According to USA Today (5/20, O’Donnell), the US “medical system falls far short of meeting the demand for teen mental health services because cases of suicide and psychiatric disorders are skyrocketing.” In fact, “research from federal regulators and medical groups shows the suicide rate for young people ages 10 to 19 rose by 56% from 2007 to 2016, the latest year for which figures are available.” Despite that, “only 40% of young people with major depression got treatment, according to the National Institute for Mental Health.”

Related Links:

— “Help hard to find for teens struggling with mental health, thoughts of suicide, “Jayne O’Donnell, USA Today, May 20, 2019

Reuters (5/16, Rapaport) reports researchers found “children and teens who are bullied are more than twice as likely as peers who are not victimized to take painkillers.” The findings were published in Acta Paediatrica.

Related Links:

— “Bullied kids more likely to use painkillers, “Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, May 16, 2019

In a 2,500-word story, Bloomberg (5/16, Koons, Tozzi) reports that “the U.S. is in the midst of a mental health crisis,” and while “the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, a landmark law passed more than a decade ago, requires insurers to provide comparable coverage for mental health and medical treatments,” insurers are said to be “denying claims, limiting coverage, and finding other ways to avoid complying with the law.” Now, “Americans are taking to the courts to address what they see as an intrinsic unfairness.” Bloomberg breaks down its coverage of “America’s Mental Health Crisis” into five sections: The Lawmaker, Ghost Networks, The Advocate, Absent Enforcers, and The Determined Patient.

Related Links:

— “As Suicides Rise, Insurers Find Ways to Deny Mental Health Coverage, ” Cynthia Koons and John Tozzi, Bloomberg, May 16, 2019

Recent reports show a small but growing number of people are taking very high doses of loperamide, an anti-diarrheal medication, in an attempt to self-manage opioid withdrawal or to achieve a euphoric high. At high doses, these individuals may be at risk of severe or fatal cardiac events. Visit LoperamideSafety.org to learn the risks of using loperamide to manage withdrawal.

Related Links:

— “UNDERSTANDING LOPERAMIDE ABUSE

According to Healio (5/15, Demko), “substance-induced psychotic disorder occurred in people at high familial risk for drug and alcohol abuse and a moderate familial vulnerability to psychosis,” research indicated. The findings of the 7,606-participant study were published online May 6 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Substance-induced psychotic disorder may result from drug exposure, liability to psychosis, “Savannah Demko, Healio, May 15, 2019

According to Reuters (5/15, Carroll), after examining “the outcomes from more than 160,000 early pregnancies,” investigators “found that women taking benzodiazepines…were nearly twice as likely to miscarry.” The study revealed that “women who used benzodiazepines early in pregnancy were 1.85 times more likely than those who did not take the drugs to have a miscarriage.” The findings were published online May 15 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Psychiatric News (5/15) reports, “Additional analysis revealed that the risk of miscarriage was similar among pregnant women exposed to short-acting benzodiazepines (defined as a half-life less than or equal to 24 hours), such as lorazepam, and long-acting benzodiazepines (defined as a half-life greater than 24 hours), such as diazepam.”

Also covering the story are MedPage Today (5/15, Hlavinka), HealthDay (5/15, Reinberg), and Healio(5/15, Demko).

Related Links:

— “Benzodiazepines in early pregnancy tied to heightened risk of miscarriage, “Linda Carroll, Reuter, May 15, 2019

The Wall Street Journal (5/14, Abbott, Subscription Publication) reports the World Health Organization released new guidelines on how to reduce the risk of dementia. The guidelines recommend that people reduce their risk for dementia or cognitive decline through exercise, reduced use of tobacco and alcohol, and other means.

The AP (5/14, Marchione) reports the WHO also said that while age is a top risk factor for dementia, the condition “is not a natural or inevitable consequence of aging.”

Also covering the story are Reuters (5/14, Miles), CNN(5/14, Hunt), and Healio (5/14, Demko).

Related Links:

— “WHO Recommends Steps to Limit Risk of Dementia, “Brianna Abbott, The Wall Street Journal, May 14, 2019

Healio (5/13, Demko) reports researchers examined 35 studies in a meta-analysis and concluded that “methylphenidate use was significantly associated with sleep problems and several different types of insomnia.” The findings were published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Methylphenidate treatment for ADHD tied to several types of insomnia, “Savannah Demko, Healio, May 13, 2019

In an opinion piece for The Hill (5/13), National Eating Disorders Association Chief Policy and Strategy Officer Chevese Turner writes that “second to deaths spurred by the opioid crisis, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric diagnosis,” but “insurance companies resist covering life-saving treatment.” Turner says that “recent landmark court decisions and amendments to state legislation are setting precedent for parity coverage of eating disorders treatment,” but “we need to remain diligent in stoking insurers to provide equal coverage for eating disorders treatment across the country.” Turner concludes, “We must continue pressing insurers through legal action and policy until all Americans…have true coverage of eating disorder treatment.”

Related Links:

— “Mental health coverage needs to include eating disorders, The Hill, May 13, 2019

In the New York Times (5/13, Carroll) “The Upshot,” Aaron E. Carroll, MD, a professor of pediatrics at the Indiana School of Medicine, writes, “Legislators and gun safety advocates often focus on how guns are” bought, even though “many lives could be saved, especially among children, if they looked more at how they are stored.” Just in the past decade alone, “guns killed more than 14,000 American children.” In new research, investigators have found that “even a modest increase in owners who lock up their guns would pay off in an outsize drop in gun deaths.”

CNN (5/13, Scutti) reports, “US households with children do not safely store firearms in the way the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends: locked up and unloaded.” Were parents simply to lock up “all their guns, then up to a third of gun suicides and accidental deaths among children and teens could be avoided, researchers” estimated. The findings were published online in JAMA Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “The Potentially Lifesaving Difference in How a Gun Is Stored, “Aaron E. Carroll, The New York Times, May 13, 2019