CNN (9/9, Howard) reported, “After the summer launch of the new 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline number, calls to the lifeline increased 45% compared with the same time last year, and the majority of those calls were connected to a counselor, according to the” HHS. On Sept. 9, the department “released performance data detailing the number of calls, chats and texts made to the 988 lifeline in the month of August, as well as the portion of those contacts that were answered.” The article added, “Suicide is the second leading cause of death in the United States for people ages 10 to 34, according to the American Psychiatric Association, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes it as a ‘serious public health problem.’”

Related Links:

— “Calls to suicide prevention lifeline rose 45% after changeover to 988 number “Jacqueline Howard, CNN, September 9, 2022

Medscape (9/8, Brooks, Subscription Publication) reports, “Clozapine or antipsychotic polytherapy appear to be the best approach in reducing the risk for a substance use disorder (SUD) in adults with schizophrenia and for preventing relapse in patients with both diagnoses,” investigators concluded after analyzing “data on more than 45,000 patients with schizophrenia from Finnish and Swedish national registries, with follow-up lasting 22 years in Finland and 11 years in Sweden.” The findings were published online Aug. 25 in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

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— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

HCPlive (9/8, Walter) reports, “Family therapy was not necessarily more beneficial than other comparison therapies in treating pediatric patients with depression or suicidal ideation,” according to researchers who “screened 5940 records and identified 10 randomized controlled studies of family therapy for depressive disorder or suicidal ideation in adolescents with an active treatment comparison group.” The researchers “found no significant difference between family therapy and active comparison treatment for end-of-treatment levels of depression.” The research was published online in Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Family Therapy Not Superior to Other Therapies for Adolescents With Depression “Kenny Walter, HCPlive, September 8, 2022

Medscape (9/8, Anderson, Subscription Publication) reports, “Feelings of detachment following a traumatic event are a marker of more severe psychiatric outcomes, including depression and anxiety,” according to findings that “highlight the importance of screening for dissociation in patients who have experienced trauma.” Researchers “used data from the larger Advancing Understanding of Recovery After Trauma (AURORA) study and included 1464 adults” and “found persistent derealization was associated with increased ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) activity while viewing fearful faces.” The study was published online in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

mHealth Intelligence (9/7, Melchionna) reports, “While comparing diagnostic consistency between different methods of care, a…study found high levels of diagnostic concordance between telehealth and in-person visits overall.” Among “the 2,393 cases, 2,080 (86.9 percent) displayed diagnostic concordance between virtual and in-person visits.” Furthermore, “medical specialties also displayed a wide range of concordance levels,” according to the findings published online in JAMA Network Open, showing that “diagnostic concordance was 77.3 percent for otorhinolaryngology and 96 percent for psychiatry.”

Related Links:

— “Clinical Diagnoses Similar During Telehealth, In-Person Visits “Mark Melchionna, mHealth Intelligence, September 8, 2022