Medscape (5/7, Anderson) reports that according to research presented at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting, “private school students are much less likely to report suicidal plans, thoughts, and attempts compared with their public school counterparts.” The study revealed that “of the total sample of 8,407 private school children, 10.1% said they entertained thoughts of suicide; about half of those (5.2%) reported suicidal plans, and 2.8% reported suicide attempts.” The data on public school students came “from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System.”

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Medscape (5/6, Brauser) reports that according to the findings of a review presented at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting, “ingredients in sexual enhancement products advertised and sold online are associated with several serious psychoactive effects.” The review of 108 Internet “sites and other online resources showed that the most common of these products contained the active ingredients yohimbine, maca, ginkgo biloba, and/or horny goat weed,” all of which were tied “to the induction of anxiety, panic, mood changes, hallucinations, and/or addictive behaviors.”

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Medscape (5/6, Anderson) reports that a literature review presented at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting “points to the potentially devastating effects of Internet addiction, especially in adolescents.” According to the “review of 13 published articles…people with Internet addiction disorder (IAD), especially those addicted to Internet gaming, tend to have certain brain abnormalities.” Researchers found that “increased blood flow is actually seen in the areas of the brain involving reward and pleasure centers, and decreased blood flow is observed in areas involved in hearing and visual processing.”

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The Wall Street Journal (5/6, D4, Chen, Subscription Publication) reports that a digital game called SuperBetter, which will soon undergo a scientific study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, may help some people manage anxiety and depression. Other digital games and apps are being developed for the management of post-traumatic stress disorder. Nevertheless, such games are no substitute for psychotherapy, according to Carol Landau, PhD, a professor of psychiatry at Brown University’s Alpert Medical School.

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— “Different Way to Treat Depression: Games,” Angela Chen, Wall Street Journal, May 5, 2014.

Medscape (5/5, Brooks) reports that according to research presented at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting, “high school students who frequent the tanning salon may actually be depressed and at risk for suicidal thoughts and behavior.” The study “found that excessive indoor tanning, defined as tanning 40 times or more in 12 months, was associated with a greater than two-fold increased odds of depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts and a greater than four-fold likelihood of suicide attempt.” In arriving at the study’s conclusion, researchers analyzed data from the biennial Youth Risk Behavior Survey “to study the relationship between excessive indoor tanning with depression, defined as 2 weeks of sadness, and suicide ideation, plan, attempt, and treatment.”

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