In an opinion piece for The Hill (6/11), psychiatrists Brian Barnett and Andrew Carlo, along with American Psychiatric Association immediate past president Bruce Schwartz, write that Americans now must “contend with a deadly virus, the worst unemployment since the Great Depression and isolating lockdown measures, as well as the national trauma of George Floyd’s horrific death at the hands of police.” They continue, “To help overcome the effects of this emotional onslaught on our minds, making high-quality mental health and addiction treatment services available to anyone who needs them is essential. For this to occur, insurers’ longstanding discrimination against those with mental illness and addiction must end. Now, as Congress considers passage of the Mental Health Parity Compliance Act, bipartisan legislation to improve mental health parity law enforcement and transparency, reaching that goal might soon become easier.”

Related Links:

— “America’s mental health is under siege — Congress can help now, “Brian Barnett, Andrew Carlo And Bruce Schwartz, The Hill, June 11, 2020

Medscape (6/11, Boerner, Subscription Publication) reports, “Women pregnant during the pandemic are twice as likely as their pre-COVID-19 counterparts to meet the criteria for major depressive disorder or anxiety disorder, according to a recent study conducted in Quebec, Canada.” The study published in Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica “found that women pregnant during the pandemic were more likely to experience symptoms of severe depression and anxiety, more negativity and less positivity, and greater changes in cognition and mood than women who were pregnant before the pandemic, even after they controlled for gestational age, income, history of psychiatric diagnoses, and education.”

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

The Hill (6/9, Hellmann) reports researchers found “some people with substance use disorders have increased their usage during the pandemic, according to a survey” conducted by the Addiction Policy Forum. In the survey, 20 percent of respondents “said they or a family member have increased substance use since COVID-19 began.”

Related Links:

— “Substance use up amid pandemic: survey, “Jessie Hellmann, The Hill, June 9, 2020

Psychiatric News (6/9) reports, “Taking choline supplements during pregnancy may reduce the negative impact of viral respiratory infections on offspring,” investigators concluded after comparing “choline levels measured at 16 weeks’ gestation in 36 pregnant women who had developed moderate to severe respiratory infections by week 16 with 53 mothers who reported no” infections. The findings were published online ahead of print in the September issue of the Journal of Psychiatric Research.

Related Links:

— “Prenatal Choline Supplements May Protect Offspring if Mother Contracts Viral Infection, Psychiatric News, June 9, 2020

HealthDay (6/8, Norton) reports researchers found that visits to the emergency department at the Cleveland Clinic “for suicidal ideation dropped by over 60% in the month after [Ohio] instituted its stay-at-home order.” Dr. Baruch Fertel of the Cleveland Clinic, the study’s senior researcher, said, “The question is: Where are these patients now? Are they just brushing off their problems? Are they getting help through telemedicine instead?” The findings were published in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Fewer Suicide-Related ER Visits in COVID Era, and That Has Experts Worried, ” Amy Norton, HealthDay, June 8, 2020

HealthDay (6/8, Preidt) reports researchers found that “alcohol and drug use is more common among older adults who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual than among their straight counterparts.” The researchers analyzed responses from older adults in a nationwide survey on alcohol and drug use and published their findings in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Older Gays, Lesbians at Higher Odds for Drug, Alcohol Abuse: Study, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, June 8, 2020

HealthDay (6/8, Preidt) reports, “More than one in 10 middle and high school students in the United States used e-cigarettes within the last month,” investigators found after surveying “eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders in 580 U.S. public and private schools in 2015 and 2016.” The study also revealed that “the rate in some schools is as high as 60%.” The findings were published online in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Related Links:

— “Up to 60% of Teens in Some U.S. Schools Used E-Cigs: Study, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, June 8, 2020

Healio (6/8, Downey) reports, “Maternal antidepressant use increases the risk for newborn respiratory distress and preterm birth,” investigators concluded in a study that “included 15,041 pregnancies in which there was antidepressant use and a delivery from 2012 through 2016.” The study revealed “an increased risk for newborn respiratory distress among babies born to mothers with low, moderate or high use of antidepressants, and an increased risk for preterm birth associated with moderate to high sustained doses compared with low use.” The findings were published online June 4 in Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Maternal antidepressant use poses risk for newborn respiratory distress, preterm birth, “Ken Downey Jr. , Healio, June 8, 2020

Healio (6/5, Gramigna) reported, “Quetiapine may need a new” boxed warning “because of its association with prolonged and sometimes painful erections known as priapism,” investigators concluded in a poster presentation at the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology Annual Meeting (virtual). The article did not mention how many people were included in the case study.

Related Links:

— “Risk for prolonged erection may warrant new black box warning for quetiapine, researchers say, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, June 5, 2020

The Washington Post (6/7, Cha, Guarino, Wan) reports physicians, “nurses and emergency medical technicians are supposed to be the superheroes of the pandemic.” However, “many confide that the past months have left them feeling lost, alone, unable to sleep.” In addition, “they second-guess their decisions, experience panic attacks, worry constantly about their patients, their families and themselves, and feel tremendous anxiety about how and when this might end.”

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post, (Requires Subscription)