The Wall Street Journal (10/30, Petersen, Subscription Publication) reports on the difficulties faced by families of children diagnosed with mental illness in getting needed treatment resources

Related Links:

— “More Kids Are Being Screened for Anxiety, Depression. But Then What? ” Andrea Petersen, The Wall Street Journal, October 29, 2022

The New York Times (10/29, Caron) reported, “A number of mental health” clinicians “say that they are seeing an uptick in teenagers and young adults who are diagnosing themselves with mental illnesses…after learning more about the conditions online.” Should teens come “to their parents to discuss something they’ve seen on TikTok or another social media platform, it’s best to remain open and curious, experts say.” Anish Dube, MD, Chairman of the Council on Children, Adolescents and Their Families at the American Psychiatric Association, stated, “Take that as an opportunity to engage them and find out more about your teenager and some of the challenges and struggles that your teenager is going through.” Because “the information presented on social media can be inaccurate or overly simplistic…Dr. Dube also recommended pointing kids toward reliable sources like the A.P.A.’s directory of mental health topics.”

Related Links:

— “Teens Turn to TikTok in Search of a Mental Health Diagnosis “Christina Caron, The New York Times, October 29, 2022

Healio (10/27, Herpen) reports, “Pain, sleep and mood disorders were the most commonly found comorbidities among those with narcolepsy, with chronic pain being more than twice as likely to occur compared with matched controls,” researchers concluded after conducting “an electronic health record search between 2000 and 2020 to identify 2,057 individuals…who sought initial treatment for narcolepsy.” Also included in the study was a “separate control cohort of 2,057 participants” that “was propensity-score matched by birth year, age at initial treatment, sex, race, ICD code and mortality.” The findings were presented in a poster at the American Neurological Association’s annual meeting.

Related Links:

— “Pain, sleep, mood disorders most common comorbidities in patients with narcolepsy “Robert Herpen, Healio, October 27, 2022

Kaiser Health News (10/27, Andrews) reports, “Almost three years after the” COVID-19 “pandemic upended workplaces, mental health coverage remains a priority for employers, according to an annual employer surveyfielded by KFF” that revealed that almost “half of surveyed large employers – those with at least 200 workers – reported that a growing share of their workers were using mental health services.” Nevertheless, nearly “a third of that group said their health plan’s network didn’t have enough behavioral” healthcare professionals “for employees to have timely access to the care they need.”

Related Links:

— “Employers Are Concerned About Covering Workers’ Mental Health Needs, Survey Finds “Michelle Andrews, Kaiser Health News , October 27, 2022

Healio (10/26, VanDewater) reports, “Midlife women with a history of infertility or involuntary childlessness had more depressive symptoms, particularly before menopause, and anxiety after menopause, compared with women without infertility,” according to researchers who “analyzed 16 years of follow-up data from the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN).” The study findings were presented at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine Scientific Congress & Expo.

MedPage Today (10/26, D’Ambrosio) reports the findings also showed “a history of infertility or involuntary childlessness was not associated with increased vasomotor or vaginal symptoms during the menopausal transition.”

Related Links:

— “Infertility, involuntary childlessness linked to midlife depressive, anxiety symptom “Kalie VanDewater, Healio, October 26, 2022