HealthDay (6/9, Gotkine) reported, “A school-based, trauma-informed group intervention is beneficial for alleviating trauma-related mental health harms among girls in high school,” researchers concluded after conducting “a randomized trial involving 3,749 Chicago public high school girls to examine whether a school-based group counseling program can mitigate trauma-related mental health harms.” The findings were published online June 7 in the journal Science Advances.

Related Links:

— “School-Based Group Intervention Effective for Mental Health in Teen Girls,” Elana Gotkine, Health Day, June 9, 2023

Psychiatric News (6/9) reported, “Black children are more likely to receive inadequate pharmacotherapy for their mental health conditions than children in other racial groups,” investigators concluded after analyzing “data from 601 children aged six to 12 years who had visited one of nine outpatient mental health clinics and participated in the Longitudinal Assessment of Manic Symptoms study.” The study revealed that when “compared with white children, Black children had 1.84 times the odds of receiving inadequate pharmacotherapy,” as well as “1.91 times the odds of receiving inadequate pharmacotherapy compared with the combined race group.” The findings were published online June 8 in the journal Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Black Children Less Likely to Receive Adequate Medication for Psychiatric Disorders,” Psychiatric News, June 9, 2023

Medscape (6/9, Yasgur, Subscription Publication) reported, “Patients with ‘treatment-resistant depression’ may be taking other medications with side effects that interfere with antidepressant efficacy,” researchers concluded after having “studied over 800 patients who were taking antidepressants for major depressive disorder.” The study revealed that “close to two thirds were taking at least one nonpsychiatric medication with potential depressive symptom side effects (PDSS) more than 30% were taking two or more such medications, and 20% at least three such medications.”

In fact, such “medications, which included antihypertensive medications and corticosteroids, among others, were associated with higher odds of moderate-to-severe depressive symptoms, compared with medications without PDSS.” The findings were published online May 24 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

Healio (6/8, VanDewater) reports, “Among prisoners, women were more likely to have opioid use disorder” (OUD) “and more likely to receive treatment at intake compared with men,” researchers concluded in a study that “randomly selected 507 charts among 1,841 patients seen for psychiatric treatment at a county correctional facility in December 2020.” The findings were presented in a poster at the American Psychiatric Association 2023 Annual Meeting.

Related Links:

— “Female prisoners more likely to report opioid use, receive treatment,” Kalie VanDewater, Healio, June 8, 2023

Psychiatric News (6/8) reports, “More Americans consider cigarettes to be addictive and dangerous than those who express such concerns about cannabis, alcohol, and technology,” according to the “latest findings from a national APA poll released” on June 8 that was “conducted by Morning Consult between April 20 and 22 among a sample of 2,201 adults.” APA President Petros Levounis, MD, MA, said in a June 8 news release, “‘It is clear that we have gotten the message through that cigarettes are dangerous and addictive,’ but more can be done to educate Americans about other potentially addictive behaviors.” The news release also disclosed that the APA “will soon launch a public awareness initiative on addiction and substance use disorders,” with its initial focus “on vaping, then turn to opioids, alcohol, and technology over the next year.”

Related Links:

— “Americans Agree Cigarettes Are Unsafe, Yet 21% Report Smoking Every Day,” Psychiatric News, June 8, 2023