Latest Public Service Radio Minute
How Extreme Weather Changes Affect Mental Health
How Extreme Weather Changes Affect Mental Health, MP3, 1.0MB Listen to or download all our PSAsSupport Our Work
Please donate so we can continue our work to reduce the stigma of psychiatric illness, encourage research, and support educational activities for behavioral health professionals and the public. Ways you can donate and help are on our Support and Donations page. Thank you!
More Info
Latest News Around the Web
Ambient Temperature Has Distinct Associations With Psychiatric Symptoms In Adolescents, Study Suggests
Medscape (1/30, Brooks , Subscription Publication) reports, “A new study released this week adds to mounting evidence that suggests climate change, with extreme hot and cold temperatures, threatens not only physical health but also mental well-being.” By “analyzing data from two population-based birth cohorts in Europe, researchers found that ambient temperature has distinct associations with psychiatric symptoms in adolescents, with cold exposure in the Netherlands associated with more internalizing symptoms and heat exposure in Spain associated with more attention problems.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open. Joshua Wortzel, MD, Chair of the APA Committee on Climate Change and Mental Health, said that it is “novel to have these kinds of rich datasets (both mental health measures and temperature data) with large sample sizes. However, interpreting these data [is] difficult.”
Related Links:
— Medscape (requires login and subscription)
Study Finds Number Of US High School Girls Who Identify As LGBQ Is Increasing Alongside Rise In Suicidal Thoughts, Attempts Among Women
Healio (1/30, Rhoades) reports, “Approximately one-third of high school girls surveyed in the United States in 2021 identified themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or questioning their sexuality, according to results of a cohort study.” That marks “a dramatic and significant increase from previous polling just 2 years earlier that showed 22% of high school aged girls identifying as LGBQ.” This change “is occurring alongside increases in suicidal thoughts, planning and attempts among women, with significant upticks among those identifying as LGBQ, researchers reported.” The findings were published in Educational Researcher.
Related Links:
— “Increasing LGBQ identification may contribute to surge in suicide among high school girls,”Andrew (Drew) Rhoades, Healio, January 30, 2025
Patients With Treatment-Resistant Depression May Only Receive Modest, Short-Term Benefit From Using Intranasal Esketamine As Add-On Treatment, Research Finds
Psychiatric News (1/29) reports, “Patients with treatment-resistant depression may only receive a modest, short-term benefit from using intranasal esketamine as an add-on treatment, according to a meta-analysis.” Additionally, “the analysis reveals almost no benefit from esketamine for suicidality compared with placebo.” The findings were published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
Related Links:
— “Meta-Analysis Reveals Disappointing Efficacy for Esketamine in Depression, Suicidality, Psychiatric News, January 29, 2025
Critical Crisis Services Have Not Become More Available Since 988 Launch, Research Suggests
STAT (1/29, Gaffney , Subscription Publication) reports, “In July 2022, 988 launched as the number anyone across the country could dial in a mental health crisis.” The phone number is “one entryway to a sprawling system of mental health care options, but new research shows that since then, critical crisis services have not become more available – a key objective of the nationwide rollout, designed to strengthen an underfunded, patchwork system that left many people alone in times of crisis.” Although “calls to the national hotline have continued to increase, fewer psychiatric facilities are offering emergency psychiatric walk-in services, mobile crisis response units, and suicide prevention services, according to a study.” The findings were published in JAMA Psychiatry.
Related Links:
— “Since 988 launch, mental health crisis services have faltered,”Theresa Gaffney, STAT, January 29, 2025
Mild traumatic brain injury linked to unfavorable long-term outcomes in U.S. veterans
Healio (1/28, Herpen) reports, “Among post-9/11 United States military veterans, mild traumatic brain injury was associated with unfavorable long-term outcomes, such as severe PTSD, when occurring around a traumatic event, researchers wrote.” The investigators found “that those with peritraumatic mTBI experienced greater trauma exposure compared with non-peritraumatic and no TBI groups…while those in the peritraumatic cohort registered more lifetime TBI compared with those who sustained non-peritraumatic mTBI.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.
Related Links:
— “Mild TBI outcomes in US veterans worse if sustained during traumatic event,”Robert Herpen, Healio, January 28, 2025
Foundation News
Foundation Radio PSA Examines Child and Teen Adolescent Health
Among children and teens the rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide have been surging for over a decade and made severely worse by the pandemic. The latest radio spot from the Foundation examines how suicide is now the second leading cause of death among children aged 10-14 and the rise in emergency room visits for young people has become a national emergency. The Foundation asks you to reach out to your local and state legislators to urge funding for mental health help for our youth.
Child and Adolescent Mental Health
Child and Adolescent Mental Health, MP3, 1.2MBYou can listen to the ad using the player in the upper right of the website’s homepage. All past public service spots are also available for listening or to download on our Radio Advertisements page.
Carolyn Im to Receive MFP Anti-Stigma Advocacy Award
The 2023 Maryland Foundation for Psychiatry (MFP) Anti-Stigma Advocacy Prize will be awarded to Carolyn Im for her A Piece of My Mind in JAMA, “Major Developments During Medical School” published October 25, 2022.
She very effectively articulates some of the adjustments medical students with recurrent depression might have to make. She encourages students to seek psychiatric help when needed and points out that dealing with mental health issues can foster personal growth and make us better physicians.
The Anti-Stigma Advocacy Award carries a $500 prize and will be formally presented at the Maryland Psychiatric Society annual meeting on April 20.
The Foundation established this annual prize for a worthy media piece, preferably local or regional, that accomplishes one or more of the following:
- Shares with the public their experience with mental illness in themselves, a family member, or simply in the community.
- Helps others to overcome their inability to talk about mental illness or their own mental illness.
- Imparts particularly insightful observations on the general subject of mental illness.
Click here for information about past winners.
Foundation Radio Spot Examines the Rise of Telehealth Due to Pandemic
Every dark cloud has a silver lining. Even the COVID-19 pandemic has seen some positive consequences for mental health care. A new radio spot from the Foundation examines the rise of Telehealth during days of lockdown and stress over the past few years, including increased acceptance by insurance companies in the wake of the U.S. government declaring a national mental health crisis.
Telehealth in the COVID-19 Age
Telehealth in the COVID-19 Age, MP3, 1.3MBYou can listen to the ad using the player in the upper right of the website’s homepage. All past public service spots are also available for listening or to download on our Radio Advertisements page.
New Foundation Radio Spot Notes Women’s Health In Jeopardy
It’s not easy to be a woman these days. Women’s health is especially in jeopardy, particularly for those who are pregnant. A new radio spot from the Foundation examines studies about women denied reproductive choice have significantly worse mental health, and other studies about women jailed for drug addiction and more.
Women’s Healthcare, MP3, 1.3MBYou can listen to the ad using the player in the upper right of the website’s homepage. All past public service spots are also available for listening or to download on our Radio Advertisements page.
Seeking Nominations for 2023 Anti-Stigma Advocacy Award
The annual Maryland Foundation for Psychiatry (MFP) Anti-Stigma Advocacy Award recognizes a worthy piece published in a major newspaper that accomplishes one or more of the following:
- Shares with the public their experience with mental illness in themselves, a family member, or in the community.
- Helps others to overcome their inability to talk about mental illness or their own mental illness.
- Imparts particularly insightful observations on the general subject of mental illness.
The article should be published during the period from January 15, 2022 to January 15, 2023. A Maryland author and/or newspaper is preferred. Click here for past winners and published articles.
The award carries a $500 prize, which is given at the Maryland Psychiatric Society annual meeting in April. Please send nominations to mfp@mdpsych.org no later than January 16, 2023.