NPR (3/31, Chatterjee) reports, “Most nurses and other frontline health workers worked relentlessly over the past two years, surge after surge, through countless deaths and severe staffing shortages.” Now, “a majority are struggling with psychiatric symptoms.” For that reason, many nurses “want to see more support for their colleagues dealing with the emotional fallout from the” COVID-19 pandemic. Many now want “employers to create a less stressful, more supportive work environment with better access to mental healthcare, and a culture where it’s OK to ask for help.” Meanwhile, some nurses are “taking things into their own hands by being more open about their own mental health, and creating a way for nurses in crisis to get support from their peers.”

Related Links:

— “A nurse’s death raises the alarm about the profession’s mental health crisis “Rhitu Chatterjee, NPR, April 31, 2022

Healio (3/31, Herpen) reports, “Children exposed to their parents’ patterns of suicidal behavior and methods are at a higher risk for repeating the same behaviors,” investigators concluded in a study that “examined national registries to include more than four million individuals from Denmark born after 1953, who were at least aged 10 years and living in the country at any point between Jan. 1, 1980 and Dec. 31, 2016.” The findings were published online March 27 in The Lancet Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Suicidal behavior patterns in parents passed down to children, study finds “Robert Herpen, Healio, March 31, 2022

The Washington Post (3/31, Balingit) reports the CDC “is warning of an accelerating mental health crisis among adolescents, with more than four in 10 teens reporting that they feel ‘persistently sad or hopeless,’ and one in five saying they have contemplated suicide, according to the results of a survey published” online April 1 in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

According to the New York Times (3/31, Barry), the CDC’s “nationwide survey of 7,705 high school students conducted in the first half of 2021 built on earlier findings of high levels of emotional distress, with 44.2 percent describing persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness that prevented them from participating in normal activities, and nine percent reporting an attempt at suicide.” What’s more, it revealed “high rates of reported abuse, with 55.1 percent of teenage respondents saying they suffered emotional abuse from a parent or another adult in their house in the preceding year, and 11.3 percent saying they suffered physical abuse.” Reuters (3/31, Leo) also covers the story.

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Healio (3/30, Herpen) reports, “Benzodiazepine prescriptions for U.S. military veterans with PTSD declined due to decreased prevalence over a 10-year period,” investigators concluded in a study that “utilized Veterans Health Administration databases between 2009 and 2019 to examine prevalence and incidence of benzodiazepine prescriptions for veterans with PTSD, according to ICD-9/10 criteria.” The findings of the “retrospective observational study” were published online in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Benzodiazepine prescriptions for veterans with PTSD declined over 10-year period “Robert Herpen, Healio , March 30, 2022

Healio (3/30, Herpen) reports, “Cognitive impairment was more severe in hospitalized COVID-19 patients compared with those with other illnesses who required hospitalization,” researchers concluded in a study that “included 85 COVID-19 survivors (mean age 56.8 years, 42 women) and 61 matched controls (mean age 59.4 years, 27 women) who were evaluated six months after the onset of symptoms that required hospitalization.” The findings were published online March 23 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Cognitive outcomes worse in COVID-19 survivors than in others with similar illnesses “Robert Herpen, Healio, March 30, 2022