Psychiatric News (3/24) reports, “The number of adults over 55 admitted for substance use treatment for the first time nearly doubled between 2008 and 2018,” investigators concluded in a study that “compared the rate of first-time admissions for publicly funded substance use treatment by 453,598 adults 55 years or older with those by more than three million adults aged 30 to 54 years.” The findings were published online March 19 ahead of print in the Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Rising Number of Older Americans Admitted for Treatment for Heroin Use, Psychiatric News, March 24, 2022

The Hill (3/24, Barnes) reports, “People with depression and anxiety experienced nearly double the cardiovascular benefits of exercise than those without either diagnosis, according to a…study.” The results are set to be presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 71st Annual Scientific Session & Expo.

Related Links:

— “People with depression, anxiety may benefit most from exercise “Adam Barnes, The Hill, March 24, 2022

The New York Times (3/23, Tingley) reports on the children’s mental-health crisis in the US. According to the Times, “it would be easy to blame the pandemic for changes in mental health that have been observed since March 2020,” but last year, “when the surgeon general noted a ‘mental-health crisis’ among young people, he made clear that rising numbers of children and young adults were struggling with anxiety and depression before Covid-19.”

Related Links:

— “There’s a Mental-Health Crisis Among American Children. Why? ” Kim Tingley, The New York Times, March 23, 2022

Reuters (3/22, Thomasson) reports, “About half a million refugees from Ukraine who have fled to Poland need support for mental health disorders, and 30,000 have severe mental health problems,” a “representative for the World Health Organization in Poland said on” March 22. Ukrainian “refugees arriving in Poland are suffering from a range of health problems…but the main need is for support due to trauma, Paloma Cuchi, WHO representative in Poland, told a briefing in Geneva.”

ABC News (3/22, Kondoleon) reports research indicates that “firsthand exposure to traumatic events, such as the Ukraine war, can have lasting effects, including PTSD, anxiety, depression and relapse of alcohol abuse.” The American Psychiatric Association has estimated that the “prevalence of acute stress disorder ranges from 13%-50% depending on the type of event exposed to and about half of those individuals with acute stress disorder develop PTSD.” According to Craig Katz, MD, a clinical professor of psychiatry, medical education, system design and global health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, “the risk of developing lasting effects of acute stress disorder increases depending on the extent of exposure to a traumatic event, prior trauma that was not well addressed previously, a history of psychiatric disorders and not having social support.”

The Hill (3/22, Oshin) also covers the story.

Related Links:

— “500,000 refugees from Ukraine have mental health issues, WHO says, Reuters, March 22, 2022

Psychiatric News (3/21) reports research indicates that “adults who napped excessively were more likely to experience worse cognition in the future, and conversely, adults with poor cognition were more likely to nap excessively in the future.” Investigators arrived at these conclusions after examining “data from 1,401 adults with a mean age of 81.4 years who were part of the Rush Memory and Aging Project between 2005 and 2020.” The study also revealed that “longer naps were also linked with Alzheimer’s risk.” The findings were published online March 17 in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia.

Related Links:

— “Longer, More Frequent Daytime Naps Linked to Worse Cognition, Alzheimer’s Disease, Psychiatric News, March 21, 2022