USA Today (8/19, Dastagir) reports, “During the pandemic, people are talking a lot about children.” However, “what has received far less attention, child development experts say, is the impact the pandemic is having on the youngest children: babies, toddlers, preschoolers, kindergartners.” Research shows that “birth to age five is a critical time for child development…and new data from the Rapid Assessment of Pandemic Impact on Development Early Childhood Household Survey Project (RAPID-EC Project) shows caregiver distress is cascading down to young children in ways science shows can be toxic in the short- and long-term.”

Related Links:

— “During the pandemic, are the little kids all right? Survey shows COVID is taking a toll now and will in the future., “Alia E. Dastagir, USA TODAY, August 19, 2020

TIME (8/19, Mansoor) reports Americans “who struggle with drug addiction have turned to syringe services programs (SSPs) for decades – not only to exchange used needles for clean ones but also as a first step towards treatment.” However, the coronavirus pandemic “has made it more difficult for participants to get clean needles as sites shut down or reduce their operating hours.” As the pandemic “continues, the nation’s drug overdose crisis appears to be worsening.”

Related Links:

— “‘A Pandemic Upon an Epidemic.’ Syringe Services Struggle to Provide Care to Those Battling Drug Addiction Amid COVID-19, “Sanya Mansoor, TIME, August 19, 2020

TIME (8/19, Mansoor) reports Americans “who struggle with drug addiction have turned to syringe services programs (SSPs) for decades – not only to exchange used needles for clean ones but also as a first step towards treatment.” However, the coronavirus pandemic “has made it more difficult for participants to get clean needles as sites shut down or reduce their operating hours.” As the pandemic “continues, the nation’s drug overdose crisis appears to be worsening.”

Related Links:

— “‘A Pandemic Upon an Epidemic.’ Syringe Services Struggle to Provide Care to Those Battling Drug Addiction Amid COVID-19, “Sanya Mansoor, TIME, August 19, 2020

STAT (8/18, Isselbacher) reports a survey conducted by “the Trevor Project, a national organization focused on suicide prevention among LBGTQ teenagers and young adults,” found “that while the majority of LGBTQ young people want access to mental health treatment, many don’t receive that care.” The survey included “more than 40,000 young LGBT people ages 13 to 24, 84% of whom said they would like to access mental health care.” STAT adds, “Among the 84% who wanted care but couldn’t access it, more than half said that cost was a prohibitive factor,” while “one-third said that they didn’t want to ask permission from their parents – which many states require to provide medical care to a person under 18.”

Related Links:

— “LGBTQ youth say cost, parental permission pose major barriers to mental health care, “Juliet Isselbacher, STAT, August 18, 2020

Healio (8/18, Gramigna) reports, “People with depression were at increased risk for cannabis use,” researchers concluded after collecting and then analyzing “data of 16,216 adults aged 20 years to 59 years who responded to the annual, cross-sectional National Health and Nutrition Examination survey.” The findingsof the “repeated cross-sectional study” were published online in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Individuals with depression more likely to use cannabis, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, August 18, 2020

Psychiatric News (8/18) reports, “Compared with other common antipsychotics, clozapine appears most likely to decrease the risk of suicidal outcomes in patients with schizophrenia,” investigators concluded after examining data from “two nationwide register-based cohort studies of 61,889 patients with schizophrenia who lived in Finland and 29,823 patients with schizophrenia who lived in Sweden.” The findings were published online Aug. 15 in the Schizophrenia Bulletin.

Related Links:

— “Clozapine Found Most Likely of Common Antipsychotics to Reduce Risk of Suicide in Patients With Schizophrenia, Psychiatric News, August 18, 2020

The Wall Street Journal (8/17, Reddy, Subscription Publication) reports a federal committee recommends that men should not consume more than one alcoholic drink per day. The committee is recommending changes to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Related Links:

— “Men Urged to Limit Alcohol to One Drink a Day Amid New Concerns, “Sumathi Reddy, The Wall Street Journal, August 17, 2020

HCPlive (8/17, Walter) reports researchers “used phenotypic and genomic data from over 100,000 UK Biobank participants to systematically screen and validate a wide range of potential modifiable factors for depression,” extracting “baseline data for 106 modifiable risk factors [for] depression including lifestyle measures such as exercise, sleep, media, and diet, social factors including support and engagement, and environmental variable[s] such as green space and pollution.” After using “Mendelian randomization evidence,” investigators concluded that certain factors were “actionable targets for preventing depression.” The findings were published online Aug. 14 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “More Risk Factors Predict Future Depression, “Kenny Walter, HCPlive, August 17, 2020

Psychiatric News (8/14) reported, “Yoga may help relieve symptoms for patients with generalized anxiety disorder [GAD], but group cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) should remain a first-line treatment,” investigators concluded after comparing “the six-month response rates of 155 patients who were randomized to 12 weeks of Kundalini yoga, CBT, or education about stress.” The findings were published online Aug. 12 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Yoga May Help Relieve Anxiety Symptoms, But CBT Is More Effective, Psychiatric News, August 14, 2020

The AP (8/16) reports that Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) and Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) are working on proposed legislation(PDF) that “would create mental health telemedicine services for veterans in rural parts of the country.” The bipartisan “bill would direct the Department of Veterans Affairs to create programs at three VA facilities that use computerized cognitive behavioral therapy to treat veterans who suffer from conditions such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.”

Related Links:

— “US reps eye mental health telemedicine for rural veterans, AP, August 16, 2020