Kaiser Health News (2/1, Kreidler) reports that across the US, “college students are seeking mental health therapy on campus in droves, part of a 15-year upswing that has spiked during the” COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, “colleges and universities are struggling to keep up with the demand for mental health services.” At a time of “a nationwide shortage of mental health professionals,” institutions of higher learning are “competing with hospital systems, private practices, and the burgeoning telehealth industry to recruit and retain counselors.”

Related Links:

— “Colleges Struggle to Recruit Therapists for Students in Crisis ” Mark Kreidler, Kaiser Health News, February 1, 2022

Psychiatric News (1/31) reports, “There was a significant drop in the rate of mental health care use among adults with severe mental illness during the first months of the pandemic, according to a report in JAMA Network Open.” These study “findings were based [on] data collected from more than 650,000 Medicare beneficiaries with schizophrenia or bipolar I disorder.”

Related Links:

— “Pandemic Disrupted Mental Health Care for Medicare Beneficiaries With Severe Mental Illness, Psychiatric News, January 31, 2022

MedPage Today (1/31, Wu) reports, “Young people in the U.S. lost more than 1 million cumulative years of life to unintentional drug overdoses from 2015 to 2019, according to a new analysis.” The findings were published in a research letter in JAMA Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (1/28) reported, “Recreational ketamine use appears to be associated with depressive symptoms in youth,” researchers concluded after examining “data from 15,673 youth who participated in the Monitoring the Future survey, an annual survey administered to middle- and high-school students in approximately 130 public and private schools in the 48 contiguous states.” The study also revealed that “the higher the dose of ketamine and more frequent use, the higher the risk of depression.” The findings were published online Jan. 25 in the American Journal on Addictions.

Related Links:

— “Illicit Ketamine Use Linked to Depression in Youth, Psychiatric News, January 28, 2022

NBC News (1/30, Carroll) reports a systematic review involving 10 meta-analyses “on the impact of cannabis on young’s people’s cognition found that many of the known learning and memory difficulties – such as slowed processing speed, and difficulties in focusing – could linger for weeks.” The review revealed that “verbal learning, retention and recall were especially affected for longer periods when the person was no longer high.” The findings were published online in the journal Addiction.

Related Links:

— “Marijuana use may cause cognitive impairment even when not still high “Linda Carroll, NBC News, January 30, 2022

HCPlive (1/29, Grossi) reported, “Because the opioid epidemic continues to be a public health crisis in the US, investigators aimed to assess the patient and prescription-related factors associated with opioid-related overdose,” finding that “the primary risk factors included being 75 years or older, being male, receiving Medicaid or Medicare Advantage coverage, having a comorbid substance use disorder or depression, and having medical comorbidities.” The findings of the 236,921-individual cohort study were published online Jan. 28 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Investigators Identify Factors Associated with Opioid Overdose Post Prescription “Giuliana Grossi, HCPlive, January 29, 2022

HCPlive (1/27, Butera) reports research suggests there may be “significant associations” between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) and “common allergic conditions such as food allergy, respiratory allergy, and skin allergy” in children. Included in the study were “192,573 children aged four to 17 years old.” The study revealed that the “weighted prevalence” of AD/HD “was higher among children with allergic conditions.” The findings were published online in the journal Nutrients.

Related Links:

— “ADHD Associated with Food, Skin and Respiratory Allergy “Armand Butera, HCPlive, January 27, 2022

Psychiatric News (1/27) reports, “Psychiatrists view telemedicine as a tool to facilitate engagement with care, encourage patients to keep appointments, and improve adherence with treatment,” investigators concluded after conducting “semi-structured interviews with 20 psychiatrists treating adults in outpatient settings across the” US from June 25 to August 4, 2021. The findings were published online Jan. 26 in Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Most Patients Considered Good Candidates for Telemedicine, Psychiatrists Report, Psychiatric News, January 27, 2022

NBC News (1/27, Matsakis) reports, “Meta and TikTok pulled advertisements from” Cerebral, “a major mental healthcare startup, this week after receiving inquiries from NBC News.” The two “social media platforms found the ads promoted negative body images and contained misleading health claims.” Some “experts have raised concerns about the advertising tactics mental health care startups have been using to attract patients they do believe are appropriate candidates for their services.” John Torous, MD, MBI, who chairs the American Psychiatric Association’s Mental Health IT committee, said, “When you see ads like this, you kind of worry about their marketing, who they want to reach, and how they’re reaching people.” Due to the fact that mental healthcare “startups are often backed by venture capital, they may have a mandate to grow as quickly as possible in order to provide a return to investors, he said.”

Related Links:

— “Instagram and TikTok pull ads from startup Cerebral linking ADHD to obesity “Louise Matsakis, NBC News, January 27, 2022

Healio (1/26, Herpen) reports, “U.S. adults who display moderate or greater symptoms of depression are more likely to endorse misinformation related to the COVID-19 vaccine,” investigators posited.

According to Psychiatric News (1/26), additionally, those “who believed misinformation about COVID vaccines were less likely to be vaccinated or be willing to get the vaccine,” investigators concluded after analyzing “data from U.S. adults who responded to at least one of two online surveys conducted between April 1 and May 3, 2021, and between June 9 and July 7, 2021.” The findings of the 15,464-participant survey study were published online Jan. 21 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “US adults with depression more likely to endorse misinformation about COVID-19 vaccine “Robert Herpen, Healio, January 26, 2022