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Latest News Around the Web
Psychotherapy Is Best Way To Ease Grief Following Death Of Loved One, Review Suggests
HealthDay (2/3, Thompson) reports a systematic review of 169 previous clinical trials found that “talk therapy is the best way to ease grief and depression following the death of a loved one.” Of the clinical trials reviewed, “76 evaluated whether psychotherapy could help people with their grief.” The review says, “Across studies, we found a positive effect of psychotherapy on grief disorder symptoms.” The researchers “also found some benefit from expert-facilitated support groups and enhanced contact from a person’s health care team, although the evidence there was not as strong.” The review was published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
Related Links:
— “Grief Best Managed Through Talk Therapy, Evidence Shows,”Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, February 3, 2026
Early menopause symptoms are different from what middle-aged women expect
HealthDay (2/2, Thompson) reports a study found that “the symptoms women experience on the verge of menopause could be vastly different from what they might expect.” According to researchers, “women in perimenopause…expect to be plagued with hot flashes and night sweats. However, these women reported symptoms like exhaustion and fatigue far more frequently than those typically associated with menopause.” When middle-aged women participants were “asked which symptoms they associate with perimenopause, the women most often named hot flashes (71%), sleep problems (68%) and weight gain (65%). But women who actually were in perimenopause listed their most common symptoms as exhaustion (95%); fatigue (93%); irritability (91%); sleep problems (89%); depression (88%); and brain fog (87%).” The study was published in Menopause.
Related Links:
— “Early Menopause Symptoms Might Not Be What Most Women Expect,”Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, February 2, 2026
HHS Unveils $100M Pilot Program To Address Homelessness, Addiction In Eight Cities
The AP (2/2, Swenson) reports HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Monday that the agency “will devote $100 million toward a pilot program addressing homelessness and substance abuse in eight cities, building on an executive order” the President “signed last week related to addiction.” The agency “will also make faith-based organizations eligible for addiction-related grants and expand states’ ability to use federal health funding for substance abuse treatment in certain situations involving children, Kennedy said.” Kennedy also “said SAMHSA’s new pilot program will be called STREETS, or Safety Through Recovery, Engagement and Evidence-Based Treatment and Supports.” The initiatives “represent some quick momentum for” the President’s “executive order signed last Thursday launching what [he] calls the ‘Great American Recovery Initiative’ to better align federal resources on the addiction crisis.”
Related Links:
— “HHS unveils program to address homelessness and addiction, part of a set of new initiatives,”Ali Swenson , AP, February 2, 2026
Team USA Expands Mental Health Services For Olympians
USA Today (2/2, Peter) reports, “About half of the U.S. Olympians and U.S. Paralympians set to compete at the Milano Cortina Games will not be at their best mentally, according to Jonathan Finnoff, chief medical officer of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC).” To support these athletes, Finnoff “said the USOPC has built ‘an incredibly robust program.’ He noted the hiring of 16 dually certified mental health and mental performance [professionals], virtual consultation services with more than 500 psychological services professionals and several ways to assess athletes for mental health needs.” The increased emphasis comes after the “Borders Commission, created by the USOPC in 2018, concluded in a 2019 report that mental health care can and must be expanded.” The USOPC “said that between the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the Paris Olympics in 2024, it increased the number of licensed psychologists on its staff to 15 from six.
Related Links:
— “How Team USA has evolved mental health services for Olympians,”Josh Peter, USA TODAY, February 2, 2026
Dozens Of Patients With Dissociative Identity Disorder Interviewed About Living With The Diagnosis
Healio (1/30, Gawel) reported, “Hearing aids did not lead to any significant differences in cognitive testing among older patients with moderate hearing loss, but these devices may reduce risks for dementia, according to” research. The study “cohort included a median of 664 patients (mean age, 75.1 years; 49% women; 98% white) who received a prescription for a new hearing aid in the previous 3 years, including 402 who always or often used their hearing aid and 188 who sometimes or rarely used it, and a median of 2,113 (mean age, 74.2 years; 48% women; 99% white) who did not.” The findings were published in Neurology.
Related Links:
— “Hearing aid prescriptions yield no significant difference in cognitive test scores,”Richard Gawel, Healio, January 30, 2026
Foundation News
Cooper to Receive Anti-Stigma Advocacy Award
Damion Cooper, Th.M. will be awarded the 2019 Maryland Foundation for Psychiatry (MFP) Anti-Stigma Advocacy Prize for his op-ed, “Surviving a gunshot, one man’s story” in the October 18, 2018 Baltimore Sun. The MFP Board unanimously felt that his article was the most deserving of this year’s recognition. Being shot is unfortunately a somewhat common experience for some residents of Baltimore, and the culture of not talking about it makes recovery very difficult for survivors. The Board believes that his courage may empower others to seek help and speak more openly about their own or their family’s suffering.
The Anti-Stigma Advocacy Award carries a $500 prize, which will be formally presented at the Maryland Psychiatric Society annual meeting on April 25.
The Foundation established this annual prize for a worthy piece published in a major newspaper (preferably local or regional) that accomplishes one or more of the following:
- Shares with the public their experience with mental illness in themselves, a family member, or simply in the community.
- Helps others to overcome their inability to talk about mental illness or their own mental illness.
- Imparts particularly insightful observations on the general subject of mental illness.
Related Links:
— “Surviving a gunshot, one man’s story,” Damion J. Cooper, Baltimore Sun, October 18, 2018
Latest Foundation Ad Examines Reliving Trauma Via News and Events
Events and reports in the news can activate painful memories, causing people to relive and have to deal with abuse years after they thought they had successfully handled it via therapy or repression. A new public service ad by the Foundation is airing now that explores how someone to talk to, particularly a psychiatrist, can help cope.
Trauma: Never too late to speak, especially to a psychiatristTrauma: Never too late to speak, especially to a psychiatrist, MP3, 2.5MB
You can listen to the ad using the player in the upper right of the website’s homepage. All past public service spots are also available for listening or to download on our Radio Advertisements page.
This Is My Brave Project Added to Featured Websites
This Is My Brave (TIMB) has been added to our Links & Publications page. The goal of the non-profit aligns directly with our own here at the Maryland Foundation for Psychiatry: to end the stigma surrounding mental health issues. They focus on sharing personal stories of individuals living successful, full lives despite mental illness through poetry, essay and original music, on stage in front of a live audience, through stories submitted and published to their blog, and via their YouTube channel.
Two of our directors, Dr. Komrad and Mr. Wiggins, recently attended a local event and reported the program was well-attended and very moving. TIMB has 17 more shows planned across the United states and 2 upcoming in Australia. You can find more information about the organization via their web site: https://thisismybrave.org/
Dr. Daniel Hale to Receive Anti-Stigma Advocacy Award
W. Daniel Hale, Ph.D. has been awarded the 2018 Maryland Foundation for Psychiatry Anti-Stigma Advocacy Prize for his op-ed, “We need to talk about depression” in the June 13, 2016 Baltimore Sun. The Maryland Foundation for Psychiatry Board of Directors chose the piece from among several nominees. Dr. Hale eloquently writes in a very personal way about his daughter’s depression and suicide and his own depression and successful recovery. His courage to speak openly about suffering may give others the courage to speak about their own, or their family’s experiences. Hiding depression only makes it harder to get help and delays recovery.
The award carries a $500 prize, which will be formally presented at the Maryland Psychiatric Society annual meeting on April 26.
The Foundation established this annual prize for a worthy piece published in a major newspaper (preferably local or regional) that accomplishes one or more of the following:
• Shares with the public their experience with mental illness in themselves, a family member, or simply in the community.
• Helps others to overcome their inability to talk about mental illness or their own mental illness.
• Imparts particularly insightful observations on the general subject of mental illness.
Foundation Radio Ad Looks At Mental Health after School Shootings
To date in 2018 there have been 18 school shootings, and the effects upon those who experience them as well as those fearing such a thing might happen to their school are real and long term. A new public service ad by the Foundation is airing now that explores how and why student, teachers, and parents may be acting as they are and how psychiatry can help them heal and get beyond the trauma.
Anxiety and Mental Health in Wake of School ShootingsAnxiety and Mental Health in Wake of School Shootings, MP3, 1.5MB
You can listen to the ad using the player in the upper right of the website’s homepage. All past public service spots are also available for listening or to download on our Radio Advertisements page.