Leading Stories, Articles
New Hampshire legislation expands mental health care
By Phyllis Hanlon
On May 11, the New Hampshire Senate unanimously passed an amendment to House Bill (HB) 400, which is intended to significantly improve access to beds for psychiatric patients and reorganize the state’s Division for Children, Youth and Families. Senate President Chuck Morse (R-Salem) and Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley (R-Wolfeboro) originally brought the mental health component to the legislation, which was introduced in January 2017. Citing a shortage in the capacity to provide emergency mental health care and long-term treatment for patients, the Senators proposed that the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services undertake and complete specific actions. [More]
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Shortage of prompt care for children highlighted
By Pamela Berard
Appointment availability is low – and wait times, long – for a family seeking care for a child with depression, according to a recent study. The study, published by the International Journal of Health Services, from Harvard Medical School researchers and others, found that access to outpatient pediatric mental health care, whether with a child psychiatrist or a pediatrician, in the five metropolitan areas used in the study was limited, even for those with private insurance or willing to pay out of pocket – although it was even more difficult for those on Medicaid. The authors used the Blue Cross [More]
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Study: Military with mental issues discharged for misconduct
By Catherine Robertson Souter
According to a federal study, a high number of military personnel are given less-than-honorable discharges in spite of the fact that they had been diagnosed with conditions such as PTSD and traumatic brain injury. In 2010, Congress passed a law requiring the military to assess the impact of a PTSD or TBI diagnosis before separation for misconduct and the DOD issued policies to address separations for misconduct that involve PTSD or TBI. The study, mandated as part of the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), also found that Department of Defense policies on addressing the impact of these injuries are [More]
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“13 Reasons Why” sparks controversy
By Pamela Berard
Mental health professionals have expressed concern about “13 Reasons Why,” the Web television series on Netflix that tells the story of Hannah, a teen who leaves behind tapes outlining 13 reasons why she committed suicide. The National Association of School Psychologists issued guidance for educators and families about the series and said in a statement, “We do not recommend that vulnerable youth, especially those who have any degree of suicidal ideation, watch this series. Its powerful storytelling may lead impressionable viewers to romanticize the choices made by the characters and/or develop revenge fantasies.” The Society of Clinical Child & Adolescent [More]
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Study: Facebook makes you feel bad
By Janine Weisman
Nearly 1.3 billion daily active Facebook users around the world spend an average of 50 minutes each day using the social media network or one of its apps, according to the company. But they might be using Facebook at the risk of their own health and happiness. A recent study documented a negative association between Facebook use and overall well-being in contrast to the positive impact of in-person interactions. A pair of authors found that liking the content of others and clicking links significantly predicted later self-reports of diminished physical and mental health and life satisfaction. “If I go out [More]
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Teen’s viral Facebook post could be useful to therapists
By Janine Weisman
“I brushed my hair today” begins a Facebook post that appears at first glance to be the sharing of ordinary and otherwise unremarkable information. Except that the young author reveals it’s the first time in four weeks she attended to her own personal care and hygiene. The author is Katelyn Marie Lesho and her May 9 post about her struggle with depression has done something rather unordinary. Lesho’s 275-word post had generated nearly 300,000 shares, 233,000 like, love and sad emojis and 22,000 comments a month after she wrote it. The Georgia teenager described her hair as “matted and twisted [More]
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Depression decreases after intervention
By Susan Gonsalves
A five-year study, recently published in JAMA Psychiatry, showed that a brief depression intervention could reduce symptoms among mothers by 40 percent. Women with lower depressive symptom levels at the start had even more of a decrease at 61 percent. Boston Medical Center and collaborator Action for Boston Community Development’s Head Start screened more than 2,200 mothers at Boston-area Head Start locations. A randomized control trial of 230 women compared outcomes for mothers receiving conventional Head Start services and women who got those services and also took part in a six-session program called Problem Solving Education (PSE). Both groups were [More]
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Area of brain impacts anxiety about the future, study says
By Rivkela Brodsky
A group of researchers at Dartmouth College have found a connection between an area of the brain, the striatum, and a person’s intolerance of uncertainty – anxiety or worry about the unknown. “We were interested in how uncertainty and ambiguity of potential future threat contribute to the generation of anxiety and how that might be represented in our brain,” said Justin Jim, Ph.D., lead author of the study, “Intolerance of Uncertainty Predicts Increased Stratial Volume,” which was published in the APA journal Emotion in May. “For some individuals, the uncertainty of what ‘might happen’ tomorrow, is actually worse than the [More]
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Psychologist’s work centers on children, parenting
By Catherine Robertson Souter
Parenting is tough. But, is it tougher than it used to be? Is there better information out there for parents… or just more information that can become overwhelming? Robert Pressman, Ph.D., ABPP, director of research for the New England Center of Pediatric Psychology, has worked with families and children for several decades. He has seen changes in the way children are raised and in the communities surrounding them. Over the years, he has developed unique clinical methods to better reach clients, done extensive research into parenting styles and identified a non-neurologically-based condition he calls “Faux ADHD” that shows a type [More]
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Psychologist shortage: factors affect access to care
By Phyllis Hanlon
The Kaiser Family Foundation issued a report in January citing a significant shortage of mental health care practitioners nationwide. In New England, the “percent of need met” ranged from 34.26 percent in Connecticut to 61.17 percent in Rhode Island. According to regional psychologists, a variety of reasons, from an aging profession and inadequate training/education programs to low reimbursement rates and health plan disparities, may account for the shortage of licensed mental health providers. For states like Maine, geography and the number of licensed professionals pose a challenge, according to Carly Rodgers, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow and public education chair of the [More]
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