored services and culturally competent mental health professionals’ among the many contributing factors.”

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— “Mental health crisis among Latinos prompts push for accessible treatment, candid conversations “Stephanie Ramos, Amanda Su, Jilian Fama Halsey, and Alondra Valle, ABC News, September 23, 2022

MedPage Today (9/23, Lopalito) reported, “While patients with major depressive disorder [MDD] and childhood trauma had more severe depressive symptoms, they benefited from treatment as much as those without childhood trauma,” researchers concluded in a 29-study systematic review and meta-analysis that encompassed “6,830 participants.” The findings were published online Sept. 22 in The Lancet Psychiatry. Healio (9/23, Herpen) also covered the story.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

HCPlive (9/23, Grossi) reported researchers have provided “evidence that nightmares occur frequently among adolescent patients with” major depressive disorder (MDD). What’s more, the study revealed a “statistically significant association…between suicide risk and nightmare frequency.” The findings of the 499-patient study were published online Sept. 22 in the journal Nature and Science of Sleep.

Related Links:

— “Higher Risk of Suicide Observed in Adolescents Suffering from Nightmare Distress “Giuliana Grossi, HCPlive, September 23, 2022

HealthDay (9/22, Reinberg) reports a study published in eClinical Medicine found “people aged 35 to 64 who had bad dreams weekly were four times more likely to have cognitive decline over the following 10 years, and older people were twice as likely to develop dementia.” Researchers evaluated data “on more than 600 adult men and women between the ages of 35 and 64” as well as “2,600 adults aged 79 and older who didn’t have dementia” and “also found that the risk for dementia tied to nightmares was stronger among men than women.”

Related Links:

— “Lots of Nightmares in Middle Age Might Be Warning Sign of Dementia “Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, September 22, 2022

According to Psychiatric News (9/22), “Participating in at least two sessions of a telephone-delivered intervention may help reduce total alcohol consumption, alcohol problem severity, and risky drinking patterns among patients with alcohol use problems,” a study published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry shows. The findings of the 344-participant study, researchers wrote, “demonstrate the potential benefits of this highly scalable telehealth model of alcohol treatment, with potential to reduce the treatment gap for problem alcohol use.”

Related Links:

— “Telephone Intervention May Reduce Risky Alcohol Consumption, Psychiatric News, September 22, 2022