TIME (5/7, Heid) reports, “Late last month, as the full weight of the COVID-19 crises was settling on the country’s shoulders, more than one in four American adults met the criteria that psychologists use to diagnose serious mental distress and illness. That represents a roughly 700% increase from pre-pandemic data collected in 2018.” TIME adds, “While this surge in mental distress showed up across age and demographic groups, young adults and those with children experienced the most pronounced spikes. Among adults living at home with kids under the age of 18, the rate of severe distress rose from just 3% in 2018 to 37% last month.” Researchers at Florida State University and San Diego University conducted the study, which is currently in preprint on the PsyArXiv website.

Related Links:

— “COVID-19’s Psychological Toll: Mental Distress Among Americans Has Tripled During the Pandemic Compared to 2018, “Markham Heid, TIME, May 7, 2020

HealthDay (5/7, Thompson) reports experts warn that COVID-19 survivors “will be emotionally scarred by their time spent in an intensive care unit (ICU), and they are at increased risk of psychological problems, such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).” Dr. Joshua Morganstein, chair of the APA’s Committee on the Psychiatric Dimensions of Disasters, said that in addition to the potential trauma of being in the ICU, the virus might cause psychiatric or neurological problems itself, “There certainly are many infectious illnesses that have associated with them the development of temporary or permanent neuropsychiatric symptoms that can range from things like mood changes to confusion or cognitive impairment, to pain or fatigue.” Dr. Morganstein advised, “When a person’s body and mind is trying to respond to and manage a severe infection, this can be disorienting and fatiguing. Health care workers should take their time when they are talking to articulate clearly and speak in a gentle but audible manner to patients, to help ensure the patients understand what is happening.”

Related Links:

— “Depression, Anxiety, PTSD May Plague Many COVID-19 Survivors, “Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, May 7, 2020

HealthDay (5/6, Preidt) reports, “Adults who had rough childhoods have higher odds for heart disease,” investigators concluded after looking at data from “more than 3,600 people who were followed from the mid-1980s through 2018.” Investigators found that people “who experienced the most trauma, abuse, neglect and family dysfunction in childhood were 50% more likely to have had a heart attack, stroke or other heart problem in their 50s and 60s.” The findings were published online in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Related Links:

— “Tough Childhoods Are Tough on Adult Hearts: Study, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, May 6, 2020

Healio (5/6, Gramigna) reports, “Nondiscrimination policies appeared associated with a decrease or no change in suicidality among gender minority individuals living in states with these policies,” investigators concluded after conducting “a difference-in-differences analysis to compare changes in mental health outcomes among gender minority enrollees before and after nondiscrimination policy implementation between 2009 and 2017.” Next, “using gender minority-related diagnosis codes obtained from private health insurance claims, they identified” and examined the “data of 28,980 unique gender minority enrollees from 2009 to 2017.” The findings were published online May 6 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “State-level nondiscrimination policies may decrease suicidality among gender minority individuals, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, May 6, 2020

The Hill (5/6, Weixel) reports a bipartisan group of 90 lawmakers in the House along with several medical groups, including the APA, “are pushing for the inclusion of enhanced mental health resources for health workers in the next coronavirus aid package.” The bipartisan group “called for the establishment of a grant program within the Department of Health and Human Services to allow healthcare employers or facilities to confidentially assess and treat the mental health of healthcare workers on the front lines of treating COVID-19 patients.”

Related Links:

— “Lawmakers push for mental health funding for providers in next aid package, “Nathaniel Weixel, The Hill, May 6, 2020