Mental Health Weekly最新文献

Sarah, a single mom and therapist who's been in practice for 11 years has been struggling with her daughter's depression. Sarah's once vibrant personality has dulled as she feels emotionally drained from her situation at home. She now finds herself merely going through the motions in sessions with her patients and not as engaged as she once was.

Alaska teens are more likely to be depressed and have suicidal thoughts than were teens a decade ago, and some mental health problems have increased notably among girls, according to results from the state's most recent Youth Risk Behavior Survey, the Alaska Beacon reported Aug. 21. Administered in 2023 to nearly 1,200 high school students around the state, the survey found numerous negative trends. Of the respondents, 19% reported attempting suicide at least once over the past year, compared to 8.7% in the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The number who reported they had considered suicide came in at 23%, compared to 14.5% in 2011. And 43% reported feeling sad or hopeless for such extended periods that they were not able to carry out some of their usual activities, compared to 25.9% who reported feeling that way in the 2011 survey. In many mental health measures, girls reported more problems than boys. Among female respondents in 2023, 56% reported feeling too sad to engage in their usual activities, versus 32% for male respondents. While 20% of all respondents reported being cyberbullied — up from 15% in 2011 — 25% of the girls said they had been victimized that way. Alaska's Youth Risk Behavior Survey is administered to students every two years, though 2021 was skipped because of the COVID-19 pandemic and school closures. Results from the 2023 survey were released this month by the Alaska Division of Public Health.

Eating an anti-inflammatory diet of whole grains, fruits and vegetables instead of an inflammatory diet focused on red and processed meats and ultra-processed foods; such as sugary cereals, sodas, fries and ice cream; lowered the risk of dementia by 31%, a new study found. That benefit held true even for people with existing diagnoses of cardiometabolic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease or stroke, said Abigail Dove, MSc., lead author of the study published Aug. 12 in JAMA Network Open. In fact, people living with type 2 diabetes, stroke or heart disease who ate the most anti-inflammatory foods “developed dementia two years later than those with cardiometabolic diseases and a pro-inflammatory diet,” she added. Brain scans of those who followed an anti-inflammatory diet also showed significantly lower levels of brain biomarkers of neurodegeneration and vascular injury, Dove said. The study analyzed the dietary patterns of over 84,000 dementia-free adults older than age 60 with a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes and/or heart disease or stroke who were part of the U.K. Biobank, a longitudinal study that includes participants from England, Scotland and Wales. Brain scans found people with cardiometabolic diseases who ate the most anti-inflammatory foods had larger gray matter volume — indicating less neurodegeneration — and lower white matter intensities, which are signs of vascular injury in the brain, compared with people who ate an inflammatory diet.

A study analyzing data from thousands of patients in a multistate behavioral health treatment organization has reported that some of the most at-risk patients in mental health care are also the most likely to stay in treatment.

Judicial officials across New Mexico are hoping that four small pilot diversion programs can provide a useful model for ensuring people with mental illness are enrolled in treatment through county courts, the Santa Fe New Mexican, reported on Aug. 16. Fourth Judicial District Judge Michael Aragon said in an interview that the pilot program aims to cut recidivism and direct people to behavioral health treatment. Instead of merely dismissing misdemeanor cases for people who are not deemed competent to stand trial — a practice that can lead to a cycle of “catch and release,” but no treatment of a person's mental illness — the new model will send some people into a diversion program in which a full-time “forensic peer navigator” is assigned to help connect them with treatment providers for three to six months before the case is dismissed, according to a fact sheet from the state's Administrative Office of the Courts. The launch of the pilot program in San Miguel County comes weeks after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham convened a special legislative session on public safety, initially aimed in part at better addressing the mental health competency of people accused in criminal cases, as well as making it easier to mandate treatment for some people outside of the court system with psychiatric conditions. Gov. Grisham withdrew her mental health competency measure before the start of the session, however, after lawmakers raised concerns about rushing big changes to a complicated system. The session ended just hours after it started, with the legislature approving just one bill. The so-called feed bill, providing funds to hold the session, included $3 million to fund assisted outpatient treatment programs and competency diversion pilot programs for people with mental health issues. The governor signed it into law in late July. In San Miguel County, the pilot will begin with two full-time forensic peer navigators, who will serve a total of 12 participants. The program is funded through June 2025, and Aragon said he hopes it can be expanded to include between 25 and 30 people by that time.

Leveraging its five-decade history of addressing the most pressing needs of children and families, Sesame Workshop — the global impact nonprofit behind TV's Sesame Street — partnered with The Harris Poll to shed light on the mental health crisis, launching a first-of-its-kind index on the state of well-being in America, an Aug. 13 news release from Sesame Workshop stated. The inaugural study found that Americans view the importance of mental health and education as on par with economic stability. When asked what we should prioritize for the future well-being of our country, Americans indicated that economic stability isn't enough, and is not alone as a top priority, but must be accompanied by investment in mental health and education. Parents are particularly affected: 1 in 3 said that their own, or their family's well-being, is negatively impacted by mental health issues, and 61% said that their family is still experiencing negative effects from the COVID-19 pandemic. Americans said getting honest about mental health and asking for help are critical steps to improving the state of well-being today. Sixty-seven percent of all Americans, with those numbers going up to 79% of parents, agreed, saying, “I wish my parents had been more honest with me about their mental health struggles,” suggesting that today's parents are looking to break the silence around mental health with their own children. The study also found stark generational differences around attitudes towards mental health: 82% of Gen Z and millennials agreed, saying, “I wish I had been taught more about how to understand and manage my emotions as a child,” compared with 65% of respondents from older generations. That number jumps even higher, to 84% of parents, signaling a major generational shift around the appreciation of speaking openly and honestly about emotional well-being from a young age.

In the weeks following the second anniversary of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline on July 22 (see “988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline a work in progress during two-year anniversary,” MHW, July 23; https://doi.org/10.1002/mhw.34114), Vibrant Emotional Health — the administrator of the 988 Lifeline — on July 31 announced the appointment of Cara McNulty, DPA, as its new CEO.

Mental Health America is holding its annual meeting, “Disrupt. Reform. Transform,” Sept. 19–21 in Washington, D.C. Visit https://www.mhanational.org/annual-conference for more information.

Noting that little is known about the risk of suicidal behavior in relation to having a spouse with a cancer diagnosis, researchers of a Denmark-based study set out to estimate the risk of suicide attempt and suicide death among spouses of patients with cancer. They found that people who were married to patients diagnosed with cancer had an increased risk of suicide.

Observing Georgia's leadership in pioneering the certified peer specialist movement and its role in paving the way for Medicaid reimbursement for peer support services, the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD) has released a new documentary that highlights the journeys of peer specialists in the state and their impact on recovery and support.