Emergency Department Visits Due To Suicide Attempts Rises Among Youth During Pandemic The number of children and adolescents visiting the emergency department for attempted suicide and suicide ideation rose sharply during the pandemic. Research publish in The Lancet Psychiatry found that while pediatric emergency department visits decreased overall during the pandemic, suicide related visits among youth rose by 22%. [More]
Biomarkers That Indicate PTSD Can Be Found In The Blood People with PTSD or are at high risk of PTSD have specific patterns in four types of biomarkers that can be measured through a blood test. The research suggests the biomarkers could be used as a tool to predict whether a person is likely to develop PTSD, as well as help diagnose the condition and monitor how effectively someone is responding to treatment. [More]
COVID-19 Fear Continues To Impact Psychological Wellbeing A new study published in the Journal of Health Psychology looked at a longitudinal assessment of COVID-19 fear and psychological wellbeing in the United Kingdom. “Our study examined how fear of the COVID-19 virus impacted psychological wellbeing in a UK population at two different timepoints during the pandemic,” study author Martyn Quigley told us. “The first timepoint took place when the number of COVID-19 related deaths and hospitalizations were high and the number of those who were vaccinated were low. The second timepoint took place when the number of deaths and hospitalizations were considerably lower, and most of the population were vaccinated.” [More]
Mom Tells Her Story Of How She Healed From Traumatic Brain Injury After Being Hit By A Car March is traumatic brain injury (TBI) awareness month. Armenian-American triathlete Kristin Abello, was struck by a car in 2002, while on a training run in Houston in preparation for a marathon. As a result, she sustained a TBI and other physical traumas. The initial consensus was that she wasn’t going to survive, but she did and the road to recovery was extremely difficult, including her choice to carry a high risk pregnancy. She’s now giving back, as an advocate, philanthropist and author on a mission to help others with TBI. [More]
How Do Children Come To Understand The Meaning Of Emotion Words Like 'Sad' Or 'Happy'? A new study published in the Journal of Child Development looked at how caregiver speech can predict the emergence of children’s emotion vocabulary. “We were interested in understanding how children learn words like ‘happy’ or ‘sad’ that label emotional experiences,” study author Mira L. Nencheva told us. “We were curious if the words that surround emotion labels might help children learn their meaning.” [More]
New Study Finds Parental Support Reduces Depression Symptoms In LGBTQ Youth A new study published in the Journal of Child Development looked at perceived parental social support and psychological control and how it can predict depressive symptoms for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning youth in the United States. “The purpose of our study was to test how parent support and parent control relate to symptoms of depression for LGBTQ youth,” study author Amy McCurdy of the University of Texas at Austin told us. “We were hoping to establish that general parenting practices matter for LGBTQ youth, which seems obvious, but in fact little research has done this.” [More]
New Study Looks At Corporal Punishment And The Adolescent Brain A new study published in the Journal of Biological Psychiatry looked at how the experience of corporal punishment might shape how the adolescent brain responds to mistakes and receiving rewards. “One of the co-authors, Alexandria Meyer, has repeatedly shown that harsh parenting is associated with increased neural responses to making mistakes,” study author Kreshnik Burani told us. [More]
Hospitality And Real Estate Workers Report Highest Rates Of Mental Health Problems Mental health issues like depression are most common in the hospital and real estate industries. Researches in the UK found that roughly one in seven people in the workplace experience mental health problems, with women being twice as likely to experience mental health issues than men. [More]
Spending Time In Nature Close To Home Associated With Greater Sense Of Wellbeing Enjoying time in nature close to home is associated with a greater sense of wellbeing compared with longer and more intense nature excursions. Research published in People and Nature found that nearby nature engagement had greater positive outcomes overall compared to experiencing nature second hand through media or through more strenuous excursions in nature. [More]
New Study Looks At Benzodiazepine And The Potential For Overdose In Youth A new study published in JAMA Open Network looked at the association of benzodiazepine treatment for sleep disorders with a drug overdose risk among young people. “Benzodiazepines are a treatment option for sleep disorders,” study author Greta A. Bushnell told us. “However, overdose is a potential concern with benzodiazepines, particularly when used with other central nervous system depressants such as opioids. [More]