The Washington Post (12/29, Berger) reports, “Eating disorders are on the rise among children and adolescents in Britain amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health warned Tuesday, citing a survey of pediatricians – the latest indication that the pandemic has taken a searing toll on mental health worldwide, across age groups.”
Related Links:
— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)
HealthDay (12/29, Murez) reports, “When U.S. military personnel get gun locks and counseling on safe storage of their weapons, they store those guns safely, and that could be key to lowering the military suicide rate,” investigators concluded in a study that “included 232 firearm-owning members of the Mississippi National Guard.” The study team “divided them into groups, some of whom received only lethal means counseling or health and stress counseling, and some of whom received counseling plus cable gun locks.” The findings were published online Dec. 22 in the American Journal of Public Health.
Related Links:
— “Counseling on Gun Safety Could Cut Suicide Rate in Military: Study “Cara Murez, HealthDay, December 29, 2020
HealthDay (12/29) reports, “Adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder” (AD/HD) appear to “have a strikingly high prevalence of attempted suicide, with women being at particular risk, researchers say.” Their “study of nearly 22,000 Canadian adults found that 14% of those with” AD/HD “had attempted suicide,” a rate that “was roughly five times” that of adults without AD/HD. The findings were published online Dec. 21 in the Archives of Suicide Research.
Related Links:
— “ADHD Raises Adult Suicide Risk, Especially for Women “Amy Norton, HealthDay, December 29, 2020
Healio (12/28, Gramigna) reports, “Racial/ethnic disparities in diagnoses and treatment of first-episode psychosis were apparent before the first psychosis diagnosis,” investigators concluded after analyzing “medical and prescription drug claims from January 2007 to September 2015 of 3,017 Black, Hispanic or white patients who were continually enrolled in commercial insurance plans and received a diagnosis of first-episode psychosis between ages 10 and 21 years.” The findings of the “observational cohort study” were published online Dec. 23 in JAMA Psychiatry.
“Because Black and Hispanic patients have fewer behavioral health–related clinical contacts before the occurrence of [first-episode psychosis], these patients may have reduced opportunities for timely detection of psychotic symptoms and early interventions,” Heun-Johnson and colleagues wrote.
Related Links:
— “Racial/ethnic disparities remain in diagnosis, treatment of first-episode psychosis “Joe Gramigna, Healio, December 28, 2020
Healio (12/28, Gramigna) reports, “Gay, lesbian and bisexual veterans were at increased risk for suicide mortality,” investigators concluded after assessing “suicide mortality of 8.1 million veterans by analyzing their Veterans Health Administration (VHA) electronic health record data between October 1999 and September 2017.” The findings of the “retrospective population-based cohort study” were published online Dec. 28 in JAMA Network Open.
Related Links:
— “Gay, lesbian, bisexual veterans at increased risk for suicide mortality “Joe Gramigna, Healio, December 28, 2020
The New York Times (12/28, Belluck) reports, “A small number of Covid patients who had never experienced mental health problems are developing severe psychotic symptoms weeks after contracting the coronavirus.” Medical experts have indicated “they expect that such extreme psychiatric dysfunction will affect only a small proportion of patients.” However, “the cases are considered examples of another way the Covid-19 disease process can affect mental health and brain function.”
Related Links:
— “Small Number of Covid Patients Develop Severe Psychotic Symptoms “Pam Belluck, The New York Times, December 28, 2020
In an opinion piece for the Washington Post (12/26), American Medical Association Chief Health Equity Officer Aletha Maybank, M.D., M.P.H., past-president of the American Public Health Association Camara Phyllis Jones, Advancing Health Equity founder and CEO Uché Blackstock, and National Birth Equity Collaborative president Joia Crear Perry wrote about the treatment of Dr. Susan Moore, a Black family physician who died from COVID-19 after alleging she was mistreated by her health care provider due to her race. In a Facebook video about her treatment prior to her death, Dr. Moore said, “This is how Black people get killed, when you send them home and they don’t know how to fight for themselves.” According to the opinion piece, “Moore’s video offers a glimpse…of the injustice at the intersection of being a health-care provider and being a person of color during [COVID-19], and what happens when the system does not work to adequately care for the very people who are there to uphold it.” The authors of the piece urge, “As a nation, we need to understand four key messages about racism: Racism exists. Racism is a system. Racism saps the strength of the whole society. We must act to dismantle racism.”
Related Links:
— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)
According to Psychiatric News (12/23), a commentary published online Dec. 14 in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry posited that “physicians’ responsibilities in addressing racism and racial violence toward Black Americans range from examining and taking steps to counter our own implicit and explicit biases to addressing policies and procedures that reproduce inequities within mental health delivery systems.” After “drawing from literature and their personal experience, the authors” of the commentary “offered…recommendations for the field of medicine, as it relates” to educators, clinicians, and medical administrators.
Related Links:
— “Psychiatrists Outline Strategies to Achieve Antiracism in Medicine, Psychiatric News, December 23, 2020
According to Psychiatric News (12/22), on Dec. 21, Congress “passed the Strengthening Behavioral Health Parity Act (HR 7539), a bipartisan bill based on APA’s model legislation for improving compliance with the federal mental health parity law.” The measure “was passed as part of a year-end funding package that combined annual appropriations legislation for federal agencies and a $900 billion COVID-relief package.” It is anticipated that President Trump will sign the proposed legislation into law “later this week.” Commenting on the bill, APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, MD, MPA, said, “This act is a good example of how Congress can work in a bipartisan manner to keep Americans’ mental health needs on their radars and invest in programs that help us navigate the pandemic.”
Related Links:
— “Congress Passes Legislative Package Including APA Model Parity Enforcement Bill, Psychiatric News, December 22, 2020
Kaiser Health News (12/22, Reardon) reports that “in a typical year, Native American youth die by suicide at nearly twice the rate of their white peers in the” US, but “experts worry that the isolation and shutdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic could make things worse.” The article adds that social distancing has isolated people who in other times could seek help from others.
Related Links:
— “Health Officials Fear Pandemic-Related Suicide Spike Among Native Youth ” Sara Reardon, Kaiser Health News, December 22, 2020