In a greater than 1,700-word piece, the New York Times (11/11, Carey) reports on the increasing rates of “cutting and other forms of self-injury…among adolescents.” Currently, “there are very few dedicated research centers for self-harm, and even fewer clinics specializing in treatment,” and “because self-injury is considered a ‘symptom,’ and not a stand-alone diagnosis like depression, the testing of treatments has been haphazard and therapists have little evidence to draw on.” Some experts posit that “people who become dependent on self-harm often come to treasure it as their one reliable comfort.” Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) appears to be “the one treatment that appears to be most effective for breaking the habit of self-harm,” according to an 800-participant study published in the April issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Getting a Handle on Self-Harm, “Benedict Carey, The New York Times, November 11, 2019

According to experts, a “culture shift toward openness, from the C-suite on down,” is the most effective employee assistance program, Reuters (11/8, Pinsker) reported. “That translates to peer counseling, colleagues sharing their experiences and open dialogue.” Reuters added that “many companies also turn to web-based mindfulness apps,” which “are helpful to those without access to in-person counseling.”

Related Links:

— “Culture change is the cutting edge of mental health benefits at work, “Beth Pinsker, Reuters , November 8, 2019

HealthDay (11/10, Preidt) reports the results of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine’s September poll indicate that almost 90% of adults in the US “lose sleep to binge watch TV.” The same poll found that adults ranked sleep as their top priority below family, but in addition to binge-watching TV, adults also reported losing sleep to play video games, read, and watch sports.

Related Links:

— “TV Binges, Video Games, Books and Sports Taking Toll on Sleep, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, November 10, 2019

Healio (11/9, Buzby) reported, “Patients aged 50 years or older with depression were found to have a significantly greater risk for abdominal aortic aneurysm than those without depression,” researchers concluded. The study abstract disclosed that data on 59,136 people were included in the study. The findingswere published online Oct. 23 in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Related Links:

— “Clinical depression confers elevated risk for abdominal aortic aneurysm, “Scott Buzby, Healio, November 9, 2019

Reuters (11/8, Carroll) reported, “Many insured Americans go out of network for mental health services…despite the higher costs to them and despite a federal law mandating that policies’ mental health coverage be at least as good as their physical health coverage,” research indicated. After “focusing on data from 2012-2017” and identifying “3.2 million adults with mental health conditions, 294,550 with alcohol use disorders, 321,535 with drug use disorders, 178,701 with heart failure and nearly 1.4 million with diabetes with coverage under employer-sponsored insurance plans,” investigators found that “Americans with health insurance were spending more out of pocket on mental health services, such as treatment for substance abuse, than on conditions like diabetes and heart failure,” mostly because “many were getting mental health care out of network.” The findings were published online Nov. 6 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Americans spending more out-of-pocket on mental health than physical health, “Linda Carroll, Reuters, November 8, 2019

On its website, CNN (11/7, LaMotte) reports on a study published in the Journal of Family Psychology that found “people who feel they aren’t supported by their extended family are more likely to suffer chronic illness than those who aren’t happy with their spouse or partner.” The researchers followed around 3,000 people from 1995 to 2014 and asked them three times “to rate the quality of their family and partner interactions, which was then compared to their total number of chronic conditions, ranging from stroke to headaches.” The researchers “found strained extended family relations to be highly associated with a greater number of chronic conditions and poor health.”

HealthDay (11/7, Gordon) reports the researchers say they were surprised that relationships with other family members appear to have a bigger impact on health than relationships with spouses. The study’s lead author, Sarah Woods at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, said, “That doesn’t mean intimate partnerships don’t matter. Our hypothesis is that relationships with family members are longer than relationships with intimate partners. You come from that family of origin, and you can’t divorce your parents or siblings.”

Related Links:

— “Having a poor relationship with your family could make you sick, “Sandee LaMotte , CNN, November 7, 2019

Healio (11/7, Welsh) reports, “Transgender individuals who receive gender-affirming surgeries are less likely to require mental health treatment,” researchers concluded in “the first total population study of transgender individuals with a gender incongruence diagnosis.” The findings were published online Oct. 4 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Gender-affirming surgeries reduce mental health treatment in transgender population, “Erin T. Welsh, Healio, November 7, 2019

STAT (11/7) reports that in findings published last month in Pediatrics, researchers “analyzed mental health among 2,000 teens, more than half of whom were transgender.” The researchers “asked teens to identify their current gender identity and what gender they were assigned at birth.” The findings reveal that “transgender boys were at the highest risk of a suicide attempt requiring medical attention, followed by non-binary teens assigned male at birth.” Also, “transgender girls were six times more likely than cis boys to have suicidal thoughts.”

Related Links:

— “Mental health studies lump transgender teens under one umbrella — and miss clues to help them in the process, “Megan Thielking, STAT, November 7, 2019

Healio (11/5, Gramigna) reports, “Among people with a genetic predisposition for depression, four additional hours of physical activity” per week “may reduce the odds of incident depression by 17%,” researchers concluded after analyzing “data from the longitudinal Partners Healthcare Biobank, which integrated genomic data for nearly 8,000 individuals of European ancestry with lifestyle survey responses – including some on physical activity – and high-dimensional electronic health records.” The findings were published online Nov. 5 in the journal Depression & Anxiety. MD Magazine (11/5, Walter) also covers the study.

Related Links:

— “Increased physical activity may reduce depressive episodes by 17%, “Joe Gramigna, , November 5, 2019

Psychiatric News (11/5) reports, “Regional and national newspapers in the United States are falling short of meeting guidelines for reporting on suicide deaths,” researchers concluded after analyzing “coverage following the deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain in June 2018 in print newspapers with a minimum circulation of 200,000.” The study revealed that “the publications adhered to only about half of the national recommendations for reporting on suicide, such as avoiding details of lethal means or use of a sensational headline.” The findings were published online Nov. 1 in a research letter in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Newspapers Can Do More to Change Public Perception of Suicide, Report Suggests, Psychiatric News, November 5, 2019