The Washington Post (1/7, Chiu) reports, “Many Americans have been unable to pull their eyes away from images of hundreds of Trump supporters storming the U.S. Capitol building Wednesday – smashing windows, trampling over police officers, rampaging through the halls of government and forcing frightened lawmakers to flee.” But “constant exposure to images that generate fear, anxiety and distress can exact a heavy toll on people’s minds and bodies.” People also “may struggle with concentration or difficulties with sleep, causing confusion and exhaustion, said Jeffrey Geller, president of the American Psychiatric Association.” These effects “are likely to be only worsened by prolonged exposure to the triggering media, Geller said.”

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The New York Times (1/4, Goldberg) reports on the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on addiction treatment. For example, some addiction treatments have been forced to close and studies have found that binge drinking has increased during the pandemic.

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— “‘Relapsing Left and Right’: Trying to Overcome Addiction in a Pandemic “Emma Goldberg, The New York Times, January 4, 2021

HealthDay (1/4, Murez) reports, “The COVID-19 pandemic is taking a toll on the emotional health of pregnant women whose exercise routines have been disrupted because of the coronavirus,” investigators concluded after analyzing “data from an online survey of more than 1,800 U.S. women from all 50 states and Puerto Rico.” The study revealed that “women had higher depression scores than their counterparts who were able to exercise as usual.” The findings were published online in PLOS ONE.

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— “As Lockdowns Keep Pregnant Women From Exercise, Depression Rates Rise: Study ” Cara Murez, HealthDay, January 4, 2021

Healio (1/4, Gramigna) reports, “Heavy alcohol consumption during adolescence appeared associated with deleterious effects on white matter microstructural integrity,” researchers concluded in a study that “analyzed data of 451 participants aged 12 to 21 years at baseline who were included in the National Consortium on Alcohol and Neurodevelopment in Adolescence cohort.” Study “participants had two or more usable magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging scans and up to five examination visits across four years.” The findingswere published online Dec. 30 in JAMA Psychiatry.

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— “Heavy alcohol consumption produces ‘deleterious’ effects on adolescents’ white matter “Joe Gramigna, Healio, January 4, 2021

The Washington Post (12/4, Searing) reports, “Among high school teens in the United States, about 22 percent said they had used e-cigarettes, known as vaping, in the preceding 30 days,” according to researchpublished in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. Meanwhile, “two new studies, published in the journals Tobacco Induced Diseases and PLOS One, report a link between vaping and mental fog.” Further, “people who vape, compared with those who do not, are 43 percent more likely to develop a respiratory disease,” according to research published in JAMA Network Open, and “a new study in the journal Addictive Behaviors finds that youths who vape are nearly three times more likely to take up cigarette smoking and more than twice as likely to try smokeless tobacco as are those who do not use e-cigarettes.”

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