Psychiatric News (3/11) reports a study found that “patients with private insurance who saw behavioral health professionals went out-of-network for their care more often than their peers who received care from medical or surgical health professionals.” Researchers observed that “across all settings, patients with substance use disorder (SUD) were most likely to go out-of-network for care, followed by those with a mental disorder and those who received medical or surgical care.” The study was published in Psychiatric Services.

Related Links:

— “Out-of-Network Care More Common in Substance Use, Mental Disorder Treatment,” Psychiatric News, March 11, 2025

Psychiatric News (3/10) reports a study found that “alexithymia – a condition associated with difficulty in identifying and describing one’s own emotions – may be a strong influence in how much sensory sensitivity people with autism spectrum disorder experience.” The researchers “conducted a series of modeling analyses to examine the interaction between the severity of alexithymia, sensory issues, and/or autism in” twin pairs in which at least one twin had autism. The analysis “found a strong correlation between autism and sensory symptoms; however, after controlling for alexithymia, the association between autism and sensory symptoms was no longer significant. In contrast, the correlation between alexithymia and sensory symptoms was significant, even after factoring in the influence of autism.” They concluded, “This suggests that alexithymia and sensory processing share genetic factors, independent of those that increase the likelihood of autism.” The study was published in Translational Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Sensory Sensitivity in People With Autism May Be Due to Emotional Blindness,” Psychiatric News, March10 , 2025

Healio (3/10, Jenkins ) reports early study results suggest that “people who engage in moderate to vigorous physical activity may be less likely to develop dementia, stroke, anxiety, depression and sleep disorders compared with those with more sedentary behavior.” Researchers found that “moderate to vigorous physical activity had a strong protective effect on neuropsychiatric diseases…whereas more sedentary time was a risk factor.” They stated, “Our findings reinforce a dose-response relationship between physical activity and health benefits, supporting public health guidelines and highlighting exercise as a cost-effective and accessible preventive strategy, particularly for high-risk populations.” Preliminary results from the study will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s Annual Meeting.

Related Links:

— “Exercise tied to reduced risk for some neuropsychiatric diseases,” Cassandra Jenkins, Healio, March 10, 2025 — Free registration required

Psychiatric News (3/7) reported a study found that “girls who experience childhood trauma are at a higher risk of developing internalizing symptoms like depression and anxiety by ages 12 to 14, an association that is partially explained by starting puberty ahead of their peers.” Researchers found that “early starters had significantly higher exposure to trauma at baseline compared with slow or typical developers, while slow developers had lower trauma exposure compared with typical developers. Slow developers also had significantly lower internalizing symptoms compared with early starters and typical developers.” The studywas published in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Childhood Trauma, Early Puberty Associated With Internalizing Symptoms in Girls,” Psychiatric News, March 7, 2025

MedPage Today (3/7, Monaco ) reported that a large systematic review and meta-analysis found that “about 40% of adults with chronic pain had clinical symptoms of depression and anxiety.” Researchers found that “as for formal diagnoses, 36.7% of people with chronic pain met criteria for major depressive disorder (MDD), and 16.7% met criteria for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).” They noted these rates were “markedly higher than population norms,” which are about “8% and 3%, respectively, for U.S. adult population prevalence.” In addition, “6.3% of chronic pain sufferers met diagnostic criteria for persistent depressive disorder, 7.5% for panic disorder, and 2.2% for social anxiety disorder.” The study was published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)