Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Children With Mental Health Needs Don't Always Receive Follow-Up Care, Study Finds
Stat: Many Children With Mental Health Conditions Don't Get Follow-Up Care
A large new study finds that mental health care for many children in the U.S. falls far short, particularly when it comes to the follow-up treatment they receive. The study, published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, examined insurance claims from children between the ages of 10 and 17 covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield. Of the more than 2 million children included in the study, nearly one in 10 had a claim related to mental illness between 2012 and 2018. (Gopalakrishna, 9/22)
Princeton University: Mental Illness Treatment Varies Widely Among American Adolescents Within And Across ZIP Codes
Children are struggling with mental health issues more now than perhaps ever before, though the treatment available — therapy, drugs, or both — differs widely from state to state. Using a national database of insurance claims, Princeton University researchers investigated the type of treatment adolescents — most of whom were around the average age of 12 and suffering from anxiety or depression — receive after a first episode of mental illness. Less than half of children received any therapy within three months, and 22.5% of children received only drug therapy, the researchers report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). (Huber, 9/21)
Also —
The Wall Street Journal: New PTSD Treatments Emerge As Cases Rise Among Some Groups
As the pandemic grinds on, psychologists and psychiatrists are bracing for rising rates of post traumatic stress disorder. The concern comes as a wave of potential treatments for PTSD are on the horizon. Psychologists and psychiatrists say new treatments for PTSD, some of which involve combining psychotherapy and drugs, are sorely needed, as some Covid-19 survivors and front-line workers grapple with the disorder. (Peterson, 9/21)
CBS Pittsburgh: Mental Health Experts Warn About Dangers Of ‘Doomscrolling’
Experts say spending too much time on social media can be damaging to your mental health, especially when consuming too much negative news. Are you finding yourself wasting too many hours online? We have all been there. You hop in bed, grab your phone, open social media and the next thing you know, hours have passed and you are left feeling down in the dumps. This has been dubbed “doomscrolling.” (Jones, 9/21)
Time: The Evictions Crisis Is A Mental Health Crisis, Too
Nine months into the COVID-19 pandemic, Marlenis Zambrano is out of money. A 48-year-old single mother in Virginia, she tried her best to get by after being furloughed from her Defense Department daycare job in March by selling homemade face masks and empanadas to help support her two dependent children, both in college. She twice applied for housing relief from Arlington County, but was denied because, at the time, she had $5,000 in savings intended for her daughter’s tuition. (De la Garza, 9/21)
