Healio (7/8, Gramigna) reports, “Longer time since trauma was associated with larger symptom reductions among patients with PTSD,” researchers concluded in a study that “196 veterans with combat-related PTSD according to DSM-IV-TR criteria that last three months or longer, with recruitment between 2012 and 2016 from four sites that participated in the 24-week PROlonGed ExpoSure and Sertraline clinical trial.” The findings were published online June 15 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Longer time since trauma linked to larger symptom reductions in PTSD “Joe Gramigna, Healio, July 8, 2021

Modern Healthcare (7/7, Devereaux, Subscription Publication) reports, “Telehealth usage continues to decline as Americans return to medical facilities,” data indicate. The FAIR Health Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker found that “in April, telehealth utilization fell 12.5%, a trend mirrored by a gradual shift back to in-person visits at hospitals and other healthcare settings.” What’s more, “mental health conditions are the top diagnoses treated via telehealth, according to FAIR Health,” rising from “57% of all mental health claims in March to 58.6% in April.”

Related Links:

— “Telehealth use falls for third straight month, in-person appointments increase “Mari Devereaux, Modern Healthcare , July 7, 2021

MedPage Today (7/7, Grant) reports, “Children who have difficulty developing age-appropriate emotion regulation skills may be at a higher risk of developing broad anorexia nervosa during adolescence,” researchers concluded “in an analysis of data from the Millennium Cohort Study.” The 15,896-participant study revealed that “lower emotion regulation skills at the age of three were not associated with greater odds of reporting symptoms of broad anorexia at a later age,” but youngsters “who had no improvements in their emotion regulation skills by age seven had statistically higher odds of developing anorexia at age 14.” The findings were published online July 7 in JAMA Psychiatry.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (7/7, Mozes) reports that not only “is it possible to become addicted to gaming on the internet,” but also such an addiction “may trigger sleep difficulties, depression, anxiety and, in some cases, even suicidal thoughts,” investigators concluded in a study involving “phone interviews conducted among nearly 3,000 American college students between 2007 and 2015.” Those interviews “revealed that roughly one in 20 had ‘internet gaming disorder.’” The findings were published online June 6 ahead of print in the August issue of the journal Psychiatry Research. HealthDay adds that in 2013, the American Psychiatric Association included “internet gaming disorder as an official diagnosis in its updated diagnostic manual.” Click here to learn more about the disorder from the APA.

Related Links:

— “1 in 20 College Students Has ‘Internet Gaming Disorder,’ Study Finds “Alan Mozes, HealthDay, July 7, 2021

HealthDay (7/6, Mozes) reports research indicates that “many people living with HIV/AIDS still face a dramatically higher risk for suicide.” Investigators arrived at that conclusion after conducting “a review of 40 studies that involved a total of roughly 185,000 adults with HIV or AIDS” from “all over the world.” In fact, “the study team concluded that suicide risk is 100 times higher among such patients, compared with the population at large.” The findings of the systematic review and meta-analysis were published online April 9 in the journal General Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “People With HIV Have Much Higher Risk for Suicide “Alan Mozes, HealthDay, July 6, 2021

Psychiatric News (7/6) reports, “Young adults with serious mental illness (SMI) who are overweight or obese experienced similar weight loss and cardiorespiratory fitness improvements after participating in a 12-month group intervention as those who received one-on-one mobile health (mHealth) coaching for 12 months,” investigators concluded in a study involving “150 adults with SMI aged 18 to 35 years with a body mass index ≥25 kg/m2 who were receiving services at four community mental health centers in the northeastern” US. The findings of the randomized study were published online June 30 in Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Mobile Intervention as Effective as Group Intervention for Promoting Weight Loss in Young People With SMI , Psychiatric News, July 6, 2021

Healio (7/6, Gramigna) reports, “Adults with anorexia nervosa had increased risk for relapse in the first months after acute care discharge,” researchers concluded in a study involving “93 women with anorexia nervosa.” The findings were published online June 22 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “People with anorexia nervosa at increased risk for relapse soon after acute care discharge “Joe Gramigna, Healio, July 6, 2021

“Parents of kids with medical complexity face challenges other parents don’t,” the Washington Post (7/3, Blakemore) reported. But “how is their mental health compared to their counterparts whose children don’t face problems such as chronic diseases, developmental disabilities or congenital disorders?” A new large study published in the July issue of Pediatrics indicates that “parents of children with medical complexity are up to five times likelier to have poor or fair mental health – and that many don’t know how to get support.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (7/2) reported, “More than one in four American adults who had symptoms of depression or anxiety reported an unmet need for mental health counseling at the end of 2020,” investigators concluded after analyzing “data from approximately 70,000 adults in the Household Pulse Survey, which was conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and other federal agencies from December 9 to December 21, 2020.” The study revealed that “overall, more than one in 10 adults in the study reported this unmet need.” The findings were published online June 30 in a brief report in Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Study Reveals Extent of Unmet Need for Mental Health Counseling During Pandemic, Psychiatric News, July 2, 2021

CNN (7/4, Vera) reported that for some survivors of gun violence and mass shootings, “the loud explosions and bangs” that surround Independence Day fireworks “have become nightmarish triggers.” Gun-related “violence can lead to life-long trauma that can even develop into post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),” a “a psychiatric disorder that occurs in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event like a shooting, natural disaster or abuse, according to the American Psychiatric Association.” The article interviewed several gun violence “survivors and witnesses of mass shootings, including some who have been diagnosed with PTSD, in an effort to understand how July 4 fireworks celebrations might affect them.”

Related Links:

— “Independence Day fireworks, once joyous celebrations, are now nightmares for these gun violence survivors ” Amir Vera, CNN, July 4, 2021