According to Healio (12/7, Weller), the COVID-19 “pandemic has heightened the stress and burnout that” healthcare professionals “experience, such that it is imperative to seek mental health care and, when needed, take difficult steps to protect colleagues’ well-being, according to” a speech given by “Saul Levin, MD, MPA, FRCP-E, FRCPsych, CEO and medical director of the American Psychiatric Association and clinical professor at the George Washington School of Medicine…at the opening session of the virtual American Academy of Ophthalmology annual meeting.” Dr. Levin said, “As physicians, we’re responsible for the health of our patients, but we need to remember, we’re also responsible for ours.” In addition, “physicians must…be able to recognize symptoms of burnout and depression in themselves and their colleagues.” Finally, “if immediate help is needed for a colleague who expresses active suicidal ideation, physicians must be prepared to contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or emergency services, Levin said.”

Related Links:

— “It takes ‘great courage’ to support colleagues’ mental health during pandemic “Madison Weller, Healio, December 7, 2020

CNN (12/7, Rogers) reports, “Negative body image can threaten mental health, according to new research that found teenagers who were dissatisfied with their bodies tended to experience depression as adults.” When “study participants were 14, on a five-point scale (from extremely satisfied to extremely dissatisfied) they rated their satisfaction with their weight, figure, body build or breasts, stomach, waist, thighs, butt, hips, legs, face and hair,” and at 18 “a nurse assessed their depression symptoms and severity.” The study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, found that “girls who were discontented with their bodies at 14 had mild, moderate and severe depressive episodes at 18, while boys had mild and/or moderate depressive episodes.”

Related Links:

— “Teens with negative body image may experience depression as adults, study finds “Kristen Rogers, CNN, December 7, 2020

Healio (12/4, Gramigna) reported, “Emergency psychiatric services and clinical and diagnostic COVID-19 screening of psychiatric emergency patients are needed during the ongoing pandemic,” investigators concluded after examining “sociodemographic characteristics, psychiatric diagnoses, symptoms and disposition of patients evaluated for psychiatric emergency during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, between March 1 and April 30, with those seen immediately prior to this period, between January 1 and February 28.” Next, the research team “compared the same outcomes of patients who tested positive for COVID-19 with those who tested negative,” rating “prevalence and nature of stressors related to COVID-19 that affected the emergency presentation.” The findings were published online Oct. 28 in the Journal of Psychiatric Research.

Related Links:

— “Emergency psychiatric services needed to address mental health fallout of COVID-19 era ”
Joe Gramigna, Healio, December 4, 2020

According to the AP (12/5, Tanner), “When children and teens are overwhelmed with anxiety, depression or thoughts of self-harm, they often wait days in emergency” departments due to the shortage of “psychiatric beds.” The issue has become more severe, however, amid “the pandemic, reports from parents and professionals suggest.” While children find themselves bearing “new burdens many are unequipped to bear,” swelling hospitalized COVID-19 patient totals have made bed space “even scarcer.” The AP added, “By early fall, many Massachusetts ERs were seeing about four times more children and teens in psychiatric crisis weekly than usual, said Ralph Buonopane, a mental health program director at Franciscan Hospital for Children in Boston.”

Related Links:

— “ER visits, long waits climb for kids in mental health crisis “Lindsey Tanner, AP, December 5, 2020

The New York Times (12/3, Wu) reports, “Across the nation, testing teams are grappling with burnout, repetitive-stress injuries and an overwhelming sense of doom.” While “supply chains sputter and laboratories rush to keep pace with diagnostic demand, experts warn that the most severe shortage stymieing America’s capacity to test is not one that can be solved by a wider production line or a more efficient machine.” The issue comes down to “a dearth of human power: the dwindling ranks in a field that much of the public does not know even exists.”

Related Links:

— “‘Nobody Sees Us’: Testing-Lab Workers Strain Under Demand ” Katherine J. Wu, The New York Times, December 3, 2020