The New York Times (1/13, Ghorayshi) reports, “Clinicians are divided over new” draft guidelines saying that transgender “teens should undergo mental health screenings before receiving hormones or gender surgeries.” This comes as “an upsurge in teenagers requesting hormones or surgeries to better align their bodies with their gender identities has ignited a debate among” physicians and other healthcare professionals “over when to provide these treatments.” In the new 350-page guidelines, a “chapter dedicated to adolescents says that they must undergo mental health assessments and must have questioned their gender identity for ‘several years’ before receiving” surgeries or medications, a stance that has divided “experts in transgender health” and reflects “a fraught debate over how to weigh conflicting risks for young people, who typically can’t give full legal consent until they are 18 and who may be in emotional distress or more vulnerable to peer influence than adults are.”

Related Links:

— “Doctors Debate Whether Trans Teens Need Therapy Before Hormones “Azeen Ghorayshi, The New York Times, January 13, 2022

Healio (1/13, Herpen) reports, “The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic saw a drop in hospitalization for self-harm or overdose in adolescents and young adults compared to the two years before,” researchers concluded after culling “information from 1,690,733 young persons born between 1990 and 2006, in Ontario, Canada, aged 14 to 24 years between March 1, 2018, and June 30. 2021,” then breaking down data by frequency of emergency department “visits or hospitalizations due to either self-harm or overdose.” The findings were published online Jan. 12 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Hospitalization for self-harm, overdose lower during start of pandemic vs. before “Robert Herpen, Healio, January 13, 2022

Healio (1/12, Marabito) reports, “Opioid overdose deaths among older adults increased significantly from 1999 to 2019, especially among non-Hispanic Black men,” investigators concluded in a “longitudinal cross-sectional study” that “examined data on opioid overdose deaths among adults aged 55 years and older from the CDC’s Multiple Cause of Death database.” The findings of the 79,893-adult study were published online Jan. 11 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Opioid overdose deaths increased drastically among older Black men over a decade “Maria Marabito, Healio, January 12, 2022

According to HCPlive (1/12, Walter), an 85,490-participant study “examined the genetic architecture of treatment resistant schizophrenia (TRS) through the reassessment of genetic data from schizophrenia studies and its validation in ascertained clinical samples.” The study revealed that “treatment resistance is generally a polygenic trait with detectable heritability of 1-4%,” and there also appears to be “a positive association between TRS and a history of taking clozapine.” The findings were published online Jan. 12 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Genetic Data Explains Treatment Resistant Schizophrenia “Kenny Walter, HCPlive, January 12, 2022

The New York Times (1/12, Dodge) delves into whether “neurofeedback, a therapy some say can improve our attention, moods, sleeping habits and even our athletic ability by measuring brain activity and showing it to us – either on a screen or through headphones – in real time,” is effective. Currently, “neurofeedback is still not accepted as a mainstream treatment within mental health circles – and the most robust research into the intervention so far suggests it is no more effective than a placebo.” While neurofeedback is safe and has no side effects, it often is not covered by insurance and may serve to delay patients from an accepted therapy that can “actually work.”

Related Links:

— “Can Monitoring Brain Waves Boost Mental Health? “David Dodge, The New York Times, January 12, 2022