Healio (12/19, Oldt) reports, “Fear circuitry and dysphoric PTSD symptoms became more strongly connected as time passed after traumatic injury,” researchers concluded after conducting “a prospective cohort study of 1,138 individuals recently admitted with traumatic injury to major trauma hospitals across Australia.” The findings were published online Dec. 14 in JAMA Psychiatry. The author of an accompanying editorial observed, “Intrusions and physiological reactivity to reminders of the trauma scored high on centrality metrics, indicating that activation of these two symptoms are especially likely to activate other symptoms in the network,” whereas “successful early intervention targeting these symptoms would likely prevent the full syndrome of PTSD from emerging.”

Related Links:

— “Links between fear circuitry, PTSD symptoms strengthen over time,”Amanda Oldt, Healio, December 19, 2016.

Healio (12/16, Oldt) reported emergency department (ED) “visits for attempted suicide were most common among women, individuals aged 15 to 19 years and during late spring, particularly May,” researchers found after analyzing data on some “3,567,084 suicide attempt-related ED visits.” The findings were published online Nov. 17 in Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences.

Related Links:

— “Suicide attempts more common in women, teens,”Amanda Oldt, Healio, December 16, 2016.

In the Washington Post (12/15, Lane) “PostPartisan” blog, Washington Post editorial writer Charles Lane writes, “This past weekend, the American Psychiatric Association gave final approval to a policy statement declaring its ethical opposition to psychiatric participation in assisted suicide or euthanasia for a non-terminal patient.” The statement reads, “The American Psychiatric Association, in concert with the American Medical Association’s position on Medical Euthanasia, holds that a psychiatrist should not prescribe or administer any intervention to a non-terminally ill person for the purpose of causing death.”

Related Links:

— “At last, American psychiatrists speak out on euthanasia,”Charles Lane, The Washington Post, December 15, 2016.

In a front-page story, the Wall Street Journal (12/15, A1, Whalen, Subscription Publication) reports that as opioid abuse has pushed US overdose rates to record levels, it has left thousands of traumatized children in its wake. Many states have seen the number of children in foster care skyrocket, and hospitals are treating dozens of opioid-addicted newborns each year. According to social workers, the problem is greater than anything seen during the crack cocaine and methamphetamine crises.

Related Links:

— “The Children of the Opioid Crisis,”Jeanne Whalen, The Wall Street Journal, December 15, 2016.

CNN (12/14, Scutti) reports a recent study found hundreds of commercial pilots “may be clinically depressed.” Researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health warned that many depressed pilots “may decline seeking treatment due to fears of negative career consequences, such as being grounded.” Out of about 1,848 participants who answered questions about mental health, 233 pilots, or 16 percent, met the criteria for likely depression, while 75 pilots, or 4.1 percent, “reported having suicidal thoughts within the previous two weeks.”

Reuters (12/14, Rapaport) reports senior study author Joseph Allen said that with about 140,000 active pilots flying more than 3 billion people globally each year, “the survey results should put the airline industry on notice that many pilots need better access to mental health screening and treatment.” The findings notably come “a year and a half after a Germanwings co-pilot who suffered from depression deliberately crashed a plane into the French Alps, killing 150 people.”

Related Links:

— “Airline pilots anonymously report suicidal thoughts, study finds,”Susan Scutti, CNN, December 14, 2016.