The Hill (12/28, Bowden) reported “opioid-related deaths among teens and young children have nearly tripled since 1999.” The findings (12/7) were published in JAMA Network Open.

ABC News (12/28, Bracho-Sanchez) reported on its website that researchers “examined data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)” and found that “almost 9,000 children and young adults have died from opioid poisonings in the past 20 years.”

Related Links:

— “Opioid deaths in children, teens on the rise: study, “John Bowden, The Hill, December 28, 2018.

Psychiatric News (12/28) reported that on Dec. 26, “the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a final order…to downgrade the risk category for certain uses of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).” This particular change was one “for which APA had strongly advocated, saying it could greatly expand access to safe, effective treatment for individuals with serious and persistent psychiatric disorders.

Related Links:

— “FDA Downgrades Risk Category for Certain Uses of ECT, Psychiatric News, December 28, 2018.

HealthDay (12/27, Mozes) reports, “Teens who are often bullied may be left with shrinkage in key parts of their brain, increasing their risk for mental illness,” researchers concluded after analyzing “brain scans of nearly 700 14- to 19-year-olds.” The study revealed that teens who were chronically bullied had at age 19 “reduced size in two key regions of the brain, compared to age 14” in the putamen and the caudate. The findings were published online Dec. 12 in Molecular Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Being Bullied May Alter the Teen Brain, “Alan Mozes, HealthDay, December 27, 2018.

The AP (12/26, Irvine) reports on a 12-step meeting focused on helping people for whom “tech gets in the way of daily functioning and self-care.” According to the AP, “an American Academy of Pediatrics review of worldwide research found that excessive use of video games alone is a serious problem for as many as nine percent of young people.” Just this past “summer, the World Health Organization also added ‘gaming disorder’ to its list of afflictions,” and “a similar diagnosis is being considered in the” US.

Related Links:

— “‘Hi, my name is ___, and I’m addicted to tech’, “Martha Irvine, AP, December 26, 2018.

HealthDay (12/26, Mozes) reports research indicates that “older folks can cut their depression risk by 32 percent simply by going to cultural activities every few months.” According to HealthDay, the “results are based on a decade-long tracking analysis that stacked cultural engagement – plays, movies, concerts and museum exhibits – against depression risk among approximately 2,000 men and women over the age of 50,” all of whom were “participants in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA).”Related Links:

— “Head to the Movies, Museums to Keep Depression at Bay, “Alan Mozes, HealthDay, December 26, 2018.