Psychiatric News (7/2) reported, “More than one in four American adults who had symptoms of depression or anxiety reported an unmet need for mental health counseling at the end of 2020,” investigators concluded after analyzing “data from approximately 70,000 adults in the Household Pulse Survey, which was conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and other federal agencies from December 9 to December 21, 2020.” The study revealed that “overall, more than one in 10 adults in the study reported this unmet need.” The findings were published online June 30 in a brief report in Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Study Reveals Extent of Unmet Need for Mental Health Counseling During Pandemic, Psychiatric News, July 2, 2021

CNN (7/4, Vera) reported that for some survivors of gun violence and mass shootings, “the loud explosions and bangs” that surround Independence Day fireworks “have become nightmarish triggers.” Gun-related “violence can lead to life-long trauma that can even develop into post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),” a “a psychiatric disorder that occurs in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event like a shooting, natural disaster or abuse, according to the American Psychiatric Association.” The article interviewed several gun violence “survivors and witnesses of mass shootings, including some who have been diagnosed with PTSD, in an effort to understand how July 4 fireworks celebrations might affect them.”

Related Links:

— “Independence Day fireworks, once joyous celebrations, are now nightmares for these gun violence survivors ” Amir Vera, CNN, July 4, 2021

Healio (7/1, Gramigna) reports, “Depression treatment among older adults reduced functional disability, which in turn reduced suicide ideation,” researchers concluded in a study that “sought to assess the relationship between changes in functional disability and suicide ideation among 65 adults aged 65 to 91 years (72% white; 66% women) with depression after they received psychotherapy.” The findings were published in a brief report in the June issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Psychotherapy reduces functional disability, suicide ideation among older adults “Joe Gramigna, Healio, July 1, 2021

Healio (7/1, Gramigna) reports, “Eating disorder behaviors appeared to change brain reward processing,” researchers concluded in a functional brain imaging study that sought “to evaluate brain response during unexpected receipt or omission of a salient sweet stimulus in 317 women, of whom 197 had eating disorders and 120 served as healthy controls, and to determine whether this brain response was linked to the ventral striatal-hypothalamic circuitry, which has correlated with food intake control.” The study revealed that “BMI modulated prediction error and food intake control circuitry in the brain, and alteration of this circuitry may reinforce eating disorder behaviors when paired with behavioral traits linked to overeating or undereating, researchers noted.” The findings were published online June 30 in JAMA Psychiatry. HealthDay (7/1, Preidt) also covers the study.

Related Links:

— “Eating disorder behaviors linked to changes in brain reward processing “Joe Gramigna, Healio, July 1, 2021

Psychiatric News (6/30) reports, “Paid family leave policies enacted by states for new parents appear to improve mental health and decrease psychological distress of new parents,” researchers concluded after analyzing “data collected between 1997 and 2016 as part of the annual National Health Interview Survey,” then comparing “changes in parental psychological distress (as determined by the Kessler 6 score) and child behavioral problems (as determined by the Mental Health Indicator score) among families in California and New Jersey before and after implementation of paid family leave policies.” The findings were published online June 28 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Paid Family Leave May Reduce Psychological Distress of New Parents, Psychiatric News, June 30, 2021