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)

HealthDay (3/3) reports, “Suicide mortality increased from 2000 to 2018, then decreased from 2018 to 2020,” researchers from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics concluded. The authors wrote, “Suicide rates were three to four times higher for males compared with females across the period, with both groups having lower rates in 2020 compared with 2018 and 2019.” The findings were published in a NCHS Data Brief No. 433 for March.

Related Links:

— “Suicide Mortality Decreased From 2018 to 2020 After Rising Since 2000, HealthDay , March 3, 2022

Healio (3/3, Herpen) reports, “The prevalence of PTSD in U.S. military veterans is higher than previous estimates,” researchers concluded after examining “information on a nationally representative sample of 4,069 veterans culled from the 2019–20 National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study, an online survey conducted from November 2019 to March 2020.” The study revealed that “prevalence of lifetime PTSD among the survey population (9.4%) was slightly higher than 2016 estimates (6.9% to 8.1%).” The findings of the “cross-sectional, retrospective study” were published online Feb. 22 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “PTSD prevalence among US military veterans higher than previously estimated “Robert Herpen, Healio, March 3, 2022

Parkinson’s News Today (3/2, Bryson) reports, “A low daily dose of aripiprazole, an antipsychotic therapy, significantly eased hallucinations and delusions in people with Parkinson’s disease and psychosis,” researchers concluded in an open-label study involving 24 patients with Parkinson’s who had psychosis. The findings were published online in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.

Related Links:

— “Aripiprazole at Low Dose Eases Parkinson’s Psychosis, If Tolerable “Steve Bryson, Parkinson’s News Today, March 2, 2022

Healio (3/2, Miller) reports, “Patients who started oxycodone while taking fluoxetine or paroxetine were at increased risk for opioid overdose compared with those who were taking other selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors [SSRIs],” researchers concluded after reviewing “data from three health insurance databases on 2,037,490 patients who received a prescription for oxycodone while receiving a SSRI.” The findings were published online Feb. 24 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Use of oxycodone with fluoxetine or paroxetine increases risk for opioid overdose “Janel Miller, Healio, March 2, 2022