The Hill (2/24, Davis) reports a new Pew Research Center survey found that 64% of U.S. teens “indicated they use AI chatbots,” with about 3 in 10 saying they use the services daily. Meanwhile, “parents of these polled teenagers underestimated such usage in the survey, with only 51% of parents saying that their child uses AI chatbots. Over a quarter said they were “unsure,” 18% said their teen did not use these chatbots and 4% said they had not heard about AI chatbots. Additionally, only 4 out of 10 parents said they have talked with their child about using these services.” Other survey results indicate that most teens “said that they use these chatbots to search for information and to assist with homework assignments. A small portion of respondents, 12%, said that they rely on AI for emotional support or advice.”

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— “Parents are underestimating their teens’ use of AI chatbots: Survey,”Sarah Davis , The Hill , February 24, 2026

MedPage Today (2/24, Rudd) reports a study presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections 2026 found that “people with HIV didn’t have a significant rise in depressive symptoms after starting semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus) for diabetes or weight loss.” Researchers observed that “after a median 9.4 months of follow-up, the mean change in depressive symptom scores on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) was -0.1 after participants initiated the drug.” They noted that “scores on the PHQ-9 increased 1.2 for those with no or minimal depression symptoms at baseline and declined by 4.7 points among those with moderately severe to severe symptoms.”

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (2/23) reports a study found that “adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) experience higher rates of mental health conditions, more frequent and severe symptoms, greater psychiatric medication use, and more cost-related barriers to treatment compared with those without such disabilities.” The researchers “pooled data from the 2021-2023 U.S. National Health Interview Surveys, which included 796 adults with IDDs and 43,682 adults without IDDs.” They observed that “adults with IDDs were nearly 10 times more likely to report experiencing anxiety every day and nearly 18 times more likely to report daily depression compared with those without IDDs.” Researchers also noted that “42% of adults with IDDs took prescription medications for anxiety and 38% took prescription medications for depression compared with 9% and 6%, respectively, of those without IDDs.” The study was published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Adults With IDDs Have Higher Rates of Anxiety, Depression, Psychiatric News, February 23, 2026

HealthDay (2/23, Thompson) reports a study suggests that “teens who use weed are twice as likely to develop psychotic or bipolar disorders,” and are also “more likely to have depression and anxiety.” Researchers stated in background notes that “more than 10% of 12- to 17-year-olds in the U.S. have used weed within the past year,” and that “by their senior year in high school, about 26% of U.S. teenagers have tried it.” Furthermore, “today’s weed has THC levels that exceed 20%, far higher than in previous decades.” For the study, “researchers analyzed health records of more than 463,000 teens aged 13 to 17 who were screened for past-year weed use at Kaiser Permanente Northern California between 2016 and 2023.” Tracking the teens through age 26, researchers observed “that weed use was associated with a doubled risk of psychotic and bipolar disorders; a 34% increased risk of depression; and a 24% increased risk of anxiety.” The study was published in JAMA Health Forum.

Related Links:

— “Teens Using Weed Have Doubled Risk For Psychosis, Bipolar Disorder,”Dennis Thompson , HealthDay , February 23, 2026

Psychiatric News (2/20) reported a study found that “the cannabis derivative cannabinol (CBN) reduced the time needed to fall asleep in a small sample of individuals with insomnia but didn’t significantly reduce time spent awake after initial sleep onset.” Researchers observed that for study participants with a diagnosed insomnia disorder, “CBN 300mg and 30mg reduced wake after sleep onset by six and four minutes, respectively, but researchers said neither change was statistically or clinically significant. CBN 300mg halved average sleep onset time from 14 minutes to seven – a meaningful reduction similar to those reported in studies of melatonin or prescription sleep aids.” Furthermore, they noted that “CBN 300mg also increased time spent in N2 sleep (the transition from light sleep to deep sleep) and increased participants’ subjective sleep quality.” The study was published in the Journal of Sleep Research.

Related Links:

— “Cannabinol Fails to Reduce Nighttime Waking but Provides Other Sleep Benefits, Psychiatric News, February 20, 2026