CNN (8/15, Bracho-Sanchez) reports, “Latino children who live in states with harsher laws that apply to immigrants and systemic prejudice against them are more likely to experience mental health or chronic physical health conditions, according to a new study.” The findings were published in Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Health of Latino children worse in states with anti-immigrant attitudes and policies, new study says,”Edith Bracho-Sanchez, CNN, August 15, 2023

KFF Health News (8/14, Rayasam) reports, “A national shortage of mental” healthcare clinicians, “and the search for affordable care, has exacerbated strain on parents, often the primary caregivers who maintain the health and well-being of their children,” a “day-to-day struggle” that “has led to its own health crisis, say psychologists, researchers, and advocates for families.” Even “as parents navigate the mental health care system’s shortcomings, stress can start to take a physical and mental health toll that disrupts their ability to continue providing care, said Christine Crawford, the associate medical director at the National Alliance on Mental Illness, an advocacy group that helps families find care.” Parents focus their energies into helping their children, “often at the expense of their own health, Crawford said.”

Related Links:

— “Parents See Own Health Spiral as Their Kids’ Mental Illnesses Worsen,”Renuka Rayasam, KFF Health News, August 14, 2023

Psychiatric News (8/11) reported, “Taking lithium may significantly reduce the risk of psychiatric hospitalization for people who have major depressive disorder” (MDD) “or bipolar disorder” (BD), according to the findings of a 260-patient study published online ahead of print in the November issue of the Journal of Affective Disorders.

Related Links:

— “Lithium May Reduce Psychiatric Hospitalizations in People With Bipolar, Major Depressive Disorder, Psychiatric News, August 11, 2023

According to Bloomberg Law (8/11, Subscription Publication), HHS “has awarded over $88 million to grant programs to develop school-based mental health programs and to increase access to substance use disorder treatments,” the department announced on Aug. 11.

Related Links:

— “HHS Allocates Over $88 Million to Youth Mental Health Programs, Bloomberg Law, August 11, 2023

HCPlive (8/10, Kunzmann) reports, “Patients with irritable bowel disease (IBD) who experience symptoms of anxiety or depression are at an increased risk of poorer disease outcomes including resistance to steroid therapy.” The study, which included 325 patients with IBD, was published in Frontiers in Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Depression, Anxiety Symptoms Linked to Poor IBD Outcomes and Steroid Response,”Kevin Kunzmann, HCPlive, August 10, 2023

HealthDay (8/10, Collins) reports, “People with autism are over three times more likely than their peers without the developmental disorder to experience self-injury, suicidal ideation, suicide attempt, or death by suicide, new research shows.” Investigators came to this conclusion after looking at data on “nearly 380,000 individuals for incidence of self-harm and almost 335,000 individuals for death by suicide.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “People With Autism Face Much Higher Risk for Self-Harm, Suicide,”Sarah D. Collins, HealthDay, August 10, 2023

The AP (8/10, Stobbe) reports that approximately “49,500 people took their own lives last year in the U.S., the highest number ever, according to new government data posted Thursday.” While the CDC, “which posted the numbers, has not yet calculated a suicide rate for the year…available data” suggest “suicides are more common in the U.S. than at any time since the dawn of World War II.”
        
CNN (8/10, McPhillips) reports, “Suicide rose to the 11th leading cause of death in 2021, and provisional data for 2022” show “the same.” Additionally, the provisional data show that “firearms were involved in more than half of all suicides in 2022.”
        
ABC News (8/10, Kekatos) reports, “The greatest increase was seen among adults aged 65 and older, which was up 8.1% from 2021, and the second highest increase was in those aged 45 to 64, with a 6.6% rise.” Additionally, “there…was an increase among those aged 25 to 44, but of just 0.7%.”

Related Links:

— “US suicides hit an all-time high last year,”Mike Stobbe, AP, August 10, 2023

The New York Times (8/10, Mandavilli) reports, “If you find that the blistering, unrelenting heat is making you anxious and irritable, even depressed, it’s not all in your head. Soaring temperatures can damage not just the body but also the mind.” And “as heat waves become more intense, more frequent and longer, it has become increasingly important to address the impact on mental health, scientists say.” Joshua Wortzel, MD, chair of the American Psychiatric Association’s committee on climate change and mental health, said, “It’s really only been over the past five years that there’s been a real recognition of the impact. Our understanding of the basic biology of why this association exists is still in its infancy.”

Related Links:

— “Heat Singes the Mind, Not Just the Body,”Apoorva Mandavilli, The New York Times, August 10, 2023

The Washington Post (8/9, Kam) reports, “Caring for a loved one with a serious illness, “ including dementia, “can be daunting for anyone,” and “for some men, especially those who are older, the transition can also be unfamiliar and jarring.” Last year, “41 percent of adults providing unpaid adult care were men, according to a Washington Post analysis of the latest American Time Use Survey data,” but “the gender gap in unpaid adult care continues to grow, with women providing most of the care.”

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (8/9) reports, “Patients with depression who scheduled an appointment to see a psychiatrist between July 2020 and October 2022 were less likely to miss or cancel the appointment if it was virtual compared with in person,” investigators concluded after examining “electronic health records for 12,894 patients aged 10 or older with a diagnosis of depression who scheduled 586,266 psychiatric outpatient appointments at Johns Hopkins Medicine between November 2017 and October 2022.” The study team then “compared the number of in-person and telepsychiatry appointments that patients completed, cancelled, or failed to show up to before the pandemic with these outcomes of in-person and telepsychiatry appointments scheduled from July 2020 to October 2022.” The findings were published online Aug. 9 in the journal Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Patients Found Less Likely to Cancel Telepsychiatry Visits, Study Shows, Psychiatric News , August 9, 2023