Kaiser Health News (7/8, Meyer) reported, “Research suggests therapy delivered online can be effective,” but “the rapid proliferation of the online commercial therapy industry worries some traditional mental health professionals who have raised concerns about aggressive advertising for online services and whether patient care is compromised by inadequate training and pay for therapists working at some digital companies.” John Torous, MD, MBI, who chairs the American Psychiatric Association’s Health Information Technology Committee, said, “There are fundamental questions about what these companies are doing and whether they are reaching people who really need help.” Dr. Torous added, “They may be doing wonderful work, but it’s hard to know when we don’t have that data.”

Related Links:

— “Digital Mental Health Companies Draw Scrutiny and Growing Concerns “Harris Meyer, Kaiser Health News, July 8, 2022

Healio (7/8, Herpen) reported, “Those with first-episode psychosis [FEP] demonstrated more suicidal behavior compared with healthy controls, while perceived stress and emotional abuse were linked to an increase in suicidal ideation and risk,” investigators concluded in the PROFEP study, which “included 95 participants (29 women, 66 men) aged 13 to 46 years, diagnosed with FEP, alongside 92 healthy control participants.” The findings were published online ahead of print in the September issue of the journal Psychiatry Research.

Related Links:

— “First-episode psychosis, stress and abuse linked to increase of suicidal behaviors “Robert Herpen, Healio, July 8, 2022

HealthDay (7/7) reports, “The Promoting Resilience in Stress Management (PRISM) program for health care workers and staff is feasible, acceptable, and associated with improved outcomes, according to a study.” Investigators “found that 91% of participants completed” this “skills-based coaching program,” and “88% reported being satisfied.” The results published in JAMA Network Open also revealed improvements “in participant-reported resilience, stress, anxiety, and burnout-exhaustion.”

Related Links:

— “Resilience and Stress Management Program Aids Health Care Workers, HealthDay , July 7, 2022

Psychiatric News (7/7) reports, “About 20 years ago, diabetes care changed when an organized effort was made to identify patients at risk of diabetes earlier and connect them with treatment,” and “a similar strategy could be used within the substance use disorder (SUD) field by using the term ‘preaddiction,’ advised A. Thomas McLellan, PhD, George F. Koob, PhD, and Nora D. Volkow, MD, in a Viewpoint piece” published online July 6 in JAMA Psychiatry. In the Viewpoint, the authors observed that “the transition from using a substance to developing a substance use disorder is usually slow and variable.”

Related Links:

— “Concept of ‘Preaddiction’ Could Lead to Early Intervention for Possible Substance Use Disorder, Psychiatric News, July 7, 2022

HCPlive (7/7, Walter) reports research “indicates that a diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) does lead to a heightened risk of suicide ideation, suicide attempts, and suicide deaths.” Investigators arrived at that conclusion after conducting a 28-study systematic review and meta-analysis encompassing some “1.05 million individuals with IBD.” The findings were published online in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research.

Related Links:

— “IBD Linked to Higher Risk of Suicide Ideation, Attempts, and Death “Kenny Walter, HCPlive, July 7, 2022

The Wall Street Journal (7/7, Chapman, Subscription Publication) reports on how US school districts are implementing measures during summer classes to help ameliorate the effects the COVID-19 pandemic has had on student mental health.

Related Links:

— “Schools Are Tackling Mental Health This Summer “Ben Chapman, The Wall Street Journal, July 7, 2022

RevCycle Intelligence (7/6, LaPointe) reports “claim denial rates varied significantly among Healthcare.gov marketplace payers,” according to a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis. The results showed “that, overall, nearly one out of every five claims submitted for in-network services in 2020 was denied by marketplace payers,” but “depending on the payer, average claim denial rates ranged from just 1% to 80%.” Also, denial rates “varied significantly by location, the analysis showed.”

Related Links:

— “Claim Denial Rates as High as 80% for Some Marketplace Payers “Jacqueline LaPointe, RevCycle Intelligence, July 6, 2022

HealthDay (7/6, Quinlan Houghtaling) reports, “Children as young as 9 and 10 start to wonder about tobacco, booze and even marijuana, and many may have easy access to these substances at home, mostly because their parents have not forbidden their use yet,” researchers concluded in a study revealing that “about one in 10 of the nearly 12,000 preteen children…said they’re curious about using alcohol or tobacco products, while one in 50 expressed curiosity about using marijuana.” The findings were published in the June issue of the journal Drug & Alcohol Dependence Reports.

Related Links:

— “Do Preteens Think About Booze, Pot? Survey Says Yes “Cara Murez, HealthDay, July 6, 2022

Medscape (7/6, Subscription Publication) reports, “High use of telemental health services by patients with serious mental illness (SMI) who live in nonmetropolitan US counties is associated with improvements in key outcomes, including greater post-hospitalization follow-up, new research suggests.” In this “nationwide study, researchers drew on Medicare data from nearly 3000 counties covering the period from 2000 to 2018.” The “results show that counties in which there was greater use of telemental health services reported higher increases of clinical visits and better follow-up after hospitalization among patients with bipolar 1 disorder and schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders.” The findings were published online June 27 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

The Washington Post (7/6, McShane) reports, “On July 16, Americans will be able to call or text a new phone number – 988 – if they feel they are experiencing a mental health crisis and/or are at risk of suicide.” This “forthcoming switch to 988 is due to passage of the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act,” which “also mandated that the switch to 988 include a strategy to provide specialized services for LGBTQ youth, who are more than four times as likely to contemplate suicide than their non-LGBTQ peers, research shows.” Many “officials say they hope the new, shorter phone number will be easier for Americans to remember, with the goal of helping more people in crisis – and LGBTQ youth in particular.”

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)