The New York Times (11/30, Barry) reports that a group of researchers at Yale University and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai “conducted brain scans of 28 people with PTSD” in an attempt to find empirical evidence that “traumatic memories function differently from other memories.”

The scans “found clear differences, the researchers reported,” demonstrating that people listening to sad memories “showed consistently high engagement of the hippocampus.” However, when “the same people listened to their traumatic memories … the hippocampus was not involved.” The findings were published in Nature.

Related Links:

— “Brain Study Suggests Traumatic Memories Are Processed as Present Experience,” Ellen Barry, New York Times, November 30, 2023

Psychiatric News (11/30) reports, “Callers posing as mothers of adolescents with trauma symptoms who tried scheduling outpatient appointments at safety-net mental health centers were successful during only 17% of calls,” according to a study. Additionally, researchers also “identified a bias against non-White callers.” The findings were published in Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Moms Encounter Barriers, Discrimination to Accessing MH Care for Traumatized Youth,” APA Psychiatric News Alert, November 30, 2023

The New York Times (11/30, Baumgaertner) says that according to a new CDC report, “the rate of suicides involving guns in the United States has reached the highest level since officials began tracking it more than 50 years ago.” Notably, “about 27,000 of 50,000 suicides were carried out by gun in 2022,” with the rise “significantly steeper” in some racial and ethnic groups. CDC researchers “suggested that the coronavirus pandemic might have exacerbated many of the known risk factors for suicide generally, which include social isolation, strained relationships, and drug and alcohol disorders.”

Related Links:

— U.S. Rate of Suicide by Firearm Reaches Record Level,” Emily Baumgaertner, New York Times, November 30, 2023

MedPage Today (11/29, Firth) reports, “Antipsychotic medication-related deaths were rare among children, but young adults on higher doses had a significantly increased risk of death, according to a U.S. national retrospective cohort study of Medicaid patients.” In the study, “those ages 18 to 24 had increased risk of death with current use of second-generation antipsychotic agents in daily doses of greater than 100-mg chlorpromazine equivalents compared with control medications including antidepressants and mood stabilizers, reported” researchers in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (11/29) says, “The prevalence of U.S. veterans diagnosed with cannabis use disorder more than doubled between 2005 and 2019, with the greatest increases reported among those with bipolar disorder and psychotic spectrum disorders, according to a report published…in The American Journal of Psychiatry,” a publication of the American Psychiatric Association. In the study, “researchers analyzed electronic health records from the Veterans Health Administration collected from 2005 to 2014 and 2016 to 2019.”

Related Links:

— “Cannabis Use Disorder Rising Among Veterans, Study Finds,” APA Psychiatric News Alert, November 29, 2023