Psychiatric News (3/30) reports, “People with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) can benefit from medication and/or psychotherapy that teaches them to confront situations that trigger obsessive fears while refraining from performing compulsions,” but “for many with OCD, these therapies may be out of reach due to therapists’ availability, cost, location, and more,” investigators concluded. Now, “increasing evidence suggests that digital health technologies, including videoconferencing and other approaches (for example, online platforms, websites, and mobile applications) can circumvent these barriers,” experts concluded in an column published online March 26 in Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Psychiatrists Offer 5 Strategies for Integrating Videoconferencing Into OCD Treatment, Psychiatric News, March 30, 2021

HealthDay (3/29, Murez) reports, “About 20% of high school students” in Colorado “reported having handgun access,” investigators found after reviewing “data from the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, which is used to assess health behaviors, risk and protective factors among more than 46,000 students.” The study also revealed that “students who were American Indian, multiracial or white reported significantly higher access than Hispanic, Black or Asian American students.” The findings were published online March 29 in the Journal of Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “1 in 5 Colorado Teens Has Easy Access to a Gun: Study “Cara Murez, HealthDay, March 29, 2021

Bloomberg (3/29, Kary) reports, “Teenagers’ addiction rates for cannabis are about the same as for prescription opioids,” researchers concluded in a study “based on data from 2015 to 2018 collected by national surveys done by an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.” The study revealed that one “year after first trying cannabis, almost 10.7% of adolescents age 12 to 17 met the criteria of addiction.” Teens “in the same age group who tried prescription opioids had a similar addiction rate of 11.2%.”

HCPlive (3/29, Kunzmann) reports, “Substance use disorder is more prevalent among cannabis and prescription” medication “users who initiated use in their adolescence than in their early adulthood,” researchers also concluded. The findings were published online March 29 in a research letter in JAMA Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Cannabis Almost as Addictive as Opioids Among Teens, Study Finds “Tiffany Kary, Bloomberg, March 29, 2021

Modern Healthcare (3/29, Johnson, Subscription Publication) reports that “despite the need for” mental healthcare services, “many of the same barriers that have been responsible for hindering access to behavioral healthcare services in the past,” such as shortages of clinicians, “narrow networks and weak reimbursement,” still exist and have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Figures from the American Academy of Pediatrics reveal that “there are about 9.75 pediatric psychiatrists for every 100,000 children in the U.S., with some states having fewer than four for every 100,000.” With the majority of mental health professionals “concentrated in urban areas, the current supply levels leave about 70% of counties without a child psychiatrist.”

HealthDay (3/29, Collins) reports, “Over half of high-risk children in the United States are not receiving behavioral health services critical to their mental, emotional and physical well-being,” investigators concluded after examining “the results from three national surveys of children’s exposure to violence, which included nearly 12,000 kids aged 10 to 17 and caregivers of children aged two to nine.” Researchers “found that between 41% and 63% of high-risk youths surveyed went without any professional help.” The findings were published online March 15 in JAMA Network Open.

Psychiatric News (3/29) reports, “Roughly one in five U.S. adolescents received mental health care between 2005 and 2018, with the greatest proportion receiving care for internalizing mental health conditions such as depression and suicidal ideation,” investigators concluded after examining “data from 230,070 adolescents aged 12 to 17 years who were interviewed as part of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health from January 1, 2005, through December 31, 2018.” The findings were published online March 25 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Why Are Half of U.S. Kids With Mental Health Issues Not Getting Treatment? “Sarah Collins, HealthDay, March 29, 2021

The Washington Post (3/26, Ellison) reported, “Sleep-deprived adolescents – forced for generations to wake for school before the chimes of their circadian clocks – have had an unexpected break amid the anxiety and losses of the pandemic,” as “remote learning has allowed many of them to stay in bed an extra hour or more, providing a ‘natural experiment’ that sleep experts hope will inform the long and stubborn debate over school starting times.” But “so far, many results are anecdotal.” While “some kids are sleeping longer and more soundly, starting classes ready and refreshed,” other kids “are tossing and turning, beset by anxiety or staying up later staring at screens.” But these “varying experiences offer families and schools a glimpse of the effects of later schedules – and the possibility that the past year will yield enough evidence to persuade schools to follow scientists’ guidance to begin the school day no earlier than 8:30 a.m.”

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)