Healio (12/13, Gramigna) reported, “An updated version of an established model for major depressive disorder [MDD] offers a ‘useful foundation’ toward a comprehensive developmental model of prescription opioid use disorder,” researchers concluded after drawing “data from the 2012 to 2013 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions-III and divided risk factors into four developmental tiers – childhood/early adolescence, late adolescence, adulthood and past-year,” then using “hierarchical logistic regression models to assess each risk factor’s independent contribution and built separate models to predict 12-month nonmedical prescription opioid use and risk for prescription opioid use disorder among individuals with 12-month nonmedical use.” The findings were published online Dec. 3 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Updated depressive model targets patients with prescription opioid use disorder, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, December 13, 2019

HealthDay (12/13, Reinberg) reported, “People who wind up in emergency” departments (EDs) “because they tried to kill themselves or contemplated it had a much higher risk of suicide within the year of the visit,” researchers concluded in a study that included “more than 85,000 people who had attempted suicide; over 67,000 who had thoughts of suicide; and a control group of nearly 500,000 people who went to an” ED “but had no suicide-related thoughts or problems.” The study revealed that “those who attempted suicide were 57 times more likely to kill themselves in the following year compared to the general public,” while “people with suicidal thoughts seen in the” ED “were 31 times more likely to try suicide in the ensuing year.” The findings were published online Dec. 13 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “ER Visits for Attempted Suicide Greatly Raise Odds for Future Tragedy, ” Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, December 13, 2019

Healio (12/12, Gramigna) reports, “Individuals with depression were more than twice as likely to use cannabis than those without depression,” researchers concluded after analyzing “data from the annual cross-sectional National Survey on Drug Use and Health to assess linear time trends of the prevalence of any, daily and nondaily past 30-day use and perceived great risk associated with regular cannabis use,” focusing on data “for 728,691 individuals aged 12 years or older.” The findings were published online Dec. 4 in the journal Addiction.

Related Links:

— “People with depression twice as likely to use cannabis, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, December 12, 2019

Healio (12/12, Gramigna) reports investigators “have identified eight psychiatric disorders that share a common genetic structure.” For the study, researchers “used genome-wide association analyses of 232,964 individuals diagnosed with one of eight psychiatric disorders – anorexia nervosa,” attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), “autism spectrum disorder [ASD], bipolar disorder, major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia and Tourette syndrome,” and then “also analyzed genetic data of 494,162 healthy controls.” The study revealed “shared variants” that “allowed the researchers to classify conditions into three groups by their related genetics – those characterized by compulsive behaviors, including anorexia nervosa, OCD and, to a lesser extent, Tourette syndrome; mood and psychotic disorders including bipolar disorder, major depression and schizophrenia; and early-onset neurodevelopmental disorders including ASD,” AD/HD “and Tourette syndrome.” The findings were published online Dec. 12 in the journal Cell.

Related Links:

— “ADHD, autism and 6 psychiatric disorders share common genetic structure, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, December 12, 2019

The Wall Street Journal (12/12, Tracy, Subscription Publication) reports that the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday okayed a proposal to create a 988 hotline for suicide prevention and mental health crises. The three-digit number is designed to replace the existing number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

The AP (12/12, Anderson) reports the action “comes as suicide rates have increased across the U.S. over the past two decades, and dramatically so – by more than 30% – in half of U.S. states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” The shorter number “would likely lead to more calls, which in turn would mean more expenses for crisis centers already struggling to keep up.” If the “number of calls to the hotline doubled, centers would need an extra $50 million a year to handle the increase, the FCC said, citing the federal agency that funds the hotline, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.”

Axios (12/12, McGill) reports that the bipartisan legislation, introduced by Cory Gardner (R-CO), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Jerry Moran (R-KS), and Jack Reed (D-RI), “would also require the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to come up with a strategy to connect young LGBTQ hotline callers to specialized services.”

Related Links:

— “FCC Approves Making ‘988’ a National Suicide-Prevention Hotline Number
, “Ryan Tracy, The Wall Street Journal, December 12, 2019

Psychiatric News (12/11) reports, “Youth who are taking antidepressants in the class of serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) for anxiety or obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) are more likely to experience side effects that cause them to discontinue the medication than those taking serotonin-norepinephrine inhibitors (SNRIs),” researchers concluded after analyzing “data on adverse reactions to SSRIs and SNRIs in 18 studies involving more than 2,600 children and teenagers under the age of 18 treated for anxiety or OCD.” The study also revealed that SSRIs “appear to be more commonly associated with ‘activation syndrome’ – a cluster of symptoms including restlessness, anxiety, and agitation.” The findings of the Bayesian hierarchical modeling meta-analysis were published online Nov. 1 in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “SNRIs May Be More Tolerable Than SSRIs for Some Youth With Anxiety, OCD, Psychiatric News, December 11, 2019

MedPage Today (12/11, Hlavinka) reports researchers observed “modest declines in cognition…among patients with psychotic disorders in the 20 years after their first hospitalization.” The findings were published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Slight 20-Year Cognitive Decline in Patients With Psychotic Disorders, “Elizabeth Hlavinka, MedPage Today, December 11, 2019

Medscape (12/10, Brooks, Subscription Publication) reports, “Staff at psychiatric hospitals are frequently exposed to violence and physical threats that often lead to symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD),” investigators concluded after surveying “761 staff (69% female) at three psychiatric hospitals in Canada.” The findings were published online Dec. 4 in the journal Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “High Rates of PTSD Plague Psychiatric Hospital Staff, “Megan Brooks, Medscape, December 10, 2019

Courier (12/10, Vakil) reported, “Americans seeking mental healthcare treatment turn to out-of-network” clinicians “at far higher rates than when seeking medical care, according to a recently updated studycommissioned by the Mental Health Treatment and Research Institute LLC.” In the study, which “analyzed 2016 and 2017 claims data from all 50 states and hundreds of preferred provider organization (PPO) health plans that insure 37 million people,” investigators “found that patients are more than five times as likely to go out of network when seeking care at behavioral inpatient or outpatient facilities, compared to medical or surgical inpatient or outpatient facilities.” Bruce Schwartz, MD, president of the American Psychiatric Association, stated, “People who have paid for their healthcare coverage aren’t able to get behavioral health services within the networks that the insurance companies are offering.” Dr. Schwartz also stated, “I think the reason why many psychiatrists have ceased to participate with these insurance companies is that insurance companies, via their payments rates, have essentially been rationing health care,” and “this discrimination pushes psychiatrists out of the network, Schwartz said.”

Related Links:

— “Even with insurance, Americans can’t find mental health providers, “Keya Vakil, Courier , December 10, 2019

Psychiatric News (12/10) reports, “Individuals over age 60 with schizophrenia who were prescribed long-acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotics after being discharged from a hospital were significantly less likely to be rehospitalized within a year than those receiving oral antipsychotics,” researchers concluded after analyzing “data on 1,168 patients over age 60 with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who were discharged between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2017.” The findings were published online ahead of print in the January issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Older Schizophrenia Patients Found Less Likely to Be Rehospitalized With LAI Antipsychotics, Psychiatric News, December 10, 2019