The Washington Post (11/6, Wu) reports that “AI-powered chatbots have been blamed for upending the mental health of vulnerable users,” but some “licensed therapists who have tested the technology think it’s a helpful emotional tool in limited cases, and they also sometimes turn to chatbots to help with their own mental health needs.” These therapists “said they were wary of treating mental health challenges with chatbots, and most agreed that it should only be used as a supplement to professional therapy, with a therapist’s guidance – and that perhaps having training as therapists themselves is what allowed them to use AI in this way safely.” Nevertheless, “the adoption of AI by some therapists and many of their clients shows that the appeal of chatbots as therapeutic conversation partners continues to stick.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (11/7) reported, “More than 5 million adolescents and young adults in the United States have sought mental health advice from generative artificial intelligence (AI), according to a study.” The researchers said, “[These] high use rates likely reflect the low cost, immediacy, and perceived privacy of AI-based advice, particularly for youths unlikely to receive traditional counseling. … However, engagement with generative AI raises concerns, especially for users with intensive clinical needs.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

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— “More Than One in Eight U.S. Youth Use AI Chatbots for Mental Health Advice, Psychiatric News , November 7, 2025

HealthDay (11/6, Thompson) reports a study found that “daily nicotine vaping nearly doubled between 2020 and 2024 among U.S. middle and high school students who use e-cigarettes.” According to the study, “the share of teen vapers who puff every day rose from 15% to nearly 29%.” Furthermore, “teens who vape daily also found it harder to quit their habit, researchers said. The percentage of daily vapers who unsuccessfully tried to quit rose from 28% to 53% during the same period.” The study was published in JAMA Network Open.

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— “Teen Nicotine Vaping Trends Show Powerful Evidence Of Addiction,”Dennis Thompson, HealthDay , November 6, 2025

Psychiatric News (11/6) reports a study found that SAMHSA grants to “fund stepped-care intervention programs for youth and young adults at clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR-P)” have “made a difference in young people’s lives: Individuals who participated in these comprehensive prevention and treatment programs experienced improvements across a range of behavioral, social, and medical outcomes.” Researchers observed, “Clients participating in these programs showed improved life functioning and social connectedness; decreased psychological distress; and low rates of hospitalization [and] emergency department visits.” They noted that “only 4% of participants overall experienced first-episode psychosis while enrolled in the program. By comparison, population-level studies have found that about 15% of youth at high risk of psychosis will experience a first episode within one year.” The study was published in Psychiatric Services.

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— “SAMHSA-Funded Stepped Care Interventions Benefit Youth at High Risk of Psychosis, Psychiatric News , November 6, 2025

The New York Times (11/5, Bajaj) reports, “Heavy drinking is tied to earlier and more severe brain bleeds,” according to a study published Wednesday in Neurology. Study researchers found “so-called heavy drinkers – people who had three or more drinks per day – developed a stroke on average 11 years earlier than those who had fewer than three drinks per day.” In addition, they “had larger brain bleeds that were more difficult to manage.”

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— The New York Times (requires login and subscription)

Endocrinology Advisor (11/5, Neale) reports a study found that “children with precocious puberty are much more likely to develop psychiatric disorders than those with standard puberty timing.” Researchers found that “in Cox proportional hazard regression models, precocious puberty vs control was associated with significantly higher risks” for: attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; anxiety; autism spectrum disorder; depression; eating disorders; and schizophrenia. In addition, “addiction, bipolar disorder, and suicide were not significantly more likely to occur among patients with precocious puberty, although the point estimates trended in that direction. The results were similar for boys and girls, but with stronger relationships among boys.” The study was published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society.

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— “Precocious Puberty Tied to Higher Risk for Psychiatric Disorders,”Todd Neale, Endocrinology Advisor, November 5, 2025

Neurology Advisor (11/4, Rao) reports a study found that “adolescent girls who report greater emotional symptoms following concussion are more likely to experience persisting concussion symptoms.” The study included “included 732 adolescent girls. Most injuries (69.9%) were sport-related, and 37.5% required an emergency department visit. At 3 months, 44% of participants reported persisting symptoms.” Researchers observed that “clinical measures, including SCAT5 total and emotional cluster scores, GAD-7, PHQ-8, and PSQI, were significantly higher among those with persisting symptoms at both time points. The most common ongoing symptoms were difficulty concentrating (63.7%), difficulty remembering (56.6%), trouble falling asleep (52.3%), irritability (52.0%), and pressure in the head (45.2%).” In addition, “machine-learning and logistic-regression models both effectively predicted persisting symptoms.” The study was published in Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation.

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— “Predictors of Persisting Concussion Symptoms Identified Among Adolescent Girls,”Meghna Rao, Neurology Advisor, November 4, 2025

Psychiatric News (11/4) reports a study found that “more than a third of middle school students have used technology-facilitated reporting systems (TFRS),” including apps, websites, and texts, to confidentially “report concerns about friends who are in distress.” The researchers “found that 80.7% of the youth reported their concern about their peer’s distress, with 37.3% using a TFRS to do so. Youth were more likely to use a TFRS when they perceived lower levels of trust in traditional school-based figures. However, the appeal of TFRS was not purely about discretion, as youth who made use of TFRS were also highly likely to voice their concerns to a parent, friend or classmate, or trusted adult not affiliated with the school.” The study was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

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— “More Than a Third of Middle Schoolers Turn to Technology for Reporting Peers in Distress, Psychiatric News, November 4, 2025

CNN (11/3, LaMotte) reports, “Increasing the number of steps” taken “every day may slow cognitive decline in older adults who already have biological signs of early Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new observational study.”

MedPage Today (11/3, George) reports that investigators found that “in a group of cognitively unimpaired older adults with elevated levels of amyloid-beta, Alzheimer’s-related decline was delayed by an estimated 3 years on average for those who walked 3,000-5,000 steps per day, and by 7 years in people who walked 5,000-7,500 steps per day.” The “relationship emerged only for people with elevated brain amyloid,” and “was not related to lower amyloid burden at baseline or over time.” MedPage Today adds, “Instead, higher physical activity was associated with slower amyloid-related inferior temporal tau accumulation, which mediated associations with slower cognitive decline.” The study was published in Nature Medicine.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Healio (11/3, Herpen) reports a study found that “shorter total time in bed during school days and more frequent night awakenings were associated with an elevated suicide risk in U.K. adolescents.” Study participants aged 14 to 17 years “were tasked with reporting their sleep behaviors at age 14 based on six categories developed” by the Millennium Cohort Study: “bedtimes and wake times on both school and non-school days, 4-week sleep initiation intervals and 4-week frequency of nighttime awakenings.” Study results indicated that “shorter total time spent in bed on school days and more frequent night awakenings were significant predictors for suicide attempt at age 17.” The researchers “further reported that, with the frequency of awakenings acting as a predictor, rational decision-making moderated the association between night awakenings and suicide attempts.” The study was published in Sleep Advances.

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— “Time in bed, night wakefulness linked to elevated suicide risk in UK adolescents,”Robert Herpen, Healio , November 3, 2025