Reuters (9/12, Carroll) reports a new study suggests that “the sum total of taxes on alcohol doesn’t come close to paying the bills associated with excessive alcohol consumption in the U.S. The total damages from excess consumption add up to $2.05 per drink, while state and federal taxes bring in about $0.21 per drink, according to an analysis published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.”

Related Links:

— “Alcohol taxes not close to covering cost of drinking harms in the U.S., “Linda Carrol, Reuters, September 12, 2019

Psychiatry Advisor (9/12, Ranger) reports a study suggests “a pattern of increasing psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) during adolescence predicts greater risk of developing a mental disorder, particularly psychosis.” The study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry “discerned two clear-cut patterns: stable low levels of PLE frequency and a growing frequency of PLEs. In the latter group, 3.39% of patients transitioned to a mental disorder compared with 1.28% of the stable PLE group.” Meanwhile, “in individuals with increasingly frequent PLEs, the odds ratio (OR) was 2.7 for transition to any mental health disorder, while the OR for transition to psychosis was 22.14.”

Related Links:

— “Frequent Psychotic-Like Experiences in Youth Predict Future Psychiatric Illness, “Laurel Ranger, Psychiatry Advisor, September 12, 2019

HealthDay (9/12) reports a study indicates “autism rates among U.S. children are rising fastest among blacks and Hispanics.” The analysis showed “among children born between 2007 and 2013, autism rates at ages 3 to 5 rose 73% among Hispanics, 44% among blacks and 25% among whites.” The findings were published in Autism and Developmental Disorders.

Related Links:

— “U.S. Autism Rates Rising Fastest for Hispanics, Blacks, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, September 12, 2019

HealthDay (9/11, Thompson) reports, “Teens who spend more time with social media are more likely to suffer from social withdrawal, anxiety or depression,” research indicated. In the nearly 6,600-adolescent study, 12- “to 15-year-olds who spent more than six hours a day on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other social media were nearly three times more likely to have these types of ‘internalizing’ mental health issues,” researchers found. The findings were published online in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Lots of Time on Social Media Linked to Anxiety, Depression in Teens, “Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, September 11, 2019

Psychiatric News (9/11) reports, “In an editorial” published online Sept. 4 in JAMA Psychiatry, the authors of research “published last year showing that even relatively modest regular exercise has significant beneficial effects on an individual’s mental health said that including exercise in the treatment of mental illness could improve rates of recovery and reduce illness burden.” The editorialists “wrote that when applied to the entire population, exercise could have a significant effect on reducing the population burden of mental illness.”

Related Links:

— “Getting Patients to Exercise Could Reduce Population Burden of Mental Illness, Psychiatric News, September 11, 2019

The Washington Post (9/11, Bever) reports, “Transgender people exposed to conversion therapy to change their gender identities, particularly as children, are at a greater risk of psychological distress than transgender people who were not treated with conversion therapy,” researchers concluded after analyzing “survey responses from more than 27,000 transgender adults across the United States and U.S. territories and military bases.” The study revealed that individuals “who said they had undergone conversion therapy at any point during their lifetime were twice as likely to have attempted suicide than those who had never undergone such therapies.” People “who were subjected to conversion efforts during childhood were four times as likely to have tried to take their own lives,” the study revealed. The findings were published online Sept. 11 in JAMA Psychiatry.

According to the NBC News (9/11, Fitzsimons) website, “18 states, along with the District of Columbia,” currently “ban the practice of conversion therapy on minors.”

Newsweek (9/11, Gander) reports that the American Psychiatric Association is among the “leading medical organizations” that “have stated that no one should seek out conversion therapy to change their gender or sexual identity.”

MedPage Today (9/11, Hlavinka) reports, “Prior studies have” also demonstrated “conversion therapy for sexual orientation to be associated with increased rates of depression, anxiety, and self destructive behavior.” In a 2013 position statement, the American Psychiatric Association wrote, “No credible evidence exists that any mental health intervention can reliably and safely change sexual orientation; nor, from a mental health perspective does sexual orientation need to be changed.”

Related Links:

— “Conversion therapy associated with severe psychological distress in transgender people, study says, ”
Lindsey Bever, The Washington Post, September 11, 2019

Bloomberg (9/10, Roache) reports Facebook “said it will begin sharing public data about how users talk about suicide as part of ongoing efforts to address concerns about suicide and self-harm on the social media site.” In a blog post on World Suicide Day, Facebook “said it will give academic researchers access to CrowdTangle, a tool often used by news and media organizations to monitor social media, to explore how information shared on Facebook and Instagram can be used to help prevent suicide.”

Reuters (9/10, Sharma) reports that Facebook “will no longer allow graphic images of self-harm on its platform as it tightens its policies on suicide content amid growing criticism of how social media companies moderate violent and potentially dangerous content.” The social network “also said on Tuesday self-injury related content will now become harder to search on Instagram and will ensure that it does not appear as recommended in the Explore section on the photo-sharing app.”

Related Links:

— “Facebook Hires Health Expert to Help Prevent Suicides, ” Kiley Roache, Bloomberg, September 10, 2019

Medscape (9/9, Davenport, Subscription Publication) reports, “Patients who have major depressive disorder (MDD) and who are at imminent risk for suicide may experience rapid benefit from esketamine nasal spray (Spravato, Janssen Pharmaceuticals) used in conjunction with the standard of the care,” research indicated. Specifically, “in the phase 3 Aspire I and Aspire II trials, more than 450 patients who had MDD and were at risk for suicide were randomly assigned to receive esketamine…or placebo,” and “both groups also received comprehensive standard of care that included antidepressants.” The findings were presented at the 32nd European College of Neuropsychopharmacology Congress.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

Reuters (9/9, Kelland) reports that around the world, “one person takes their own life every 40 seconds, and more people die by suicide every year than in war, the World Health Organization” announced on Sept. 9. The “most common suicide methods” are “hanging, poisoning and shooting…the WHO said as it urged governments to adopt suicide prevention plans to help people cope with stress and to reduce access to suicide means.”

CNN (9/9, Hunt) reports the “WHO said close to 800,000 people die by suicide every year, more than those lost to malaria, breast cancer, or war and homicide, calling it a ‘serious global public health issue.’” Additionally, “it said only 38 countries had suicide prevention strategies.”

Related Links:

— “Suicide kills one person every 40 seconds, says WHO, “Kate Kelland, Reuters, September 9, 2019

The NBC News (9/6, Carroll) website reported, “Suicide rates are on the rise, especially in rural America,” research indicated. After examining “data from the National Vital Statistics System, a database that includes information on suicide deaths,” as well as data from “the U.S. Census, the American Community Survey, County Business Patterns, Area Health Resource Files, and the North American Industry Classification System,” investigators found that “from 1999 to 2016, the rate of suicide among Americans ages 25 to 64 rose by 41 percent, researchers reported in JAMA Network Open.” What’s more, “rates among people living in rural counties were 25 percent higher than those in major metropolitan areas.” The findings were published online Sept. 6 in JAMA Network Open. Also covering the story were the ABC News (9/8, Kendrick) website, CNN (9/6, Christensen), and HealthDay (9/6, Thompson).

Related Links:

— “Suicide rates are rising, especially in rural America, “Linda Carroll, NBC News, September 6, 2019