HealthDay (3/3, Preidt) reports, “Teens who are bullied about their weight are at increased risk for alcohol or marijuana use – and this is especially true for girls,” researchers concluded after surveying “more than 1,300 students at five public middle schools in Connecticut.” The findings were published online Feb. 10 in the journal Psychology of Addictive Behaviors.

Related Links:

— “Being Bullied About Weight May Raise Risk of Drug Use, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, March 3, 2020

Healio (3/3, Gramigna) reports, “A telephonic work-focused counseling program added to integrated care improved veterans’ psychiatric and occupational outcomes, which reduced obstacles in civilian life,” researchers concluded after testing “whether integrated telephonic work-focused counseling, known as Be Well at Work…combined with the VHA integrated care program is superior to integrated care alone for improving depression and occupational functioning.” Included in the randomized study were 253 veterans. The findings were published online Feb. 28 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Telemedicine intervention plus integrated care improves outcomes of veterans with depression, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, March 3, 2020

Psychiatric News (3/2) reports, “Fear, stigma, depression, anxiety, and post traumatic stress disorder followed major infectious disease outbreaks earlier in this century,” and psychiatrists should now “be prepared for similar reactions as the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak expands.” Research focusing on “survivors of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in Asia and Canada in 2003 indicated high rates of psychiatric disorders both during the acute phase of the pandemic and up to four years later.” In an email, Joshua Morganstein, MD, chair of APA’s Committee on the Psychiatric Dimensions of Disasters, stated, “It is essential to understand how any given patient will most effectively receive information and tailor communication and interventions using a patient-centered approach.” Click here to “see the APA blog post ‘Coronavirus and Mental Health: Taking Care of Ourselves During Infectious Disease Outbreaks’” that Dr. Morganstein has written.

Related Links:

— “How Psychiatrists Can Help Patients During Coronavirus Outbreak, Psychiatric News, March 2, 2020

Medscape (3/2, Lowry, Subscription Publication) reports, “A significant proportion of patients who suffer from chronic pain also have features of borderline personality disorder (BPD),” research indicated. After analyzing “data from 11 studies published between 1994 and 2019,” investigators found that “23% of patients with chronic noncancer pain (CNCP) had some features of BPD, including difficulty maintaining relationships as well as affect and mood instability.” The findings of the “systematic literature review” were presented at the American Academy of Pain Medicine’s annual meeting.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

In the New York Times (3/2) “The Checkup,” Perri Klass, MD, writes that “a prospective study published in the March issue of the journal The Lancet Psychiatry found that even light activity – and a corresponding decrease in the amount of time that kids spent being sedentary – was linked to better mental health as they” grew older. For the study, investigators “looked at the activity of adolescents at the ages of 12, 14 and 16, who were then assessed for depression at around 18.” The study revealed that “activity levels when kids were younger were linked to their mental health later on; the depression scores at 18 were lower for every additional 60 minutes per day of light activity at 12, 14 and 16, and higher for every additional sedentary hour.”

Related Links:

— “The Benefits of Exercise for Children’s Mental Health, “Perri Klass, The New York Times, March 2, 2020