Mental Health Weekly最新文献

Nearly 70% of teens engage in online gaming with strangers on a weekly basis, underscoring how gaming environments can make youths vulnerable to mental health concerns and safety risks, the Ruderman Family Foundation indicated in a new white paper, a news release stated. At the same time, gaming has the potential to be a powerful social platform for reaching youths who are struggling with mental health challenges. According to “Connected Play: Adolescent Gaming and Perceived Loneliness,” the Foundation's newly published white paper, conducted by the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children's Hospital, one in five adolescents who engage in online gaming have encountered toxicity and safety issues. While lonely adolescents may turn to gaming for social connections, they are more likely to report negative experiences, suggesting that these virtual environments are not providing the supportive and fulfilling interactions they need. The Foundation initially brought its expertise in mental health to gaming beginning in 2023, seeking to leverage the widespread popularity of gaming to transform it into a creative avenue for reaching youths who are struggling with mental health challenges, such as persistent feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and loneliness (see “White paper touts gaming as tool to combat youth MH crisis,” MHW, Oct. 30, 2023; https://doi.org/10.1002/mhw.33839).

Community-based programs are critical to improving equitable access to mental well-being around the country and to achieving important outcomes for communities, according to panelists at a Mental Health America conference session on Sept. 20 in Washington, D.C. (see related story beginning on page 1).

Direct payments to provider agencies for worker recruitment/retention and increased funding for behavioral health services are among the key strategies states have been deploying in increasing numbers to boost the mental health and substance use treatment workforce, according to a newly published report.

Mental Health America's (MHA's) conference attendees — including thousands of mental health advocates, people with lived experience and their families, and clinical leaders — learned firsthand last week of the Biden administration's plans to invest millions to integrate behavioral health services into hundreds of community health centers around the country.

Vibrant Emotional Health, administrator of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, is holding its fourth annual Disaster Behavioral Health Conference, “We The Resilient: A Conference on Disaster Behavioral Health and Building a Truly Resilient Community,” Oct. 1–3 in Nashville, Tennessee. For more information, visit https://www.vibrant.org/vibrant-emotional-health-unveils-speakers-for-fourth-annual-disaster-behavioral-health-conference-in-nashville-tennessee.

The often-heated policy environment around transgender and nonbinary individuals has had a demonstrated negative impact on these individuals' mental health, but results of a new study have identified a potential protective factor for transgender adults.

The American Psychological Association (APA) last week announced that Wendi S. Williams, Ph.D., provost and senior vice president at Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California, has been elected 2026 president of the APA, a news release stated. A psychologist, advocate and educator, Williams focuses her work on the inner lives of Black women and girls. Blending ideas from liberation psychology and various feminist perspectives to guide her work, Williams designs and runs programs for individuals, groups and organizations aimed at personal and organizational growth. Her goal as a psychologist is to help diverse women and girls thrive while pushing for meaningful change in organizations and society as a whole. Williams has been an active member of APA for more than 16 years, most recently serving as president of APA's Division 35, the Society for the Psychology of Women, and as the division's representative to APA's governing Council of Representatives. She was previously president of the Section on Black Women of Division 35 and a member of the APA Division 17 Presidential Taskforce Against Racism in K-12 Schools. Williams will serve as 2025 APA president-elect before becoming president on Jan. 1, 2026.

Approximately 20% of the perinatal population will suffer from a maternal mental health disorder, but less than 20% of the perinatal population ever receives mental health treatment, attendees heard during a congressional briefing on maternal health and suicide in the perinatal population held on Sept. 10, on World Suicide Prevention Day.

The American Psychiatric Association is holding The APA 2024 Mental Health Services Conference Sept. 26–28 in Baltimore. For more information, visit https://www.xpressreg.net/register/MHSC0924.

Most adults have said they believe that their faith or spirituality is important for their mental wellness, according to a survey released by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) assessing the relationship between faith and mental health. Additionally, a majority of the individuals who responded to the poll would pursue mental health care if it were recommended by their faith leader.