The AP (8/4, Johnson ) reports, “Schools across the U.S. have been introducing yoga, meditation and mindfulness exercises to help students manage stress and emotions” following 2023 recommendations from the CDC. Research shows that “school-based mindfulness programs can help” students struggling with isolation, “especially in low-income communities where students face high levels of stress or trauma.” Programs like Inner Explore, which is “used at Atlanta Public Schools and over 100 other districts across the country,” guide “students and teachers through five-to-10-minute sessions of breathing, meditating and reflecting several times a day.” Teachers and administrators “say they have noticed a difference in their students since” incorporating the practices, which have helped children build confidence and learn emotional regulation.

Related Links:

— “More US schools are taking breaks for meditation. Teachers say it helps students’ mental health,”Sharon Johnson, AP, August 4, 2024

CNN (8/2, Christensen ) reported exposure to wildfires “can increase the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, alcohol and substance use disorders, and sleep problems, as well as mental health problems that could last years.” A study published in PLOS Climate on Friday that focused on California residents “said about half of the 24,000 Californians researchers spoke with had been affected by a climate event like a wildfire or flood, and of those, nearly 23% reported that their mental health was harmed.” People in rural areas were also “more likely to report that a climate event has had a negative impact on their mental health, in addition to people who were White, college-educated or female.” Dr. Steven Sugden, a member of the American Psychiatric Association’s committee for disaster psychiatry, emphasized the detriment of repeated exposure to natural disasters, stating, “If people have lived through those experiences before, then with each subsequent year, there are just more triggers.”

Related Links:

— “Repeated wildfires put pressure on residents, making it difficult to recover peace of mind,”Jen Christensen, CNN, August 2, 2024

The Washington Post (8/4, Blakemore) reports, “People living with chronic pain are more likely than their peers without pain to need mental health treatment, yet less likely to get it, a new analysis suggests.” Using “data from the 2019 National Health Interview Survey,” researchers discovered that “43.2 percent of respondents with chronic pain had a mental health need compared with 17.4 percent of those not in pain.” Investigators also observed that “over 44 percent of those with chronic pain received mental health treatment, yet still had symptoms of unremitted depression or anxiety, unlike 71.5 percent of those without chronic pain.” The findings were published in PAIN.

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Healio (7/31, Buzby) reports, “Risk for psychiatric disorder or suicide attempt is particularly high in the first year following hospitalization for heart disease, and patient support is important to lower such risk, researchers” found. The “analysis included 63,923 patients hospitalized for the first time with CVD between 1997 and 2020 and 127,845 matched individuals without a CVD hospitalization.” The findings were published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Related Links:

— “Mental health ‘crucial’ after first-time hospitalization for heart disease,”Scott Buzby, Healio, July 31, 2024

Psychiatric News (7/31) reports, “In a statement issued [Wednesday], APA denounced the July 7 police shooting of Sonya Massey by former sheriff’s deputy Sean Grayson in Springfield, Illinois, calling it ‘a disturbing and horrifying tragedy that should never have happened.’” The association “said that when visiting the home of anyone reported to have mental illness or substance use disorders, law enforcement should be prepared to respond with care and empathy, not violence and harm.” APA urged “law enforcement organizations to ensure that they prepare their workforce with both training in dealing with mental health issues and anti-bias training,” saying “the injustice of Ms. Massey’s killing lays bare the ways in which racial inequities can play out in our communities.”

Related Links:

— “APA Denounces Police Killing of Sonya Massey, Psychiatric News, July 31, 2024