The Washington Post (3/7, Haupt) spotlights “hoarding disorder – a mental health condition in which people have trouble getting rid of possessions because of a perceived need to save them.” The disorder “affects about 2.6 percent of people worldwide, according to the American Psychiatric Association,” with “higher rates” seen “in those over 60 and people who have other psychiatric problems, such as anxiety or depression.” The article provides a list of tips to help friends and family members with hoarding disorder. Click here to see a patient and family resource about hoarding disorder.

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

The AP (3/4, Dale) reported, “Black retired football players who were denied payments for dementia in the NFL’s $1 billion concussion settlement can seek to be retested or have their claims rescored to eliminate racial bias in the testing and payout formula, under a revised plan finalized Friday.” The AP added, “Outrage over the use of ‘race-norming’ in the dementia testing…forced the NFL and players’ lawyers back to the negotiating table last year.” These “revisions could allow many retired players to resubmit their claims and add $100 million or more to the NFL’s legal tab.”

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— “Judge approves fix to stem race bias in NFL concussion deal “Maryclaire Dale, AP, March 4, 2022

MedPage Today (3/4, D’Ambrosio) reported, “Despite treatment with antidepressant medication, a significant proportion of women still reported symptoms of anxiety and depression during pregnancy, according to a prospective study” published in Psychiatric Research and Clinical Practice. Among the “group of 88 women who took selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), about a third had clinically relevant symptoms of depression during pregnancy and the postpartum period, reported” researchers. Furthermore, “only 18% to 29% of pregnant women who took antidepressants maintained remission, the researchers wrote.”

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Psychiatric News (3/4) reported drug overdose fatalities “among Black people living in the United States rose significantly from 2019 to 2020, outpacing the overdose death rates of White people for the first time in over 20 years, according to a report published this week in JAMA Psychiatry.” The analysis also found “that American Indian or Alaska Native people experienced the highest rate of overdose mortality in 2020 of all the groups examined.”

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— “Study Examines Shifting Racial Trends in Drug Overdose Deaths, Psychiatric News, March 4, 2022

The Washington Post (3/6, A1, Bernstein) reports, “It has been difficult to find mental health counseling in much of the United States for years, long before the coronavirus pandemic began.” But now, “after two years of unrelenting stress, turmoil and grief, many people seeking help are confronting a system at or beyond capacity, its inadequacy for this moment plainly exposed.” It “is even more difficult to find specialized care for children or those with lower income.” The Post adds, “People who might never have sought therapy are now more willing to consider it in the wake of the pandemic, led by a younger generation that sees less stigma in acknowledging mental illness, said” American Psychiatric Association CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, MD, MPA. Dr. Levin said, “People have been accessing mental health care a lot more now because of covid.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)