Psychiatric News (2/9) reports, “Addiction to digital technology is bound to become an increasing focus of psychiatrists, wrote addiction psychiatrist Petros Levounis, MD, MA,” a professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry and associate dean at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, in a special report published on Feb. 1 in Psychiatric News. The diagnosis of “technological addictions accurately requires more research. ‘Only one technological addiction has been semi-officially recognized by APA as of DSM-5: internet gaming disorder is in Section III of our manual as a condition for further study,’” Dr. Levounis wrote. Still, Dr. “Levounis said that the framework used to define internet gaming disorder could be extended to other online behaviors that addiction specialists agree may be of concern: online gambling, online shopping, cybersex, internet surfing, texting/emailing, and social media.”

Related Links:

— “Overuse of Digital Technology May Indicate Addiction, Expert Says, Psychiatric News, February 9, 2022

Psychiatric News (2/8) reports, “Youth and young adults who start taking prescription opioids appear to have double the risk of suicidal behaviors compared with those who do not start taking prescription opioids,” investigators concluded after analyzing “Swedish population-register data on nearly 1.9 million individuals aged nine to 29 years for whom there was no record of prior opioid prescriptions.” The study team “tracked prescriptions dispensed to these youth and young adults beginning in January 2007 and diagnosed self-injurious behavior and death by suicide through December 2013.” The findings were published online Feb. 7 in the journal Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Initiation of Prescription Opioids May Slightly Increase Risk of Suicide in Some Youth, Psychiatric News, February 8, 2022

According to the New York Times (2/8, Caron), in the past few years, “clinical trials have shown that MDMA, when combined with talk therapy, can bring relief to those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, a finding that has elevated MDMA’s reputation from party drug to potential therapeutic.” Now, “some couples, drawn to the drug’s ability to produce feelings of empathy, trust and compassion, have started using unregulated MDMA on their own in an effort to help them reconnect, improve communication and have better sex.” Experts warn, however, that “MDMA, an amphetamine derivative, can have serious side effects,” and the illegal drug is “risky for people to use…on their own.” Smita Das, MD, PhD, MPH, who chairs the American Psychiatric Association’s Council on Addiction Psychiatry, said, “This can include everything from a ‘bad trip,’ to reckless behavior to psychiatric symptoms like panic attacks or physical effects like hypertension or interactions with other medications.”

Related Links:

— “Can MDMA Save a Marriage? “Christina Caron, The New York Times, February 8, 2022

ABC News (2/8, Livingston) reports, “U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy told lawmakers on Tuesday that the pandemic has had a ‘devastating’ impact on the mental health of America’s young people.” Murthy said, “I’m deeply concerned as a parent and as a doctor that the obstacles this generation of young people face are unprecedented and uniquely hard to navigate and the impact that’s having on their mental health is devastating.” His “main recommendations are to ensure access to ‘high-quality, culturally competent care,’ focusing on prevention with school and community-based programs and developing a better understanding of the impact technology and social media have on young people.”

Related Links:

— “Pandemic’s impact on youth mental health ‘devastating’: Surgeon General “Kelly Livingston, ABC News, February 8, 2022

HealthDay (2/7) reports “adults with chronic pain use a variety of pain management strategies, including opioids, but the majority use nonopioid management techniques,” data indicate. Investigators “found that 54.7% of adults with chronic pain only used nonopioid pain management techniques, while 10.7, 4.4, and 30.2% used both opioids and nonopioid techniques, used opioids only, and did not report any pain management techniques,” respectively, “during the past three months.” The findings of the 31,916-participant study were published as a research letter in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Various Strategies Used by U.S. Adults to Manage Chronic Pain “Physician’s Briefing Staff, HealthDay, February 7, 2022

CNN (2/7, LaMotte) reports “people using e-cigarettes to quit smoking found them to be less helpful than more traditional” smoking cessation aids, according to a study, published Monday in the journal BMJ that analyzed the latest 2017 to 2019 data from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study. The study found that “nearly 60%” of daily e-cigarette users who were former smokers had resumed smoking by 2019. Study researcher John Pierce said, “This is the first time we found e-cigarettes to be less popular than FDA-approved pharmaceutical aids, such as medications or the use of patches, gum, or lozenges.” He added, “There’s no evidence that the use of e-cigarettes is an effective cessation aid.”

Related Links:

— “E-cigarettes were less effective than gum and other nicotine replacement aids, study says “Sandee LaMotte, CNN, February 7, 2022

Healio (2/7, Herpen) reports, “As symptom severity for major depressive disorder [MDD] and treatment-resistant depression [TRD] increases, so do costs to health systems,” researchers concluded in a study including 24,534 patients with TRD and 17,628 patients with MDD. The study revealed that “patients with TRD incurred healthcare costs 1.23 times greater…than the MDD group on average within the 12 month follow-up.” In addition, “participants who reported more severe symptoms in both groups recorded higher mean costs.” The findings of the “retrospective cohort study” were published online Feb. 1 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Health care costs rise with symptom severity in patients with MDD, TRD “Robert Herpen, Healio, February 7, 2022

Healio (2/7, Gawel) reports, “Women should be screened and treated for bipolar disorder during pregnancy despite hesitations about pharmacologic treatment,” according to a presentation given at The Pregnancy Meeting by Emily S. Miller, MD, MPH, assistant professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University. This is because “half of all women with postpartum psychosis have a history of bipolar disorder, Miller said.” Dr. Miller “added that there are tools available to OB/GYNs to screen patients for bipolar disorder,” such as the “Mood Disorder Questionnaire…which consists of 13 questions, takes about five minutes to complete, and is freely available online in multiple languages.”

Related Links:

— “‘Mental health is maternal health’: Screen, treat pregnant patients for bipolar disorder “Richard Gawel, Healio, February 7, 2022

MedPage Today (2/7) reports, “Pediatric mental health visits to physicians increased during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, Canada,” investigators concluded in a “population-wide” study. Beginning “in July 2020, rates of visits to mental health services were consistently 6% to 15% above expected levels – based on prior years – and were sustained as of February 2021,” with “the largest increase in physician-based mental health visits…recorded for adolescent girls.” The findings were published online Feb. 7 in JAMA Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

AMA President Gerald E. Harmon, M.D., wrote in Crain’s Chicago Business (IL) (2/4), “The AMA has advocated against the culture of violence in America,” and “while not a new occurrence, the reported uptick in intimidation, threats and attacks toward people in the medical field has been on the rise for at least the last decade – and has become even more of an alarming phenomenon since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.” He continued, “The AMA is deeply concerned about this threatening behavior and how it has contributed to an increasingly hostile working environment across medicine, particularly for those on the front lines of our nation’s response to COVID-19.” Dr. Harmon wrote, “Our AMA is actively monitoring this situation to consider how we can better leverage our strengths and resources to promote the collective safety and security of all health care workers and organizations under attack for championing equity and justice for their patients and communities.” He concluded, “The steps we take today to create a safer and more inclusive environment for all physicians will, in turn, create a safer and more welcoming environment for our patients – and our best chance to advance equity and improve the health of the nation.”

Related Links:

— “Threats and intimidation against doctors and health care workers must end “Gerald E. Harmon, Crain’s Chicago Business, February 4, 2022