Healio (6/12, Demko) reports that “long-term benefits of psychotherapeutic and combined treatments were superior to pharmacological treatments for PTSD across six randomized clinical trials with follow-up data.” The findings of the “network meta-analysis” were published online June 12 in JAMA Psychiatry. According to Healio, “future research needs to address clinically meaningful questions, like what clinicians can do when the first treatment fails, not just the question of whether psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy is better…wrote” the authors of an accompanying editorial.

Related Links:

— “Psychotherapeutic, combined treatments superior to pharmacological treatment in PTSD, “Savannah Demko, Healio, June 12, 2019

The Washington Post (6/7, Dias) reported on the phenomenon of mothers discovering they have autism after the condition is diagnosed in their child. The Post adds that “autism is about four times more prevalent in boys than in girls,” and that for decades, physicians often didn’t consider it as a possible diagnosis for girls, but now there is a growing consensus that many girls and women with the condition have been “overlooked.” The article highlights several cases of women being diagnosed with autism after their children were diagnosed and describes the mixture of emotions that come with the late diagnosis.

Related Links:

— “‘I understand exactly who he is’: Moms discover they share autism with their children, “Isabela Dias, The Washington Post, June 11, 2019

Medscape (6/11, Yasgur, Subscription Publication) reports, “Rates of nonsuicidal self-harm…are rising, especially among adolescent girls and young adult women,” and “few of these people receive medical or psychological help,” researchers concluded after conducting “a secondary analysis of data from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Surveys for 2000, 2007, and 2014 regarding individuals aged 16–74 years (n = 7243, 6477, and 6477, respectively).” The findings were published online June 4 in The Lancet Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Rates of Self-Harm Soar, Especially Among Girls, Young Women, “Batya Swift Yasgur, MA, LSW, Medscape, June 11, 2019

NBC News (6/12, Edwards) reports on its website that “rates of deaths from suicides, drug overdoses and alcohol have reached an all-time high” in the US, but “some states have been hit far harder than others.” A report from the Commonwealth Fund showed that West Virginia “had the highest drug overdose death rates, fueled mostly by the opioid epidemic,” and that those rates “rose by 450 percent between 2005 and 2017.” Death rates from suicide and alcohol “also showed regional disparities,” with people dying “at higher rates by suicide or from alcohol than from drugs in Montana, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Oregon and Wyoming.”

Related Links:

— “https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/u-s-death-rates-suicides-alcohol-drug-overdoses-reach-all-n1016216, “Erika Edwards, NBC News, June 12, 2019

Medscape (6/10, Anderson, Subscription Publication) reports on two studies presented at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting that suggest the use of long-acting injectable antipsychotics “leads to improved adherence and a reduction in suicide attempts for” patients with “severe schizophrenia.” One study included 43 “eligible patients,” while a “second 10-year follow-up study included 344 patients with severe schizophrenia who were treated in mental health units or in a case-managed community-based program.”

Related Links:

— “More Evidence Endorses Benefits of Long-Acting Antipsychotics, “Pauline Anderson, Medscape, June 10, 2019