Medscape (1/30, Brooks , Subscription Publication) reports, “A new study released this week adds to mounting evidence that suggests climate change, with extreme hot and cold temperatures, threatens not only physical health but also mental well-being.” By “analyzing data from two population-based birth cohorts in Europe, researchers found that ambient temperature has distinct associations with psychiatric symptoms in adolescents, with cold exposure in the Netherlands associated with more internalizing symptoms and heat exposure in Spain associated with more attention problems.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open. Joshua Wortzel, MD, Chair of the APA Committee on Climate Change and Mental Health, said that it is “novel to have these kinds of rich datasets (both mental health measures and temperature data) with large sample sizes. However, interpreting these data [is] difficult.”

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— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

Healio (1/30, Rhoades) reports, “Approximately one-third of high school girls surveyed in the United States in 2021 identified themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or questioning their sexuality, according to results of a cohort study.” That marks “a dramatic and significant increase from previous polling just 2 years earlier that showed 22% of high school aged girls identifying as LGBQ.” This change “is occurring alongside increases in suicidal thoughts, planning and attempts among women, with significant upticks among those identifying as LGBQ, researchers reported.” The findings were published in Educational Researcher.

Related Links:

— “Increasing LGBQ identification may contribute to surge in suicide among high school girls,”Andrew (Drew) Rhoades, Healio, January 30, 2025

Psychiatric News (1/29) reports, “Patients with treatment-resistant depression may only receive a modest, short-term benefit from using intranasal esketamine as an add-on treatment, according to a meta-analysis.” Additionally, “the analysis reveals almost no benefit from esketamine for suicidality compared with placebo.” The findings were published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Meta-Analysis Reveals Disappointing Efficacy for Esketamine in Depression, Suicidality, Psychiatric News, January 29, 2025

STAT (1/29, Gaffney , Subscription Publication) reports, “In July 2022, 988 launched as the number anyone across the country could dial in a mental health crisis.” The phone number is “one entryway to a sprawling system of mental health care options, but new research shows that since then, critical crisis services have not become more available – a key objective of the nationwide rollout, designed to strengthen an underfunded, patchwork system that left many people alone in times of crisis.” Although “calls to the national hotline have continued to increase, fewer psychiatric facilities are offering emergency psychiatric walk-in services, mobile crisis response units, and suicide prevention services, according to a study.” The findings were published in JAMA Psychiatry.

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— “Since 988 launch, mental health crisis services have faltered,”Theresa Gaffney, STAT, January 29, 2025

Healio (1/28, Herpen) reports, “Among post-9/11 United States military veterans, mild traumatic brain injury was associated with unfavorable long-term outcomes, such as severe PTSD, when occurring around a traumatic event, researchers wrote.” The investigators found “that those with peritraumatic mTBI experienced greater trauma exposure compared with non-peritraumatic and no TBI groups…while those in the peritraumatic cohort registered more lifetime TBI compared with those who sustained non-peritraumatic mTBI.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Mild TBI outcomes in US veterans worse if sustained during traumatic event,”Robert Herpen, Healio, January 28, 2025