Bloomberg Law (12/28, Reed, Subscription Publication) reports behind a paywall, “States can integrate behavioral health services into their Medicaid programs under a new option meant to help people experiencing mental health or substance use crises,” the Biden Administration announced on Tuesday. Furthermore, the option “will allow states to support mobile crisis intervention services, which connect users to a behavioral health specialist on call.”

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— “Mental Health Support to Get Expansion Under New Medicaid Option “Allie Reed, Bloomberg Law, December 28, 2021

MedPage Today (12/28, Gever) reports government survey data indicate that “among daily smokers followed for up to 5 years – all reporting at study enrollment that they intended to keep smoking and that they weren’t using e-cigarettes – 28% of those who started daily e-cigarette use then discontinued regular cigarettes…compared with a 5.8% quit rate…for those who never used nicotine vaping products.” According to the findings, published in JAMA Network Open, “a similar pattern was seen for the outcome of stopping daily cigarette smoking…with some 46% of those who took up e-cigarettes becoming intermittent smokers, versus 10% of smokers who avoided e-cigarette use during follow-up.”

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (12/23) reported, “Black patients continue to be at greater risk of physical or chemical restraint during an emergency psychiatric evaluation than white patients,” researchers concluded after analyzing data from “electronic medical records of adults 18 years and older who received an emergency psychiatric evaluation at Duke University Hospital in Durham, N.C., over a six-year period.” Included in the study were “a total of 12,977 unique emergency psychiatric encounters.” The findings were published online Dec. 21 in Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Black Patients More Likely to Be Restrained During Emergency Psychiatric Evaluation, Psychiatric News, December 23, 2021

Healio (12/27, Gramigna) reports, “People with schizophrenia spectrum disorders appeared to have increased risk for perpetrating violent outcomes compared with community control individuals,” investigators concluded in a 24-study, 51,309-participant systematic review and meta-analysis, the findings of which were published online Dec. 22 in JAMA Psychiatry.

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— “Schizophrenia spectrum disorders tied to increased risk for perpetrating violence “Joe Gramigna, Healio, December 27, 2021

Healio (12/23, Herpen) reported, “Use of antipsychotic medication in psychiatric patients led to decreases in assault risk against personnel within emergency settings,” researches concluded after analyzing data on medication orders “as well as assault incident reports…culled from electronic health records based on 17,056 total visits by 9,870 individual patients to urban psychiatric emergency locations over more than 1.3 million hours during a five-year period from January 2014 to December 2019.” The findings were published online Dec. 14 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

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— “Antipsychotics linked to decreased assault risk for emergency personnel “Robert Herpen, Healio, December 23, 2021

The Washington Post (12/24, A1, Iati) reported, “Nearly two years into a pandemic coexistent with several national crises, many Americans are profoundly tense.” Americans are “snapping at each other more frequently, suffering from physical symptoms of stress and seeking methods of self-care.” In the most extreme cases, they are “acting out their anger in public – bringing their internal struggles to bear on interactions with strangers, mental health experts said.” Some of those behaviors “appear to be the result of living through a long-lasting public emergency with no clear endpoint, the experts said.” American Psychiatric Association Committee on the Psychiatric Dimensions of Disaster chair Joshua Morganstein said, “When people are presented with situations that seem overwhelming, they are more apt to give up in a sense and lock more tightly to a single perspective and approach, because the work that’s necessary to hold on to all this different information is just too much.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (12/22) reports, “More than 1 in 4 respondents to an APA poll said that improving their mental health is on their minds for 2022.” According to the poll [pdf], “just over one-third of respondents (37%) said they are anxious about their mental health going into the new year,” and “among those making resolutions focused on mental health, 53% will meditate, 37% plan to see a therapist, 35% will take a break from social media, 32% will journal, 26% will use a mental health app, and 20% plan to see a psychiatrist specifically.” These “findings are from APA’s Healthy Minds Monthly, a poll conducted by Morning Consult.” APA President Vivian Pender, M.D., said, “The new calendar year for many symbolizes a time for renewal, for trying new things, and, for some, new beginnings.” She added, “To see 1 in 4 Americans focusing on their mental health in this moment is important and encouraging. What is worrisome, although not unexpected, is the level of variation among demographic groups on their overall level of mental health, and we as psychiatrists need to understand those trends.”

Related Links:

— “1 in 4 Americans Wants to Improve Their Mental Health in 2022, Psychiatric News, December 22, 2021

The New York Times (12/22, Hartocollis) reports, “Colleges across the country are facing a mental health crisis, driven in part by the pandemic.” Students “are anxious, socially isolated, depressed – and overwhelming mental health centers,” after nearly “two years of remote schooling, restricted gatherings and constant testing.” Furthermore, the rate of suicides has increased at some universities. University administrations are worried that a second coronavirus surge and set of lockdowns due to the Omicron variant will exacerbate the problem.

Related Links:

— “Another Surge in the Virus Has Colleges Fearing a Mental Health Crisis “Anemona Hartocollis, The New York Times, December 22, 2021

Kaiser Health News (12/21, Szabo) reports, “The pandemic has created a hostile environment for pregnant people and their babies.” Pregnant women infected with COVID-19 “are five times as likely as uninfected pregnant people to require intensive care and 22 times as likely to die.” Furthermore, “babies of covid-infected moms are 60% more likely to be born very prematurely, which increases the danger of infant mortality and long-term disabilities such as cerebral palsy, asthma and hearing loss, as well as a child’s risk of adult disease, including depression, anxiety, heart disease and kidney disease.”

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— “Pandemic Poses Short- and Long-Term Risks to Babies, Especially Boys ” Liz Szabo, Kaiser Health News, December 21, 2021

HealthDay (12/21) reports, “Public stigma toward depression seems to have decreased, according to a study.” The findings were published online Dec. 21 in JAMA Network Open.

Psychiatric News (12/21) reports, “To better understand the nature and magnitude of public stigma over two decades for major mental illnesses, the researchers analyzed data from the 1996, 2006, and 2018 U.S. National Stigma Studies, which are part of the General Social Survey,” and “the participants were randomly assigned to one vignette describing a fictitious person with behaviors meeting DSM-4 criteria for schizophrenia, major depression, or alcohol dependence or a control.”

Related Links:

— “Public Stigma Toward Depression Decreased From 2006 to 2018, HealthDay, December 21, 2021