The New York Times (9/27, Barry) reports that “Peace Corps applicants have shared stories about being disqualified because of mental health history, including common disorders like depression and anxiety.” The issue “is the subject of a lawsuit filed this week in federal court, accusing the Peace Corps of discriminating against applicants with disabilities in violation of the Rehabilitation Act, which prohibits discrimination in programs receiving federal funds.” The lawsuit “includes accounts from nine people whose Peace Corps invitations were rescinded for mental health reasons,” and “alleges that those decisions were made without considering reasonable accommodations or making individualized assessments based on current medical knowledge.”

Related Links:

— “Peace Corps Sued Over Mental Health Policy,”Ellen Barry, The New York Times, September 27, 2023

NBC News (9/26, Snow) says, “A…report about kids and their smartphone use may offer other parents a warning: Children…are inundated with hundreds of pings and prompts on their phones all day and all night – even when they should be paying attention in class or getting a good night’s rest.” The study by “Common Sense Media released Tuesday finds about half of 11- to 17-year-olds get at least 237 notifications on their phones every day.” Around “25% of them pop up during the school day, and 5% show up at night.” And “in some cases, they get nearly 5,000 notifications in 24 hours. The pop-ups are almost always linked to alerts from friends on social media.”

Related Links:

— “Kids and teens are inundated with phone prompts day and night,” Erika Edwards and Kate Snow, NBC News, September 26, 2023

Healthcare Finance News (9/26, Morse) reports, “The Department of Health and Human Services, through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), has announced $131.7 million in grant programs for behavioral health services.” Addressing “the ongoing mental health crisis, particularly among the nation’s youth, is a top priority of the Biden administration and a key pillar in the president’s Unity Agenda for the nation, HHS said.”

Related Links:

— “HHS awards $131.7 million to support behavioral health,”Susan Morse, Healthcare Finance News , September 26, 2023

Parkinson’s News Today (9/26, Maia) reports, “While it appears that people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease later in life than are individuals without the neurodevelopmental disorder, further proof is needed to establish a link, according to a new systematic review” published in Frontiers in Psychiatry. Investigators wrote, “Our review provides preliminary results that a diagnosis of ADHD may be a risk factor for the later development of a neurodegenerative disease or dementia,” but “the mechanism of how or why ADHD is associated with an increased risk of developing a neurocognitive disorder is still unclear and should be explored in future studies.”

Related Links:

— “More evidence needed to support link between ADHD, Parkinson’s,”Margarida Maia, Parkinson’s News Today, September 26, 2023

CNN (9/26, Howard) reports, “Compared with people who don’t work in the medical field, health care workers face an increased risk of suicide, especially registered nurses, health care support workers and health technicians, according to a new study.” The research “estimates that the annual suicide rate in the United States among health care workers alone is about 14 per 100,000 person-years compared with about 13 per 100,000 person-years among non-health care workers.” The findings were published in JAMA.

HealthDay (9/26, Collins) reports that physician suicide rates, “meanwhile…were roughly the same as those in the general population, at annual standardized suicide rates of 13 for every 100,000 people.” The research “also found that health care work is more strongly associated with suicide risk among female workers.”

MedPage Today (9/26, Firth) also covers the story.

Related Links:

— “US health care workers face elevated risk of suicide, new study finds,”Jacqueline Howard, CNN, September 26, 2023