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A new study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders looked at the social and cognitive vulnerability to COVID-19-related stress in pregnancy. “We were interested to find out whether being pregnant during the pandemic was associated with postpartum mental wellbeing of the mothers and their babies,” study author Susanne Schweizer told us. “In particular, we were interested whether the experiencing stress related to the pandemic (including, stressors such as economic and health-related worries) would be associated with more postpartum depression and anxiety in the mothers and poorer affect in the children.” [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders looked at the effect of exercise on suicidal ideation and behaviors. “Our study aimed to investigate the effect of exercise on suicidal behaviors (suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and suicide deaths) in those with mental or physical illness,” study author Dr. Nicholas Fabiano told us. “Our secondary objective was to determine if those with mental or physical illness were able to adhere to exercise regimes as people with comorbidities are often perceived not to be adherent to exercise regimes due to the nature of their illness.” [More]

Teenage girls are experiencing record high levels of persistent sadness. A report from the CDC found that 57% of teenage girls in the US felt hopeless or persistently sad in 2021, that’s a 60% increase over the past ten years. [More]

Having low levels of stress and a four year college degree are strongly associated with psychological resilience in women 80 and over. Researchers from The Ohio State University found that stronger social support and higher levels of self-rated health were also helpful in building resilience. [More]

A new recently published study looked at robotic mental well-being coaches for the workplace. “This study investigated the use and deployment of two different robotic forms to deliver positive psychology exercises over four weeks, and how the robotic form impacts on the coachee’s robotic coach perceptions, robotic coach personality, and robotic coach-coachee alliance,” study author Micol Spitale told us. “We hypothesized that the design features, such as the form, may impact the coachees’ perceptions towards the robotic coach.” [More]

There has been a lot of research into how leaders with low self-esteem are likely to cause toxic stress at work. Simon L. Dolan, author of De-Stress at Work: Understanding and Combatting Chronic Stress has brought together the research into a book. In the chapter about toxic leaders specifically, he summarizes and analyses the results of many other studies and he has done many studies himself. “The underlying concept behind this book, is to demystify the concept of chronic stress,” Dolan told us. “It is poorly understood, poorly used, and there are no, or very few, valid diagnostic tools available to professionals in the field." [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine compared the burden of sleep disorders among a cohort of US transgender and cisgender youth. “We were looking for any differences in sleep disorders between cisgender and transgender youth and between transgender people using and those not using gender-affirming therapy,” study author Dr. Ronald Gavidia, M.S., M.S. told us. [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Depression and Anxiety looked at the association of early exposure to flame retardants to anxiety symptoms in adolescents. “The study focuses on how exposure to certain chemicals found in the environment during pregnancy affects individuals later in life,” study author Dr. Jeffrey Strawn, MD, professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience in UC’s College of Medicine. “We were specifically interested in how in utero exposure to these chemicals impacts the development of anxiety later in life.” [More]

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]

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]