Medscape (5/24, Brooks, Subscription Publication) reports, “Securing an appointment with a mental health professional in the United States continues to be a challenge, with wait times for an in-person appointment north of two months and over one month for a telepsychiatry visit,” according to a 948-psychiatrist study that “examined general psychiatry outpatient availability during the COVID-19 pandemic in five states – New York, California, North Dakota, Virginia, and Wyoming.” The findings were presented at the American Psychiatric Association 2023 Annual Meeting. Robert Trestman, MD, chair of the APA Council on Healthcare Systems and Financing, said, “There aren’t enough primary care doctors, and there certainly aren’t enough psychiatrists.”

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The Washington Post (5/24, Gilbert) reports, “U.S. authorities have seized increasing quantities of illegal ketamine, according to new research, a trend that coincides with the psychedelic drug’s rising popularity as a treatment for mental health ailments.” In fact, “the number of ketamine seizures by federal, state and local law enforcement in the United States increased from 55 in 2017 to 247 in 2022, while the total weight increased by more than 1,000 percent over that time, according to a” research letter published online May 24 in JAMA Psychiatry. The study’s lead author “sees the trend of seizures as evidence of greater recreational demand for ketamine.”

CNN (5/24, McPhillips) reports, “In addition to the risk of contamination with other potent drugs, using ketamine without medical supervision could lead to adverse outcomes, experts” contend. Gerard Sanacora, MD, PhD, “a psychiatry professor at the Yale School of Medicine,” stated, “Ketamine is possibly the major advance in the area of psychiatry in the past fifty years, but it’s not without risk.” Dr. Sanacora added, “The reality is it is an amazing treatment for many people, but we also know that it is a drug that people misuse and will abuse. And if there isn’t tight control on it, you can guarantee that it will find its way into illicit drug use.”

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MedPage Today (5/24, Bankhead) reports, “A measure of environmental stress had a significant association with mortality risk in patients with breast cancer, a large retrospective cohort study showed.” Investigators found that patients with a high “allosteric load” (a cumulative burden of chronic stress from life events) had almost a 50% higher all-cause mortality risk versus patients with a low “allosteric load.” MedPage Today adds, “Stratification of [allosteric load] scores showed that patients in the highest (fourth) quartile had almost an 80% greater risk than those in the lowest (first) quartile.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

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MedPage Today (5/23, Firth) reports, “Trends in prevalence of mental health diagnoses among youths differed by age and sex during the COVID-19 pandemic, with female adolescents representing ‘the most vulnerable population,’” investigators concluded after analyzing claims data. In adolescent “girls, the prevalence of anxiety disorders,” attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, “depression, and eating disorders all increased, with the prevalence of diagnosed eating disorders more than doubling, from 0.26% in March 2020 to 0.36% in October 2020 and 0.56% in March 2022,” the data revealed. In spite of the “‘considerably lower’ prevalence of eating disorders in males ages 13 to 18, trends were similar when compared with teen girls: 0.03% in March 2020 to 0.06% in March 2022, the authors said,” but “changes in other mental health diagnoses were not observed for teen boys.” The findings were published online May 22 in a research letter in JAMA Network Open.

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CNN (5/23, Howard) reports, “Many adults in the United States say they still have not heard of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which was launched in July.” A new “survey released…by the Pew Charitable Trusts suggests that only 13% of adults in the United States are aware of the national 988 lifeline and how it is intended to connect mental health crisis counselors with people who call or text the three-digit number.” That “survey of 5,052 adults, conducted in April for Pew by Ipsos Public Affairs, found that once people who were unaware of 988 were informed about its purpose – that anyone can call, text or chat the number to reach a trained counselor – about 7 in 10 said they were somewhat likely or highly likely to use the service.”

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— “Most US adults still unaware of 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline months after its launch, survey suggests “Jacqueline Howard, CNN, May 23, 2023