TODAY (5/27, Breen) reported, “In the aftermath of a mass casualty event” such as last week’s school shootings in Uvalde, TX, “blame swirls, often landing on…mental illness.” Research indicates, however, that “mental illness does not play a role in the vast majority of gun violence.” Rebecca Brendel, MD, JD, President of the American Psychiatric Association, stated, “When horrible events happen that are unfathomable to our minds, we look for answers, and so one answer is that there must be something terribly wrong to lead somebody to act in such a way.” Dr. Brendel added, “(But) what we know is that persons with mental illness are much less likely to commit acts of violence than others.” What does drive “mass casualty shootings and gun death, said…experts interviewed for this story, is access to guns.”

Related Links:

— “Is mental illness really driving gun violence in the US? Here’s what the research says “Kerry Breen, TODAY, May 27, 2022

According to Healio (5/26, Hemphill), “borderline personality disorder [BPD] can be effectively treated by using the good psychiatric management approach, Lois W. Choi-Kain, MD, said” at the American Psychiatric Association 2022 Annual Meeting. BPD’s signs “are detectable early, and clinicians and families can help adolescents focus on interpersonal hypersensitivity as a vulnerability to manage.”

Related Links:

— “VIDEO: Manage hypersensitivity in adolescents with borderline personality disorder “Nancy Hemphill, Healio, May 26, 2022

STAT (5/26, Cohrs) reports, “A bipartisan group of senators working on mental health policy have proposed axing a requirement that would have restricted seniors’ access to services via telehealth, they announced Thursday.” Previously, “seniors had to have visited the same” clinician “in-person within the previous six months” before accessing telehealth. While “that requirement hasn’t technically gone into effect yet because emergency regulations are still in place due to the pandemic,” once “implemented, it could dramatically limit seniors’ options for mental health services.”

Related Links:

— “Key Senate panel wants to axe in-person requirement for virtual mental health services “Rachel Cohrs, STAT, May 26, 2022

HealthDay (5/26, Munez) reports, “Teens who have access to guns are at a higher risk for suicide or suicide attempts,” researchers concluded in a study that “analyzed data from more than 15,000 patients aged 14 to 18 years seen at a U.S. children’s hospital emergency department between June 2013 and March 2020.” The study also revealed that “more than 40% of those depressed teens have access to a gun.” The findings were published online May 14 in the journal Academic Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Guns in the Home Raise Suicide Risks for Teens “Cara Murez, HealthDay, May 26, 2022

MedPage Today (5/25, George) reports, “Midlife scores on the American Heart Association’s Life’s Simple 7 – an assessment of physical activity, diet, obesity, smoking, blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar – were tied to dementia risk later in life, even in people at high genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease,” investigators concluded in findings published online in the journal Neurology. The study revealed that “across genetic risk profiles, higher midlife scores on Life’s Simple 7…were largely associated with reduced incident dementia.”

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)