"A lot of people are just now learning that the unfortunate reality for a lot of Black youth is that they are dying," said Dr. Christine Crawford, associate medical director for NAMI. "And a lot of that has to do with the fact that mental health conditions are often underdiagnosed or are not adequately treated […]
Dr. Christine Crawford, associate medical director for NAMI, said that exposure to horrific events like the Uvalde shooting "can elicit symptoms that are consistent with a trauma response, almost." Crawford explained that after hearing or reading about events like a mass shooting, people may notice they are more on edge or irritable and may experience […]
Firearms are responsible for the majority of suicide deaths in the U.S. In an effort to identify handgun purchasers at risk of suicide, researchers retroactively tested the reliability of a machine learning algorithm on a database of handgun purchases in the state of California from 1996-2015. Purchasing a revolver-style handgun, female gender, white race/ethnicity, and no previous firearm transaction were associated with firearm suicide within one year of purchase. Overall, the most important variables for accurately predicting firearm suicide within one year were handgun type, race/ethnicity, purchaser age, and month of purchase. These findings shed light on alternative methods of suicide prevention and may have implications for advocates and policymakers. To learn more, see the study in JAMA.
Researchers from the University of California Irvine surveyed over 5,500 adults representative of the U.S. population during the spring of 2020 and later in the fall of 2020 about their experiences with mental health, COVID-19, isolation, loneliness, and distress. Researchers identified exposure to the COVID-19 virus, knowing someone who passed from COVID-19, and consuming hours of media related to COVID-19 as risk factors for experiencing psychological distress and loneliness. State-level mitigation practices, such as stay-at-home orders and public information campaigns, did not appear to affect mental health outcomes. The findings can help inform future public health responses designed to prioritize limiting loss of life, exposure to disease, and psychological distress. To learn more, see the study in Health Psychology.
A recently published study investigated the experiences of 8,500 veteran patients between 2015 and 2020 in primary care who were referred to behavioral and/or mental health care programs. After controlling for variables, White veterans were nearly two times more likely to be prescribed antidepressants in primary care settings compared to Black veterans. This holds true for those with severe depression as well. These findings emphasize the disparity and bias in quality of treatment Black patients face despite having access to care. Future research should continue exploring these disparities and identify methods to combat them. To learn more, see the study in Psychiatric Services.
A recent study found a significant decrease in the number of mental health services offered in Spanish despite the growth of the Hispanic population nationwide. Between 2014 and 2019, there was a 17.8% decrease in the proportion of mental health treatment facilities offering services in Spanish, impacting 44 out of the 50 states. These changes coincide with an upward trend in mental health disorders among Hispanics with a 60% increase in serious mental health conditions and 34% increase in major depressive episodes. The study concludes that offering more mental health services in Spanish is one way to deliver culturally responsive health care and promote equity across populations. To learn more, see the study in Psychiatric Services.
Social determinants of health (SDoHs) are the conditions present in a person’s life that impact health outcomes and quality of life. A recent analysis of Medicaid claims data of 245,000 youth with a psychiatric diagnosis examined the relationship between SDoHs and self-harm. Controlling for demographic characteristics and clinical diagnoses, adverse SDoHs such as abuse and neglect, child welfare placement and parent-child conflict were significantly associated with self-harm. Researchers advocate for collecting SDoH data in medical records to help identify and intervene in cases of youth at risk for self-harm and suicide. To learn more, see the article in Psychiatric Services.
For individuals with depression, multiple antidepressants may be prescribed if the person is not experiencing enough benefit from a single medication. In a recent systematic review and meta-analysis, researchers explored findings from nearly 40 previous studies to assess the tolerability and efficacy of combination therapy compared to monotherapy. Combination treatment was found to offer improved outcomes not only for individuals who did not respond to monotherapy, but also as a first-line treatment in some patients. The researchers also found that certain medication combinations were more effective than others, suggesting that combining any two antidepressants may not provide similar benefits. To learn more, see the study in JAMA.
Mindfulness is a popular technique for addressing stress and anxiety. However, less is known about how it compares to first-line medication treatment for diagnosed anxiety disorders. A randomized clinical trial of 208 adults compared the effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) to a flexible dosage of the antidepressant escitalopram in treating anxiety disorders. After an 8-week treatment period, adults in the MBSR group reported similar improvements to the escitalopram group on a severity scale of symptoms. Participants in the MBSR group were also less likely to report an adverse event and therefore less likely to drop out of the study. To learn more, see the article in JAMA Psychiatry.
Individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) – schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder – often experience challenges to their physical health and have a shorter life expectancy compared to the general population. Based on analysis of 600,000 electronic health records, researchers found that adults with SMI had an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease compared to those without. After adjusting for age, sex, and other factors, individuals with bipolar disorder had the highest risk of developing cardiovascular disease in the next 10 years. Researchers attributed the findings to side effects of psychiatric medication, smoking, elevated body mass index, a higher co-morbidity of diabetes, and decreased preventative care. To learn more, see the study in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
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text “NAMI” to 62640, or email. In a crisis, call or text 988 (24/7).
