Psychiatric News (6/9) reports a study found that “people who work in the arts, design, entertainment, sports, and the media have a higher prevalence of frequent mental distress than those in other fields.” Researchers examined three measures of mental health among participants: diagnosis of lifetime depression; number of self-reported mentally unhealthy days (MUDs) in the past month; and frequent mental distress, “defined as a MUD score of 14 or higher.” They found that “overall, 14.2% of participants reported lifetime depression and 9.6% reported frequent mental distress.” When compared with workers in a reference group, “workers in the arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media had 1.32 times the prevalence of frequent mental distress.” Meanwhile, employees “in food preparation and serving (1.20 times), health care support (1.19 times), and sales and related occupations (1.13 times) also had statistically higher prevalence of frequent mental distress compared with the reference group.” The study was published in JAMA Network Open.

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— “Frequent Mental Distress Varies by Occupation, Psychiatric News, June 9, 2025

HealthDay (6/9, Thompson ) reports a study found that “the percentage of people in treatment for cannabis use disorder declined from 19% in 2003 to 13% in 2019.” Researchers noted the decline “occurred even though millions of Americans could be diagnosed with cannabis use disorder,” due in part to marijuana now being legal for recreational use in 24 states plus DC. According to the CDC, “about 3 in 10 people who use marijuana are believed to have cannabis use disorder.” Researchers said in background notes that “more than 16 million people 12 and older now meet the criteria for cannabis use disorder.” They concluded, “Our findings highlight an urgent and growing need for targeted outreach and improved education about available treatment options for cannabis use disorder.” The study was published in Substance Use & Misuse.

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— “Fewer People Seeking Treatment For Cannabis Use Disorder,”Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, June 9, 2025

The Washington Post (6/7, Chesler) reported that a new studyby research firm SSRS found that “some 95.6 million people 18 and over who have used dating websites or apps,” and many are not alone in seeing their “mood shift downward the longer” they spend online. Some experts “say online dating can generate mental health hazards.” One therapist warned that “users can become addicted to apps and to the dopamine rush they get when someone they’re interested in responds to them.” He said, “People are constantly looking for validation and a dopamine and serotonin rush that doesn’t happen, and if it does happen, it’s fleeting and makes them want to go back for more.” Another therapist said the apps can be particularly negative for young people, who lack the emotional development to put rejection in context. She said, “Apps like that can really make people feel ugly and unwanted.” Overall, experts encourage breaks from social media and dating apps to curb addictive tendencies.

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (6/6) reported a study found that “almost all the callers who reached out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (now the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline) say their calls helped them, with 88% saying that it stopped them from killing themselves.” Researchers interviewed 437 adults two weeks after their initial call to the Lifeline between April 15, 2020, and August 15, 2021. They observed that “over half of the callers reported being at least somewhat likely to act on their suicidal thoughts at the time of their call. However, nearly 72% of callers reported that calling the Lifeline helped them a lot, and a further 26% said it helped them a little.” In addition, nearly all callers “said their counselors engaged in Lifeline best practices” and that “about 59% of callers said they’d had no thoughts of killing themselves since the call.” The study was published in Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior.

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— “Majority of Callers Say 988 Lifeline Saved Their Lives, Psychiatric News, June 6, 2025

Medical Economics (6/4, Littrell) reports, “Artificial intelligence (AI) can process vast amounts of medical data and deliver clinical-grade responses, but a new international study suggests it still falls short where human connection matters most.” The study “compared 7,165 medical queries answered by either AI models or human clinicians in the United States and Australia.” Researchers found “that AI-generated responses often matched expert standards for accuracy and professionalism, particularly for factual or procedural medical questions. In some cases, AI outperformed human clinicians in consistency and clarity – particularly in length and format.” However, performance broke down “when it came to more nuanced ‘why’ or ‘how’ questions,” as AI models “sometimes failed to fully grasp the clinical context or emotional weight of sensitive cases, like mental health concerns or end-of-life discussions.” Additionally, AI models “leaned heavily on clinical jargon, sometimes alienating or confusing patients.” The study was published in the Journal of Health Organization and Management.

Related Links:

— “AI can aid diagnoses, but human touch still matters,”Austin Littrell, Medical Economics, June 4, 2025

Healio (6/4, Cooper ) reports a study found that “patients with Sjögren’s disease demonstrate a ‘pronounced risk’ for attempting suicide, with a hazard ratio of 18.054 compared with a general population cohort.” Researchers observed the “incidence rate of suicide attempts was statistically significantly higher among patients with Sjögren’s disease: 0.247 per 100 person-years vs. 0.014 in the comparison group. In a fully adjusted Cox regression, patients with Sjögren’s disease had a hazard ratio of 18.054for suicide attempts vs. the comparison group.” Researchers noted, “It is not uncommon for individuals with [Sjögren’s syndrome] to experience a decline in [health-related quality of life] to levels likened to, or even worse than, death.” They added, “These revelations bear significant weight for health care practitioners tending to patients with Sjögren’s syndrome, arming them with empirical evidence to counsel patients on the heightened suicide attempt risks.” The study was published in Scientific Reports.

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— “Patients with Sjögren’s disease demonstrate significant risk for suicide attempt,”Justin Cooper, Healio, June 4, 2025

Psychiatric News (6/4) reports panelists discussed “the potential of glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists to treat neuropsychiatric disorders such as cognitive dysfunction and alcohol use disorder” at the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology’s annual meeting in Phoenix. One panelist said GLP-1 medications do not increase resting metabolic rate or promote physical activity, but “they do have a very robust signal in reducing caloric intake.” Furthermore, “these medications are believed to modulate the rewarding aspects of food – and potentially other substances.” A recent Phase 2 trial “found that weekly low-dose semaglutide significantly reduced the amount of alcohol consumed by adults with alcohol use disorder during a self-administration task taken after four weeks of treatment.” Another recent randomized trial “found no difference in executive function scores between the semaglutide and placebo groups. However, the researchers did find a statistical improvement in global cognition for semaglutide compared with placebo – suggesting it may work in other cognitive domains.”

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— “Researchers Look to Unlock GLP-1 Drugs’ Potential in Psychiatry, Psychiatric News , June 4, 2025

HealthDay (5/29, Gotkine) reports a study found that “overdose deaths attributable to synthetic opioids alone are increasingly predominant” among US youth. Researchers found that between 2018 and 2022, overdose death counts among US youth aged 15 to 24 years “increased from 4,652 to 6,723 (10.85 to 15.16 per 100,000), with a slight decrease between 2021 and 2022. Deaths involving synthetic opioids only showed the largest increases (1.8 to 4.8 deaths per 100,000).” They noted that “regardless of race, ethnicity, or sex, fatal synthetic opioid-only overdose rates were higher than polydrug overdose rates involving synthetic opioids since 2020. In 2022, rates of synthetic-only overdose deaths were 2.49- and 2.15-times higher among male versus female youth and among those aged 20 to 24 versus 15 to 19 years, respectively.” The study was published in Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Youth Deaths Attributable to Synthetic Opioids Alone Increasingly Predominant,”Elana Gotkine, HealthDay, May 29, 2025

The New York Times (6/2, Span ) reports that a “wave of recent research points to reasons for concern for older users, with cannabis-related emergency room visits and hospitalizations rising.” An analysis of national survey data published Monday in JAMA found that cannabis use within the past 30 days “jumped among adults over age 65, to 7 percent of respondents in 2023 from 4.8 percent in 2021.” Studies also show “climbing rates of older people seeking medical treatment for cannabis-related issues, both in outpatient settings and in hospitals.” For example, “cannabis-related emergency room visits In California by those over 65 rose, to about 395 per 100,000 visits in 2019, from 21 in 2005.” Meanwhile, a recent study published in JAMA Neurology found that older patients with cannabis-related conditions seeking care at emergency departments or being admitted to hospitals “had 1.5 times the risk of a dementia diagnosis within five years, and 3.9 times the risk for the general population.”

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— The New York Times (requires login and subscription)

The Washington Post (6/2, McMahan) reports a study suggests that “at age 11, daily physical activity was associated with a 12 percent lower risk of a psychiatric diagnosis at age 18 for every hour of activity recorded.” Researchers observed that “physical activity decreased the risk of anxiety by almost 40 percent for boys at both 5 and 11.” Notably, the “same held true for depression and boys: Physical activity was associated with a 19 percent reduction in depression among boys at age 5 and 23 percent at age 8.” They found that “at age 11, physical activity was associated with a decreased risk for depression for both boys and girls. Participation in organized sports at age 11 correlated with a reduced risk of mental health diagnoses – 12 percent lower for girls and 23 percent for boys.” The researchers concluded “that ages 10 to 12 might be a critical period for the development of psychological resilience.” The study was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)