HealthDay (3/25) reported, “Psilocybin…is generating lots of interest as a potential treatment for a host of mental” health conditions, but a 40-study systematic review and meta-analysis revealed “there is little data on how it might interact with more traditional psychiatric medications.” The findings were published online March 7 in the journal Psychopharmacology. “ The current standard of care for these disorders involves treatment with psychiatric medications (e.g., selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), so it will be important to understand drug-drug interactions between MDMA or psilocybin and psychiatric medications.”

Related Links:

— “‘Magic Mushroom’ Therapy: Does It Interact With Other Medicines? “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, March 25, 2022

The Washington Post (3/26, Harris) reported that based on a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, “Medicare’s hospice regulations are not working as intended for many people with dementia, says” one of the study authors. According to the “study of 3,837 hospice patients with dementia, about 5% are pulled from hospice when their condition seems to have stabilized.” With no amendment to CMS’ current rules “in sight, hospice and palliative care workers are pushing for a different end-of-life model for people with dementia.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Healio (3/25, Herpen) reported, “An analysis of more than 350,000 posts on the social media platform Reddit found many individuals used language to discuss non-suicidal self-injury similar to language used in diagnoses of substance use disorder,” investigators concluded. The findings were published online March 21 in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions. “ A majority (76.8%) of users endorsed at least two adapted SUD criteria in their posts, indicative of mild, moderate, or severe addiction. The most frequently endorsed criteria were urges or cravings (67.6%), escalating severity or tolerance (46.7%), and NSSI that is particularly hazardous. User-level addictive features positively predicted number of methods used for NSSI, number of psychiatric disorders, and particularly hazardous NSSI, but not suicidality.”

Related Links:

— “Social media posters describe non-suicidal self-harm in similar terms to addiction “Robert Herpen, Healio, March 25, 2022

MedPage Today (3/24, Dotinga) reports, “Amputees with psychiatric and medical conditions are much more likely to experience phantom limb syndrome,” investigators concluded in a study that “examined 64,158 patients from a large insurance database who had undergone one or more extremity amputations.” The findings of the “retrospective cohort study” were presented at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons annual meeting.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (3/24) reports, “The number of adults over 55 admitted for substance use treatment for the first time nearly doubled between 2008 and 2018,” investigators concluded in a study that “compared the rate of first-time admissions for publicly funded substance use treatment by 453,598 adults 55 years or older with those by more than three million adults aged 30 to 54 years.” The findings were published online March 19 ahead of print in the Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Rising Number of Older Americans Admitted for Treatment for Heroin Use, Psychiatric News, March 24, 2022

The Hill (3/24, Barnes) reports, “People with depression and anxiety experienced nearly double the cardiovascular benefits of exercise than those without either diagnosis, according to a…study.” The results are set to be presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 71st Annual Scientific Session & Expo.

Related Links:

— “People with depression, anxiety may benefit most from exercise “Adam Barnes, The Hill, March 24, 2022

The New York Times (3/23, Tingley) reports on the children’s mental-health crisis in the US. According to the Times, “it would be easy to blame the pandemic for changes in mental health that have been observed since March 2020,” but last year, “when the surgeon general noted a ‘mental-health crisis’ among young people, he made clear that rising numbers of children and young adults were struggling with anxiety and depression before Covid-19.”

Related Links:

— “There’s a Mental-Health Crisis Among American Children. Why? ” Kim Tingley, The New York Times, March 23, 2022

Reuters (3/22, Thomasson) reports, “About half a million refugees from Ukraine who have fled to Poland need support for mental health disorders, and 30,000 have severe mental health problems,” a “representative for the World Health Organization in Poland said on” March 22. Ukrainian “refugees arriving in Poland are suffering from a range of health problems…but the main need is for support due to trauma, Paloma Cuchi, WHO representative in Poland, told a briefing in Geneva.”

ABC News (3/22, Kondoleon) reports research indicates that “firsthand exposure to traumatic events, such as the Ukraine war, can have lasting effects, including PTSD, anxiety, depression and relapse of alcohol abuse.” The American Psychiatric Association has estimated that the “prevalence of acute stress disorder ranges from 13%-50% depending on the type of event exposed to and about half of those individuals with acute stress disorder develop PTSD.” According to Craig Katz, MD, a clinical professor of psychiatry, medical education, system design and global health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, “the risk of developing lasting effects of acute stress disorder increases depending on the extent of exposure to a traumatic event, prior trauma that was not well addressed previously, a history of psychiatric disorders and not having social support.”

The Hill (3/22, Oshin) also covers the story.

Related Links:

— “500,000 refugees from Ukraine have mental health issues, WHO says, Reuters, March 22, 2022

Psychiatric News (3/21) reports research indicates that “adults who napped excessively were more likely to experience worse cognition in the future, and conversely, adults with poor cognition were more likely to nap excessively in the future.” Investigators arrived at these conclusions after examining “data from 1,401 adults with a mean age of 81.4 years who were part of the Rush Memory and Aging Project between 2005 and 2020.” The study also revealed that “longer naps were also linked with Alzheimer’s risk.” The findings were published online March 17 in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia.

Related Links:

— “Longer, More Frequent Daytime Naps Linked to Worse Cognition, Alzheimer’s Disease, Psychiatric News, March 21, 2022

Modern Healthcare (3/21, Tepper, Subscription Publication) reports, “Health insurers Anthem and Aetna began denying [healthcare professionals’] claims that include consultation codes this year, joining the growing ranks of payers cutting reimbursement amid an industrywide coding change.” In 2010, “Medicare stopped paying claims that include consult codes,” and “now, more insurers are following the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ lead and requiring [healthcare professionals] to use different codes to bill for consultations.” In 2019, “UnitedHealthcare stopped recognizing these codes…in an effort to align with federal practices,” implementing “the policy after facing pushback from groups such as the… American Psychiatric Association, which complained the change undervalued their members’ services.”

Related Links:

— “More insurers cut payment for patient consultations “Nona Tepper, Modern Healthcare, March 21, 2022