CNN (7/23, Azad) reports, “People are more likely to try…party drugs and marijuana during the summer, researchers found, with over a third of LSD use and around 30% of ecstasy and marijuana use starting in the season.” In addition, “around 28% of cocaine use also began in the summer,” the study revealed. The findings were published online July 23 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

HealthDay (7/23, Preidt) reports researchers arrived at the study’s conclusions after examining “data from nearly 395,000 people, aged 12 and older, who took part in the U.S. National Survey on Drug Use and Health between 2011 and 2017.”

Related Links:

— “More people try drugs for the first time in the summer, study says, “Arman Azad, CNN, July 23, 2019

Psychiatric News (7/23) reports, “Twelve-year-old children who exhibit symptoms associated with borderline personality disorder – such as experiencing extremes of rage, despair, or excitement – are at higher risk of having poor mental health by age 18,” researchers concluded after assessing a “total of 2,232 British children in the Environmental Risk Longitudinal Twin Study (representing 1,116 families with same sex twins)…during home visits at age five, seven, 10, and 12; during these visits their mothers were also interviewed.” Later, “at age 18, the participants were interviewed alone.” The findings were published online July 17 in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Borderline Symptoms at Age 12 Predict a Variety of Negative Outcomes at Age 18, Psychiatric News, July 23, 2019

HealthDay (7/22, Preidt) reports, “Teens who are belittled and demeaned by their parents are more likely to be bullied and to bully others,” research indicated. After following “more than 1,400 teens from ages 13 to 15,” investigators “found that derisive parenting can cause significant harm.” The study revealed that “teens who are subjected to derisive parenting can develop dysregulated anger, often a sign of difficulty controlling emotions,” and this “dysregulated anger puts teens at greater risk for bullying and for becoming bully-victims (bullies who also are victimized by other bullies), the study said.” The findings were published in the August issue of the Journal of Youth and Adolescence.

Related Links:

— “Parents Who Belittle Their Children May Be Raising Bullies, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, July 22, 2019

Kaiser Health News (7/19, Rinker) reported that in the workplace, even with the protections offered by the American Disabilities Act of 1990 and help from employee assistance programs, “some employees” with mental illnesses “can be reluctant to ask for help at work.” Currently, “an estimated eight in 10 workers with a mental health condition don’t get treatment because of the shame and stigma associated with it, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.” Consequently, “the pressure is growing on employers to adopt better strategies for dealing with mental health.” The article detailed California “legislation that makes it the first state to establish voluntary standards for workplace mental health,” under which “the state will create guidelines to help companies strengthen access to mental health care for their employees and reduce the stigma associated with it.”

Related Links:

— “Employers Urged To Find New Ways To Address Workers’ Mental Health, ” Brian Rinker, Kaiser Health News, July 19, 2019

Politico (7/21, Rayasam) reports on the “largely unseen mental health crisis within the growing population of migrants who are being held in detention centers in border states.” The decision made by President Trump two years ago “to reverse a policy that encouraged releasing vulnerable individuals while they await deportation hearings has left U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement unequipped to deal with conditions ranging from anxiety to schizophrenia.” One current “estimate puts the number of detainees with mental illnesses between 3,000 and 6,000.” Just “21 of the 230 ICE detention facilities offering any kind of in-person mental health services from the agency’s medical staff, according to a 2016 agency oversight report.”

Related Links:

— “Migrant mental health crisis spirals in ICE detention facilities, “Renuka Rayasam, Politico, July 21, 2019

Forbes (7/22, Disalvo) reports that “one of the main findings from a group of recent studies” is that “a significant part of the drug crisis can be traced back to our homes, where prescription drugs are found and misused by other family members and friends, often adolescents and older teens.” One study published in Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, and a second study published in the same journal, indicate that “about 11% of high school seniors reported misusing a prescription med in the last year,” and “of that group, nearly half said they had multiple sources for the drugs, including family members, friends with prescriptions, and other sources that lead back to prescription drugs in the home.” Further, “about 30% of adolescents misusing prescription drugs took leftover meds still in the medicine cabinet.”

Related Links:

— “Prescription Drugs In The Home Are Fueling The Addiction Crisis Among Kids And Teens, Warns New Research, “David DiSalvo, Forbes, July 22, 2019

The AP (7/21, Zimmerman) reports that under legislation signed into law last month, Oregon will now “allow students to take ‘mental health days’ just as they would sick days, expanding the reasons for excused school absences to include mental or behavioral health under a new law that experts say is one of the first of its kind in the U.S.” The aim of the law is “to change the stigma around mental health in a state that has some of the United States’ highest suicide rates.”

Florida Public Schools To Be Required To Teach Students About Mental Health The AP (7/19) reported that public schools in Florida “will now be required to teach students about mental health under a new mandate passed by the state board of education” unanimously on July 17. The board voted “to require that students from sixth through 12th grade take at least five hours of mental health instruction.”

Related Links:

— “Correction: Mental Health Day story, “Sarah Zimmerman, AP, July 21, 2019

Psychiatric News (7/19) reported, “Medication for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder” (AD/HD) “may help lower the risk of unintentional injuries in children and adolescents with” the disorder, researchers concluded after analyzing “prescription and health data from more than 1.9 million children and adolescents aged six to 19 years who had either been diagnosed with” AD/HD “or received a prescription for” AD/HD “medication between 2005 and 2014.” The findings were published online July 11 in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Medication For AD/HD May Help Lower Risk Of Unintentional Injuries In Kids And Teens With The Disorder, Study Indicates, Psychiatric News, July 19, 2019

The New York Times (7/18, Hotz) reports the organization Tea With Strangers is working to combat loneliness by inviting strangers “to chat for about two hours over tea.” The group now has 450 volunteer hosts in 15 cities. Users “can find local teatimes online and sign up for one of five slots.” Then, hosts “email those users with an introduction, location details and an emphatic ask not to flake.”

Related Links:

— “Feeling Lonely? Perhaps You’d Like to Talk to Some Strangers, “Julia Hotz, The New York Times, July 18, 2019

Kaiser Health News (7/18, Graham) reports on the risks of anticholinergic drugs for seniors. For example, the article highlights a case of an older woman who was taking so many anticholinergic drugs that she was suspected of having dementia, but her physician suspected the combination of drugs might be having a negative impact so the patient was gradually switched over to alternative medications and her dementia-like symptoms resolved. The article also mentions that studies have found links between anticholinergic drugs and dementia.

Related Links:

— “Common Medications Can Masquerade As Dementia In Seniors, “Judith Graham, Kaiser Health News, July 18, 2019