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Tag: Mental Health

  • USU, Federal Mental Health Experts Earn Prestigious Military Family Research Institute Award

    USU, Federal Mental Health Experts Earn Prestigious Military Family Research Institute Award

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    Newswise — Bethesda, Md. – In recognition of their outstanding research that has brought visibility to issues impacting the Armed Forces and their families, several behavioral health professionals from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) were the recipients of the Military Family Research Institute at Purdue University (MFRI)’s 2022 Barbara Thompson Excellence in Research on Military and Veteran Families Award. The award is based on their scientific publication, “The role of posttraumatic stress symptoms and negative affect in predicting substantiated intimate partner violence incidents among military personnel,” published in the journal Military Behavioral Health in August 2021.

    Dr. Stephen Cozza, a psychiatrist in USU’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress (CSTS) Dr. Eddie McCarroll, a CSTS scientist and social worker, and Dr. David Riggs, chair of USU’s Department of Psychology, were among the participating scientists in a multi-institutional research project led by Dr. Valerie Stander at the Naval Research Center in San Diego, who received the award. 

    The researchers looked at symptoms of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among active-duty service members, seeking to determine whether any particular symptoms might be associated with an increased risk for intimate partner violence. They studied the extent to which PTSD symptoms – particularly hyperarousal and persistent negative emotions, like fear, anger, or shame – might be unique risk factors, compared to symptoms associated with other comorbid conditions (e.g. depression, anxiety, insomnia, alcohol dependence, or binge drinking). Ultimately, they found that general symptoms of negative affect (e.g. anger/irritability and sleep disruption), which are common in PTSD, and comorbid alcohol dependence, were the strongest predictors of intimate partner violence.

    The publication was selected for the prestigious award through a rigorous and highly selective process, through which applications and nominations are not accepted. According to the institute, a large panel of accomplished scholars examines every relevant research article published during the eligible year. The final decision is made after multiple rounds of review involving standardized quantitative assessments. About 500 articles were considered.

    The MFRI established the Barbara Thompson Award in 2015, in partnership with Military REACH at Auburn University, to bring visibility to issues of military and veteran families, and to outstanding new research. The award aims to increase the impact of rigorous research on programs, policies, and practices that impact military members and their families, while strengthening connections between researchers and practitioners interested in military and veteran families.  

    “Uniformed Services University faculty members are highly sought out, not only for their expertise, but also for their willingness to contribute to mission-relevant team efforts. It is not surprising that members of different specialties and, indeed, from different departments at USU, were able to make significant contributions to this effort,” said Dr. David Benedek, chair of USU’s Department of Psychiatry and associate director of USU’s CSTS.

    The award recipients presented their research in detail and discussed the implications for future research during a virtual award ceremony on Dec. 9. 

    # # #

    About the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences: The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, founded by an act of Congress in 1972, is the nation’s federal health sciences university and the academic heart of the Military Health System. USU students are primarily active-duty uniformed officers in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Public Health Service who receive specialized education in tropical and infectious diseases, TBI and PTSD, disaster response and humanitarian assistance, global health, and acute trauma care. USU also has graduate programs in oral biology, biomedical sciences and public health committed to excellence in research. The University’s research program covers a wide range of areas important to both the military and public health. For more information about USU and its programs, visit www.usuhs.edu.

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  • Douglas Emhoff tours 988 call center for mental health

    Douglas Emhoff tours 988 call center for mental health

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Douglas Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, on Friday will visit a 988 call center that’s part of the recently launched national hotline intended to help anyone experiencing a mental health emergency.

    Emhoff, who has spoken out on the importance mental health for adults and children, and who last week addressed the pain of rising antisemitism, will meet with crisis counselors and call center operators in Hyattsville, Maryland, and receive a tour.

    The visit comes as the entertainment industry reels from the suicide this week of Stephen “tWitch” Boss, the longtime and beloved dancing DJ on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” Boss, a former contestant on “So You Think You Can Dance,” was 40 years old. Separately, the Biden administration wants to highlight the 988 helpline as a support system, particularly as the holiday season often brings up feelings of stress, anxiety and depression.

    “We think it’s important that we shed light on the resources available to any American dealing with mental health challenges or emotional distress,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday.

    The 988 helpline, launched in July, is staffed with mental health counselors around the country and was designed to be as easy to remember as the emergency line, 911. Those needing help can call or text.

    The Biden administration has handed out more than $130 million in grants for 988 this month and invested more than $432 million to get the hotline up and running. Eventually, 988 will be able to do more than receive calls, including mobile mental health crisis teams that can be sent to people’s homes and emergency mental health centers, similar to urgent care clinics that treat physical aches and pains. But states need more funding and time to make that happen.

    The new 988 system builds on the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, an existing network of more than 200 crisis centers nationwide staffed by counselors who answer millions of calls each year. Calls to the old lifeline, at 800-273-8255, will still go through even with 988 in place.

    The 988 system weeks ago suffered a daylong outage, which is under investigation.

    ___

    The national suicide and crisis lifeline is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org.

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  • Walnuts the new super food for stressed university students

    Walnuts the new super food for stressed university students

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    Newswise — Stressed university students might want to add walnuts to their daily diet in the weeks leading up to their next exam.

    A new clinical trial of undergraduate students during their university studies has shown positive effects of walnut consumption on self-reported measures of mental health and biomarkers of general health.  

    The University of South Australia study, published in the journal Nutrients, also suggests that walnuts may counteract the effects of academic stress on the gut microbiota during periods of stress, especially in females.

    Lead researchers, PhD student Mauritz Herselman and Associate Professor Larisa Bobrovskaya, say the results add to the growing body of evidence linking walnuts with improved brain and gut health.

    “Students experience academic stress throughout their studies, which has a negative effect on their mental health, and they are particularly vulnerable during exam periods,” Herselman says.

    Eighty undergraduate students split into treatment and control groups were clinically assessed in three intervals, at the beginning of a 13-week university semester, during the examination period and two weeks after the examination period. Those in the treatment group were given walnuts to consume daily for 16 weeks over these three intervals.

    “We found that those who consumed about half a cup of walnuts every day showed improvements in self-reported mental health indicators.  Walnut consumers also showed improved metabolic biomarkers and overall sleep quality in the longer term.”

    Students in the control group reported increased stress and depression levels in the leadup to exams but those in the treatment group did not. The walnut consumers also reported a significant drop in feelings associated with depression between the first and final visits, compared to the controls.

    Previous research has shown that walnuts are full of omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, as well as melatonin (sleep inducing hormone), polyphenols, folate and vitamin E, all of which promote a healthy brain and gut.

    “The World Health Organization has recently stated that at least 75 per cent of mental health disorders affect people under the age of 24 years, making undergraduate students particularly vulnerable to mental health problems,” Herselman says.

    Assoc Prof Larisa Bobrovskaya says mental health disorders are common in university students and can adversely affect students’ academic performance and long-term physical health.

    “We have shown that consuming walnuts during stressful periods can improve mental health and general wellbeing in university students, as well as being a healthy and delicious snack and a versatile ingredient in many recipes, to fight some negative effects of academic stress,” Assoc Prof Bobrovskaya says.

    “Due to fewer numbers of males in the study, more research is needed to establish sex-dependent effects of walnuts and academic stress in university students. It’s also possible that a placebo effect might have come into play as this was not a blind study.”

    Notes for editors

    “The Effects of Walnuts and Academic Stress on Mental Health, General Well-Being and the Gut Microbiota in a Sample of University Students: A Randomised Clinical Trial” is published in Nutrients.

    It is co-authored by UniSA PhD student Mauritz Herselman, and colleagues from the Clinical and Health Sciences and Allied Health and Human Performance academic units at the University of South Australia.

    The study was co-funded by the California Walnut Commission.

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  • Young People Breaking Generational Norms Surrounding Colorism

    Young People Breaking Generational Norms Surrounding Colorism

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    Young people are breaking generational thought patterns surrounding colorism despite making older generations “uncomfortable,” according to mental health professionals. This is the final entry in our four-part series on color and mental health. 

    Dec. 15, 2022– During bath time with their grandmother, 5-year-old Afro-Latina triplet girls were playing with toys that spurt out water.

    After filling the toy with water and soap, one of them innocently turned to their grandmother.

    “If I spray this, my skin will be lighter.”

    This became a pivotal moment for their parents — Marland and Anniella May — millennial mental health professionals of Caribbean and Argentinian descent, respectfully. Was their little girl thinking that lighter skin would be better? Colorism came early to their home.  

    “I took a more direct role in making their surroundings and being very intentional about what we’re presenting to them,” says Marland.

    Addressing colorism – a real or perceived bias based on skin tone and color — isn’t easy, especially since doing so means “trying to undo 500 years of systematic miseducation,” according to Nayeli Y. Chavez-Dueñas, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist and professor at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. 

    Across the globe, darker skin puts millions of people at a disadvantage. Within communities of color, lighter skin often bestows better access, privilege — and better mental and physical health.

    “While I may feel frustrated and angry when people make comments that are coloristic, I have to remember all of us have been exposed to that education before we were even born,” Chavez says.

    Fostering Community

    It can be tough to go against the grain in both your community and in your family, especially if you’ve repeatedly heard colorist comments or live in a non-diverse community, according to Josephine Almanzar, PsyD, a licensed psychologist and owner of Oasis Psychological Services.

    “It really is an act of full-on rebellion to fight against what you’ve been told your whole life,” Almanzar says. “Being able to find a community is important so that you don’t feel like you’re alone in this fight to be who you are.”

    It’s also crucial for conversations about colorism to take place outside of the home, too, like in churches, schools, the media, and through prominent members of society, according to Radhika Parameswaran, PhD, associate dean of The Media School at Indiana University in Bloomington.

    Social media has also been a major tool for raising awareness about colorism, as well as a means of support for those who may feel isolated by their family or communities in general. 

    “In South Asia, particularly in India, I hear young women talking more and more about how this [colorism] is wrong and how things need to be changed,” says Parameswaran. 

    Breaking Down Barriers

    While the burden ultimately lies on younger generations to break generational and societal thought patterns on colorism, Almanzar says young people give her hope.

    For example, they’re more likely to rock their naturally coily hair or maybe sunbathe even though they’ve always been told “they’ll get too dark” — both of which can make older generations “uncomfortable,” she says.

    Practicing positive self-talk, or your inner dialogue, is a key factor in helping young people embrace their skin tone and physical features, says Anniella, the now 6-year-old triplets’ mother. This could be asking children to reflect on what they see when they look in the mirror, or their inner dialogue after making mistakes. 

    “It’s the reinforcement of the fact that you are beautiful; you are smart,” Marland says. “We wanted to highlight other areas of their personality before we went to their beauty, almost as to validate who they were. But we needed to validate their identity and what they look like first.”

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  • Prince Harry says William ‘screamed’ at him over royal split with Meghan, in final episodes of Netflix documentary | CNN

    Prince Harry says William ‘screamed’ at him over royal split with Meghan, in final episodes of Netflix documentary | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Prince Harry said it was “terrifying” to have his brother, Prince William, scream at him during his bitter split from the royal family, in the final installments of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s controversial Netflix documentary that were released Thursday.

    The fourth, fifth and sixth episodes of “Harry & Meghan” cover the pair’s challenges since their 2018 wedding, Meghan’s deteriorating mental health and her 2020 miscarriage, and ultimately their decision to quit as working members of the family.

    Harry said he initially asked for a “half in, half out” arrangement, where Harry and Meghan would have their own jobs but still work in support of the Queen, during a crunch family meeting. “But it became very clear very quickly that that goal was not up for discussion or debate,” Harry said.

    “It was terrifying to have my brother scream and shout at me, and my father say things that just simply weren’t true, and my grandmother quietly sit there and take it all in,” he said, recalling the conversations with Prince William, then-Prince Charles, and Queen Elizabeth II.

    “But you have to understand that from the family’s perspectives, especially from hers, there are ways of doing things. And her ultimate mission and goal, responsibility, is the institution … she’s going to go on the advice that she’s given,” Harry said.

    The pair describe throughout the new episodes how, in their view, their position within the royal family became untenable after constant hounding from Britain’s media and repeated disregard for the couple’s wellbeing inside palace walls.

    Buckingham Palace reiterated it will not comment on the documentary on Thursday. Royal engagements are meanwhile continuing, with King Charles and Camilla, the Queen Consort, set to visit a community kitchen in London and attend a carol service with the Prince and Princess of Wales and other members of the family.

    Harry hinted that there was jealousy from other royals towards Meghan given the amount of media attention she was initially receiving. “The issue is when someone who is marrying in, who should be a supporting act, is then stealing the limelight or is doing the job better than the person who is born to do this,” he said.

    “That upsets people. It upsets the balance. Because you have been led to believe that the only way that your charities can succeed and your mission can grow is if you are on the front pages of those newspapers.”

    The series also touches on Meghan’s deteriorating mental health and her miscarriage in July 2020. “I was pregnant. I really wasn’t sleeping. The first morning that we woke up in our new home is when I miscarried,” Meghan said.

    She described experiencing suicidal ideation, telling the filmmakers she believed “all of this will stop if I’m not here. And that was the scariest thing about it, it was such clear thinking.”

    “The lies, that’s one thing. You kind of get used to that when you live within this family,” Harry added. “But what they were doing to her, and the effect it was having on her… enough. Enough of the pain, enough of the suffering.”

    “I just did everything I could to make them proud, and to really be a part of the family,” Meghan said in the fifth episode, speaking of her relationship with the other royals. “And then the bubble burst.”

    “I realized that I wasn’t just being thrown to the wolves, I was being fed to the wolves,” she said.

    The highly anticipated Netflix documentary marks the Sussexes’ latest attempt to reclaim the narrative surrounding their departure from royal life.

    It features details on the increasingly tense relationships between Harry and his brother, WIlliam, and his father, King Charles III. And it emphasizes the suggestion that the royals wanted to sideline and isolate the couple, often through the planting of negative media reporting, rather than have them dwarf more senior royals in popularity.

    “My dad said to me: ‘Darling boy, you can’t take on the media. The media will always be the media,” Harry said, describing the palace’s relationship with news outlets as a “dirty game.”

    The culmination of the breakdown between the royal institution and Harry and Meghan, who were once touted by parts of the media as the modernizing force the monarchy needed, was their historic and controversial decision in early 2020 to quit as working royals and leave the UK.

    Harry said he spoke to Queen Elizabeth II and arranged to meet her, with Meghan, before that split was finalized.

    “She knew that we were finding things hard. I’d spoken to her many times about it,” Harry said. But as the meeting approached, Meghan said they received a message from an aide telling them they were not allowed to see the monarch.

    “I’ve actually been told that I’m busy all week,” the Queen then told Harry, according to his recollection. “I was like, wow,” Harry said. “This is when a family and a family business are in direct conflict … really what they’re doing is blocking a grandson from seeing his grandmother,” added Meghan.

    The couple were critical of the Queen’s aides but again were again complimentary of the late monarch herself, who died aged 96 in September, shortly after filming concluded for the series.

    Their documentary, and Harry’s upcoming memoir, focus more attention on the difficult relationship between the prince and his father, King Charles.

    Thursday’s release follows last week’s batch of episodes, in which Prince Harry criticized “unconscious bias” inside the family.

    It remains to be seen whether the venture will enhance the reputation of the couple as they look to sculpt their post-royalty personas.

    Six in 10 Brits believe it was a bad idea for the duke and duchess to release the Netflix documentary, according to a Savanta poll of 2,250 British adults carried out online between December 9 and 11, between the release of the first and second parts of the series.

    The same poll found that Harry and Meghan both have negative approval ratings among the British public – -3 and -19 respectively, when subtracting those with a negative opinion from those with a positive one – unlike the high popularity of Prince William (+60) and Charles III (+36).

    If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 to connect with a trained counselor or visit the NSPL site. The International Association for Suicide Prevention and Befrienders Worldwide also provide contact information for crisis centers around the world.

    Sign up for CNN’s Royal News, a weekly dispatch bringing you the inside track on the royal family, what they are up to in public and what’s happening behind palace walls.

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  • Food bank demand rises among military families

    Food bank demand rises among military families

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    Food bank demand rises among military families – CBS News


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    A food pantry near Fort Hood in Texas is seeing a big increase in the number of military families coming through its doors compared to five years ago. Nationwide, at least one in six military and veteran families were food insecure in 2021, according to the Military Family Advisory Network. Janet Shamlian has more.

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  • Are You an Optimist? Could You Learn to Be? Your Health May Depend on It.

    Are You an Optimist? Could You Learn to Be? Your Health May Depend on It.

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    By Judith Graham

    Tuesday, December 13, 2022 (Kaiser News) — When you think about the future, do you expect good or bad things to happen?

    If you weigh in on the “good” side, you’re an optimist. And that has positive implications for your health in later life.

    Multiple studies show a strong association between higher levels of optimism and a reduced risk of conditions such as heart disease, stroke, and cognitive impairment. Several studies have also linked optimism with greater longevity.

    One of the latest, published this year, comes from researchers at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health in collaboration with colleagues at other universities. It found that older women who scored highest on measures of optimism lived 4.4 years longer, on average, than those with the lowest scores. Results held true across races and ethnicities.

    Why would optimism make such a difference?

    Experts advance various explanations: People who are optimistic cope better with the challenges of daily life and are less likely to experience stress than people with less positive attitudes. They’re more likely to eat well and exercise, and they often have stronger networks of family and friends who can provide assistance.

    Also, people who are optimistic tend to engage more effectively in problem-solving strategies and to be better at regulating their emotions.

    Of course, a feedback loop is at play here: People may be more likely to experience optimism if they enjoy good health and a good quality of life. But optimism isn’t confined to those who are doing well. Studies suggest that it is a genetically heritable trait and that it can be cultivated through concerted interventions.

    What does optimism look like in practice? For answers, I talked to several older adults who identify as optimists but who don’t take this characteristic for granted. Instead, it’s a choice they make every day.

    Patricia Reeves, 73, Oklahoma City. “I’ve had a fairly good life, but I’ve had my share of traumas, like everyone,” said Reeves, a widow of seven years who lives alone. “I think it’s my faith and my optimism that’s pulled me through.”

    A longtime teacher and school principal, Reeves retired to care for her parents and her second husband, a Baptist minister, before they died. During the covid-19 pandemic, she said, “I’ve been developing my spirituality.”

    When I asked what optimism meant to her, Reeves said: “You can see the good in each situation, or you can see the negative. When something isn’t going the way I wish, I prefer to ask myself, ‘What am I learning from this? What part did I play in this, and am I repeating patterns of behavior? How can I change?’”

    As for the challenges that come with aging — the loss of friends and family, health issues — Reeves spoke of optimism as a “can-do” attitude that keeps her going. “You don’t spend your time concentrating on your health or thinking about your aches and pains. You take them in as a fact, and then you let them go,” she said. “Or if you’ve got a problem you can solve, you figure out how to solve it, and you move on to tomorrow.”

    “There’s always something to be grateful for, and you focus on that.”

    Grace Harvey, 100, LaGrange, Georgia. “I look for the best to happen under any circumstances,” said Harvey, a retired teacher and a devoted Baptist. “You can work through any situation with the help of God.”

    Her parents, a farmer and a teacher in Georgia, barely earned enough to get by. “Even though you would classify us as poor, I didn’t think of myself as poor,” she said. “I just thought of myself as blessed to have parents doing the best they could.”

    Today, Harvey lives in a mobile home and teaches Sunday school. She never married or had children, but she was surrounded by loving family members and former students at her 100th birthday party in October.

    “Not having my own family, I was able to touch the lives of many others,” she said. “I feel grateful for God letting me live this long: I still want to be around to help somebody.”

    Ron Fegley, 82, Placer County, California. “I’m positive about the future because I think in the long run things keep getting better,” said Fegley, a retired physicist who lives in the Sierra Nevada foothills with his wife.

    “Science is a very important part of my life, and science is always on the upwards path,” he continued. “People may have the wrong ideas for a while, but eventually new experiments and data come along and correct things.”

    Fegley tends a small orchard where he grows peaches, cherries, and pears. “We don’t know what’s going to happen; no one does,” he told me. “But we enjoy our life currently, and we’re just going to go on enjoying it as much as we can.”

    Anita Lerek, over 65, Toronto. “I was a very troubled younger person,” said Lerek, who declined to give her exact age. “Some of that had to do with the fact my parents were Holocaust survivors and joy was not a major part of their menu. They struggled a lot, and I was full of resentment.”

    When I asked her about optimism, Lerek described exploring Buddhism and learning to take responsibility for her thoughts and actions. “Mine is a cultivated optimism,” she told me. “I go to my books — Buddhist teachings, the Talmud — they’ve taught me a lot. You face all your demons, and you cultivate a garden of wisdom and projects and emotional connections.”

    At this point in life, “I’m grateful for every moment, every experience, because I know it could end any moment,” said Lerek, a lawyer and entrepreneur who writes poetry and still works part time. “It boils down to, ‘Is the glass half-empty or half-full?’ I choose the fullness.”

    Katharine Esty, 88, Concord, Massachusetts. When Esty fell into a funk after turning 80, she looked for a guide to what to expect in the decade ahead. One didn’t exist, so she wrote “Eightysomethings: A Practical Guide to Letting Go, Aging Well, and Finding Unexpected Happiness.”

    For the project, Esty, a social psychologist and psychotherapist, interviewed 128 people in their 80s. “The more people I talked with, the happier I became,” she told me. “People were doing interesting things, leading interesting lives, even though they were coping with a lot of losses.

    “Not only was I learning stuff, having this purpose and focus brought me a tremendous amount of joy. My vision of what was possible in old age was greatly expanded.”

    Part of what Esty learned is the importance of “letting go of our inner vision of what our life should be and being open to what’s really happening.”

    For example, after stomach surgery last year, Esty needed physical therapy and had to use a walker. “I had always prided myself on being a very active person, and I had to accept my vulnerability,” she said. Similarly, although her 87-year-old boyfriend thought he’d spend his retirement fishing in Maine, he can’t walk well now, and that’s not possible.

    “I have come to think that you choose your attitude, and optimism is an attitude,” said Esty, who lives in a retirement community. “Now that I’m 88, my task is to live in the present and believe that things will be better, maybe not in my lifetime but decades from now. Life will prevail, the world will go on — it’s a sort of trust, I think.

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  • ICYMI: A look back at Sunday’s 60 Minutes

    ICYMI: A look back at Sunday’s 60 Minutes

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    Janet Yellen on recession fears, inflation and the war in Ukraine; Families suing social media companies; Cape Town’s College of Magic.

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  • How America makes its money | 60 Minutes

    How America makes its money | 60 Minutes

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    How America makes its money | 60 Minutes – CBS News


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    The Bureau of Engraving and Printing took 60 Minutes inside its Texas facility to learn how the U.S. dollar is produced from concept to completion.

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  • Mental health support for farmers needs radical overhaul, say researchers

    Mental health support for farmers needs radical overhaul, say researchers

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    Newswise — Mental health services in rural areas need urgent attention to ensure the needs of farmers are properly met, according to researchers.

    Farmers facing worsening mental health problems are experiencing what researchers call a strained ‘landscape of support’ in rural areas.

    An ESRC-funded study published today in Sociologia Ruralis indicates how the Covid-19 pandemic led to increased levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and suicidal feelings among the UK’s farming population. It raises concerns around what the research team calls ‘landscapes of support’, with civil society organisations fighting to support farmers alongside primary mental healthcare services which are sometimes inaccessible and inadequately suited to rural communities.

    The research team conducted two surveys answered by more than 200 farmers and 93 support providers across the UK, and in addition carried out in-depth interviews with 22 supporters of mental health in farming across Great Britain.

    Farmers are essential workers, but some have been shown to suffer with poor mental health as a result of being relatively isolated physically, socially, and culturally.  At the time the pandemic hit the UK, farmers were already facing substantial uncertainty around transitions away from the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy.

    By interviewing and surveying supporters of farming mental health, including chaplains, charities, auction mart staff and primary healthcare, the research found that mental health services are strained in rural communities and provide uneven coverage across the country. Some healthcare settings can be inaccessible and lack an understanding of farming, whilst informal spaces of social support are being eroded due to the loss of rural community. Mental health charities are struggling with funding and with the trauma of helping farmers through difficult times.

    Academics are now calling on policymakers to take urgent action to help rural-proof primary mental healthcare services and better support civil society organisations which widen the safety net for farmers. 

    The research project was led by Cranfield University’s David Rose, Professor of Sustainable Agricultural Systems.

    He said: “The Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated issues with farmers’ mental health that we already knew existed. For example, primary mental healthcare provision in parts of the UK is based on urban delivery models that do not suit rural communities. This leaves civil society organisations fighting to fill the support gap, but these organisations face their own struggles.

    “This issue needs urgent attention to ensure farmers get the support they need and help civil society organisations to flourish. We want devolved governments to urgently address this and ensure support is in place for future shocks.”

    Dr Caroline Nye, Research Fellow at the University of Exeter, said: “Recognition that mental health issues exist in rural communities in the UK is, by itself, not enough. Our research demonstrates that those who have been working hard on a professional level to support our farmers over the last few years face multiple challenges. Attention therefore needs to be focussed on ensuring that these bodies are supported in being both adaptable and sustainable over the long-term, for the benefit of the communities whom they serve.”

    Hannah Rees, a dairy farmer from Pembrokeshire in Wales, aged 26, said: “It’s great that more is being done to support those in agriculture, but I do still feel there is a long way to go.

    “It’s important to reduce the stigma attached to mental health. Also, I think we need to stop taking a blanket approach that counselling is the only way to help people. Discussion groups and zoom meetings are other fantastic ways of providing support and countering loneliness.

    “I believe we should see the introduction of mental health first aid training for those working in agriculture.”

    Stephanie Berkeley, of the Farm Safety Foundation, said: “I welcome the findings of this study and agree that urgent action is needed to support the ongoing mental health of our farmers.  They work long hours every day, through global pandemics and uncertain times, to put food on our plates – but this dedication comes at a price.

    “We need immediate action at government level to improve the primary mental healthcare provision for those living and working in rural communities and we need to take the pressure off the rural support groups and charities who have been relied on to provide support for those in crisis situations.” 

    Co-authors on the paper were: Dr Faye Shortland (formerly University of Reading), Dr Caroline Nye (Exeter), Professor Matt Lobley (Exeter), Dr Ruth Little (formerly University of Sheffield), Dr Jilly Hall (SPSN), Dr Paul Hurley (formerly University of Reading), and Professor David Rose (Cranfield University, formerly University of Reading).

    The research was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council as part of UKRI’s rapid response to COVID-19.

    Flavian Obiero, a farmer from East Sussex, said: “As a Kenyan-born, black man in British agriculture, my mental health is in good nick. Despite the usual perception of prejudice from under-exposed people in the countryside, my experience in the industry has been largely positive. That said, we are still a long way off from any significant change in peoples’ mentality to personnel diversity in the industry.”

    Eveey Hunter, an arable farmer from Hertfordshire, said: “As wonderful as our industry is, it can be a very lonely and isolating place for some. There are a lot of stressful factors which determine success or failure in businesses, most of which are out of our control – global markets, huge inflation of input costs and of course the weather. There is also unfortunately a stigma attached to talking about feelings, mainly with men, which is something that needs to be addressed.”

    Kate Miles, from the DPJ Foundation, a mental health charity that supports the agricultural community in Wales, said: “Over the last two years, we have seen an increase in demand for our service. We know that farmers value speaking with someone who understands the pressure that they face, and this understanding is vital in mental health services.  We see pockets of good work taking place across the country, including in rural areas. However, this needs to be consistent no matter where you are geographically.”

    Trudy Herniman, an advisor for Cornish Mutual, which offers insurance to farms, businesses and people living and working in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Dorset, said: “The issues raised for farmers and those working in agriculture following the Covid-19 pandemic are still very much there and now even more exacerbated.“Coming out of the pandemic we had the war between Ukraine and Russia, everyone feeling the effect on fuel and input cost rises. But farmers then experienced volatility in the weather as storms damaged buildings and electricity supplies.“Farmers find it hard to ask for help and when they are distressed find it difficult to overcome the barriers by not being able to get a doctor’s appointment. Using my mental health first aid training, myself, and others from Farmerados (a welfare charity) go to markets and shows and bring tea and cake and a safe space to talk. We offer support or a listening ear. It is crucial in helping to reduce the anxiety and stress experienced by farmers and those in the farming community.”

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  • How Serving in The Army Taught This Leader The Importance of Employee Wellbeing

    How Serving in The Army Taught This Leader The Importance of Employee Wellbeing

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Once upon a time, protecting the wellbeing of employees might have been viewed as a luxury for a few lucky workers or a fluffy topic for soft leaders with nothing better to worry about — but things are changing. The U.S. military has recognized the importance of mental health since 2009 when it launched its “resilience training” program. While the corporate sector has been slower to catch on, more than 90% of leaders believe promoting wellness boosts performance.

    As a past military leader myself, many of the biggest lessons I’ve learned about employee wellbeing come from my time in the army. Today, I’ll share them with you.

    Related: How Military Service Made These Veterans Better Entrepreneurs

    The military and mindfulness

    The big M has become more popularized over the last few years, yet not every organization thinks it’s useful or feels comfortable discussing it. Most people certainly wouldn’t associate with the military.

    But mindfulness is the ability to be fully present in the moment. And where could that skill be more critical than in a survival environment where failing to be alert could put you and the rest of the team in danger?

    The army teaches soldiers how to stay in the moment and make better decisions under pressure by encouraging mindfulness practices like sitting with your thoughts for a few minutes each day. As well as boosting on-the-job performance, the military has found this training helps soldiers to deal with the after-effects of being in a traumatic situation.

    Standard employees might not be dealing with life-and-death situations, but they can adopt similar principles.

    Mindfulness in the workplace comes down to developing the ability to deal with the emotions, stresses and conflicts that crop up each day. You need to teach employees how to become more aware of the present moment and accept their feelings, thoughts and decision-making processes instead of being slaves to them. It’s the difference between feeling stressed and thinking “the world is burning, I’m overwhelmed and I want to go home” and “I’m feeling the sensation of stress right now, but that’s okay, it’s just a sensation. I’ll let myself breathe for a bit and let it go.”

    Thanks to the widespread awareness of mindfulness these days, it’s easier than ever to help your team learn to deal with what’s going on in their head. For instance, the Calm app is full of guided meditations, many of which are directly related to the workplace and last less than ten minutes (making them easy to slot into schedules).

    Why not offer a free subscription to everyone who works for you?

    Related: Military Service Is the Ultimate Training Ground for Entrepreneurship (Infographic)

    It’s all about the culture

    You’d struggle to find an organization with a more tight-knit culture than the army — those who have been in the military often describe it as a “brotherhood.” Everyone is united by their shared purpose to serve the country, authority is respected for the most part and everyone knows they have to work together to achieve their goals.

    68% of veterans say they’re proud of their service. How many people would say the same of a former employer?

    You can try to emulate this idea of a “brotherhood” by giving your employees a sense of purpose and connecting them to the company’s greater mission. Make your values a part of daily processes, and review them with your employees.

    The way you lead also makes a big difference. Instead of creating a dog-eat-dog or hustle-hard environment, lead with empathy, transparency and trustworthiness. Are you truly being honest with your team and doing your best to look out for them?

    To show that you have everyone’s best interests at heart, curate an agile working environment and give everyone opportunities to try new things, plus the flexibility to take things easy when they’re struggling. You may be able to use technology to help your team connect and get more out of their job — for instance, tools that facilitate remote working or offer education.

    Don’t forget the financial side

    It’s a well-known fact that the U.S. military looks after its soldiers. Not only do most soldiers receive a fairly substantial salary, but they also have a range of other perks. These include:

    • Free college at public colleges.
    • A savings deposit program with 10% interest (for those in a combat zone).
    • Affordable housing.
    • Affordable life insurance.
    • Allowances for food and housing (in some cases).

    Many private-sector companies could learn from this. In the working world, employers often favor solutions related to improving corporate culture and providing perks of the job, while employees would simply prefer to earn more. The truth is something in between — there’s more to a positive working experience than good pay, but without financial security, you’re probably not going to get people to stick around or produce their best work.

    Who is going to want to follow the guided meditations on Calm if they can’t even fill their car up with gas?

    Considering the current environment with rising inflation, high-interest rates and the increasing cost of living, this isn’t something you should be neglecting. Do some market research to gauge how much other companies are giving employees with similar roles — and look at your budget to see if there’s any wiggle room to offer more.

    Wellbeing is just the beginning

    With the global corporate wellness market set to reach $90 billion by 2026, overlooking this could mean you get left behind. When you work on your team’s wellbeing, you won’t just be making your employees happier — you’ll increase the chances of them sticking around, being more productive and being committed enough to the organization to lead innovation.

    Employee wellbeing isn’t as simple as implementing a single action, and a strategy that works for one company isn’t necessarily going to be right for every organization. But if you try various approaches and are prepared to tweak them until you figure out what works, you’ll be impressed with the results.

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  • Estudo estabelece bases para prever a resposta antidepressiva em pessoas que tentaram suicídio

    Estudo estabelece bases para prever a resposta antidepressiva em pessoas que tentaram suicídio

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    Newswise — ROCHESTER, Minnesota –Pesquisadores da Mayo Clinic descobriram que pessoas com transtorno depressivo maior e histórico de tentativa de suicídio possuem biomarcadores distintos que estão correlacionados com a resposta à terapia antidepressiva. As novas descobertas, publicadas na revista Frontiers Pharmacology, são a chave para estratégias de tratamento individualizado e identificação precoce dos pacientes com alto risco de suicídio.   

    Para o estudo, os pesquisadores usaram tecnologias multiômicas, (especialmente metabolômica e genômica) para analisar amostras de 350 pacientes com transtorno depressivo maior. Eles compararam as amostras dos pacientes com e sem histórico de tentativa(s) de suicídio e descobriram assinaturas multiômicas baseadas em sangue entre os dois grupos, apesar de todos os pacientes terem o mesmo diagnóstico de transtorno depressivo maior.   

    De acordo com a Organização Mundial da Saúde, aproximadamente 700 mil pessoas em todo o mundo morrem em decorrência de suicídio a cada ano, juntamente com tentativas não fatais de 10 a 20 vezes esse número. Uma tentativa anterior de suicídio é o maior fator de risco para suicídio na população em geral.  

     “Avaliar os pacientes suicidas pode ser desafiador, pois as avaliações de risco clínico são inerentemente subjetivas e o transtorno depressivo maior tem altos graus de variabilidade”, afirma Dr. Paul Croarkin, osteopata e mestre em Ciências, psiquiatra no departamento de psiquiatria e psicologia na Mayo Clinic e investigador sênior do estudo. “Nosso estudo estabelece bases para o avanço do potencial prognóstico dessa doença e melhorar os resultados dos pacientes que usam biomarcadores biológicos e digitais.” 

     A equipe descobriu que as variações nos genes CLOCK e ARNTL são diferentes nos pacientes com e sem tentativa anterior de suicídio. Ambos os genes estão relacionados com o ritmo circadiano, que regula as funções críticas do corpo, inclusive comportamento, metabolismo, níveis de hormônio e sono. Essas variações genéticas específicas também estão associadas a menores taxas de resposta e remissão antidepressiva.  

    A metabolômica é o estudo dos metabolitos, que são substâncias criadas quando o corpo metaboliza alimentos, drogas ou o próprio tecido. A genômica é o estudo dos genes, que influenciam as enzimas fundamentais para a metabolização dos medicamentos. Ainda que elas possam explicar individualmente os aspectos dos processos biológicos, analisá-las conjuntamente tem o potencial de revelar as interações que não foram estudadas previamente.   

    De modo geral, a multiômica é uma combinação de duas ou mais abordagens “ômicas”. Exemplos adicionais multiômicos incluem a proteômica (o estudo das proteínas), a epigenômica (o estudo das mudanças epigenéticas no DNA) e a transcriptômica (o estudo das moléculas de RNA).   

    Ao avaliar simultaneamente o genoma e o metaboloma, os pesquisadores descobriram assinaturas biológicas que não poderiam ser encontradas pelo genoma ou metaboloma sozinho.  

    O estudo faz parte dos esforços contínuos na Mayo Clinic para entender a biologia das tendências ao suicídio para melhorar as abordagens diagnósticas, os tratamentos e os resultados para pacientes com depressão e outros transtornos de humor.  

     

    ###        

    Sobre a Mayo Clinic    A Mayo Clinic é uma organização sem fins lucrativos comprometida com a inovação na prática clínica, educação e pesquisa, fornecendo compaixão, conhecimento e respostas para todos que precisam de cura. Visite a Rede de Notícias da Mayo Clinic para obter outras notícias da Mayo Clinic.  

        

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  • Rezz On Grappling With Mental Health and Insomnia: “Nobody Knew What I Was Going Through” – EDM.com

    Rezz On Grappling With Mental Health and Insomnia: “Nobody Knew What I Was Going Through” – EDM.com

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    It seems Rezz was all but able to relax this year.

    The Canadian electronic music superstar recently appeared as a guest on KITTENS’ podcast, “She/Her/They,” to open up about the adversity that came with a grueling touring schedule, among other topics. She’s typically not one to appear on podcasts or do video interviews, let alone speak so intimately about her own personal mental and physical health, touring and finding healthy love.

    Rezz begins talking about her struggle with her mental health right before the “Spiral” tour, the biggest and most expensive headlining tour of her career. She said she really struggled with the tour and was reluctant to do it because the music was two years old and didn’t represent her as an artist at the time.

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    Lennon Cihak

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  • Pray.com Named to Inc.’s 2022 Best in Business List for General Excellence

    Pray.com Named to Inc.’s 2022 Best in Business List for General Excellence

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    Press Release
    –

    Dec 7, 2022 12:00 EST


    LOS ANGELES, December 7, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Pray.com has been named to the Inc. 2022 Best in Business list in the General Excellence category. This award honors companies that have made an extraordinary impact in their fields and society. Pray.com is the first religious media company to be recognized for this award.

    The list, which can be found in the Winter issue of Inc. magazine (on newsstands December 13), recognizes the most dynamic companies of all sizes and industries that have had an outstanding influence on their communities or their industries.  

    Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc., says, “Inc. magazine is dedicated to showcasing America’s most dynamic businesses and the great things they do. The Best in Business Awards shine a light on those that have gone above and beyond their original mission to make a social, environmental or economic impact, benefiting those around them.”

    Rather than relying on quantitative criteria tied to sales or funding, Inc.’s editors reviewed the companies’ achievements over the past year and noted how they made a positive difference in the world. They then selected honorees in 55 categories – from advertising to sustainability to retail, and more – and in age-based, revenue-based, size-based, and impact-based categories. The applicant pool was extremely competitive – a huge success for the 241 honored in the list’s third year. Honorees for general excellence across various industries and categories are featured online at inc.com/best-in-business.

    “We are honored to have been recognized by Inc. not just for a standard of excellence, but for how we combine profit and purpose at Pray.com. At Pray.com, prayer is the priority. As the world’s #1 app for daily prayer, Pray.com strives to help people grow faith, cultivate community, and leave a legacy of helping others,” said Pray.com founder and CEO Steve Gatena. “Pray.com appreciates Inc.’s efforts to bring attention to social impact companies, and we are grateful to be listed at the top.”

    About Pray.com
    Pray.com was launched in 2017 with a mission to grow faith and cultivate community. Today, Pray.com is the world’s No. 1 app for daily prayer and faith-based audio content. In addition to helping people make prayer a priority with its mobile app, Pray.com produced the Bible in Year podcast, which hit #1 on Spotify in the religion category. Every day, Pray.com provides millions of people with encouragement and inspiration through daily devotionals, sermons from pastors, and Bedtime Bible Stories. See more at www.pray.com/discover.

    ABOUT INC.
    The world’s most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community they need to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. For more information, visit www.inc.com.

    Source: Pray.com

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  • CBS Evening News, December 6, 2022

    CBS Evening News, December 6, 2022

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    CBS Evening News, December 6, 2022 – CBS News


    Watch CBS News



    Trump Organization found guilty of tax fraud; Kirstie Alley, Emmy-winning actress, dies at 71

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    Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.


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  • Questions emerge about an Adderall prescription obtained online

    Questions emerge about an Adderall prescription obtained online

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    Questions emerge about an Adderall prescription obtained online – CBS News


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    During the pandemic, online mental health companies began to offer treatment for ADHD, often prescribing Adderall, a controlled substance. One mother says her son obtained an Adderall prescription that he shouldn’t have been able to. Anna Werner investigates.

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  • Young man’s death leads to questions about an Adderall prescription obtained online

    Young man’s death leads to questions about an Adderall prescription obtained online

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    Elijah Hanson struggled with his mental health for years. The 21-year-old from Tacoma, Washington, had been diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder and was receiving treatment from a local behavioral health clinic. According to years of therapy notes, he was desperate to better understand himself and his emotions. 

    “It was him and I in this huge battle, constantly looking for therapists, psychiatrists, anybody to take him on to help him with his issues,” his mother, Kelli Rasmussen, told CBS News.

    Earlier this year, Hanson followed an increasingly familiar path at a time when online mental health care providers were flourishing: He signed up with an online provider called Cerebral. As demand for such services soars, CBS News has been looking into the growing segment of the mental health marketplace that operates online — and one of the most prominent players in that space is Cerebral.

    Hanson told Cerebral he needed help for ADHD — Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder — despite never having been previously diagnosed. He was able to secure a prescription for the stimulant Adderall without any in-person consultations, even though, as his brother, Ethan Hanson, would later allege, he only wanted the drug to abuse it. 

    “He lied and said he had ADHD,” Ethan Hanson said. 

    According to his brother, Elijah Hanson lied to Cerebral because he wanted Adderall, a prescription stimulant that is sometimes misused to get high. Ethan Hanson said that he and his brother had both abused the medication before. 

    Soon, his family said, Elijah Hanson dropped weight and started isolating in his room. 

    “You can definitely tell he was taking way too much. And he wasn’t in his right mind at all,” his brother said.

    His mother believes Elijah Hanson’s misuse of Adderall exacerbated his mental health issues. On June 25, she returned home to an inconceivable sight: Elijah Hanson lying dead on the kitchen floor. He’d found a gun kept in the house and recorded himself playing Russian roulette.  

    Before the pandemic, medical providers were not permitted to prescribe medications like Adderall to patients without first seeing the patient in person. Adderall is a controlled substance and in a class of drugs tightly regulated by the Drug Enforcement Administration because it carries a “high potential for abuse.” 

    “These are dangerous drugs that are controlled for a good reason,” Dr. Andrew Kolodny, an expert on prescribing, told CBS News. 

    Distribution was restricted under the Ryan Haight Act, a 2008 law named for an 18-year-old who died of an overdose from drugs he obtained online. It requires medical professionals to see patients in person before prescribing any controlled substance. But due to the pandemic, the law was temporarily lifted, meaning those drugs can now be prescribed through online, virtual appointments – something Kolodny sees as risky.  

    “Without the requirement for a face-to-face visit, you can see businesses take advantage of the ease in which these drugs can be prescribed,” Kolodny said.

    Data shows the U.S. saw a 15% increase in Adderall prescriptions for adults ages 22 to 44 from 2020 to 2021. Currently, there is a nationwide shortage of drugs like Adderall, raising questions about whether the explosion of digital mental health companies that diagnose and prescribe medications online may be in part to blame.

    Cerebral is one of a number of online mental health companies that surged in popularity during the pandemic and helped meet a growing demand for virtual care. But some experts fear online providers make it too easy for people looking to abuse drugs like Adderall. 

    Cerebral’s records show the first prescriber Elijah Hanson met on the platform in February declined to give him a stimulant, deeming him a “risk to prescribe [a] controlled substance.” So Elijah Hanson created a new account in April and tried again. This time, a different Cerebral prescriber gave him the Adderall. Records show a family doctor later refilled Elijah Hanson’s prescription, relying on the ADHD diagnosis made by Cerebral. 

    “I’m angry that this online platform just thinks that handing out these medications to people … is OK. Because it’s not,” Rasmussen said. 

    While Cerebral and others have urged the government to drop the in-person visit requirement permanently, the company has stopped prescribing controlled substances to new patients, telling CBS News in a statement that the decision was a way for the company to get ahead of the termination of the pandemic waiver that has yet to take place. 

    “Patients who were prescribed a controlled substance before May have, as clinically appropriate, been tapered off controlled substances or were transitioned to providers who can provide in-person care,” a spokesperson told CBS News. “To date, no regulator has accused the company or any clinician of any wrongdoing or violation of any law.”

    The company declined to comment on Elijah Hanson’s case. “While we cannot comment on specific client cases, we can say that Cerebral has robust systems in place across the board to detect and intervene when we suspect drug-seeking behavior,” a spokesperson told CBS News.

    In an exclusive interview with CBS News earlier this year, Cerebral CEO Dr. David Mou defended the company’s prescribing practices after Cerebral confirmed it was the subject of a Justice Department investigation. 

    “We have really, really good clinical outcomes when it comes to depression and anxiety and P.T.S.D. and ADHD, and even serious mental illnesses, such as bipolar disorder,” Mou said. 

    But in a letter written last month and obtained by CBS News, Cerebral founder Kyle Robertson — who was removed by Cerebral’s board earlier this year — claims some of the company’s leading investors “push[ed] for increased prescriptions of controlled substances” like Adderall. Robertson alleges one board member told him, “the easier you make it for people to get stimulants, the better for the business and its customers.” 

    The company told us Robertson’s allegations are “categorically untrue.”

    If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available 24-7 at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Just call 988 or 1-800-273-8255. For more resources, please click here. 

    If you want to share your experience using online mental health services, email us at mentalhealth@paramount.com.

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  • Many kids are struggling. Is special education the answer?

    Many kids are struggling. Is special education the answer?

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    The COVID-19 pandemic sent Heidi Whitney’s daughter into a tailspin.

    Suddenly the San Diego middle schooler was sleeping all day and awake all night. When in-person classes resumed, she was so anxious at times that she begged to come home early, telling the nurse her stomach hurt.

    Whitney tried to keep her daughter in class. But the teen’s desperate bids to get out of school escalated. Ultimately, she was hospitalized in a psychiatric ward, failed “pretty much everything” at school and was diagnosed with depression and ADHD.

    As she started high school this fall, she was deemed eligible for special education services, because her disorders interfered with her ability to learn, but school officials said it was a close call. It was hard to know how much her symptoms were chronic or the result of mental health issues brought on by the pandemic, they said.

    “They put my kid in a gray area,” said Whitney, a paralegal.

    Schools contending with soaring student mental health needs and other challenges have been struggling to determine just how much the pandemic is to blame. Are the challenges the sign of a disability that will impair a student’s learning long term, or something more temporary?

    It all adds to the desperation of parents trying to figure out how best to help their children. If a child doesn’t qualify for special education, where should parents go for help?

    “I feel like because she went through the pandemic and she didn’t experience the normal junior high, the normal middle school experience, she developed the anxiety, the deep depression and she didn’t learn. She didn’t learn how to become a social kid,” Whitney said. “Everything got turned on its head.”

    Schools are required to spell out how they will meet the needs of students with disabilities in Individualized Education Programs, and the demand for screening is high. Some schools have struggled to catch up with assessments that were delayed in the early days of the pandemic. For many, the task is also complicated by shortages of psychologists.

    To qualify for special education services, a child’s school performance must be suffering because of a disability in one of 13 categories, according to federal law. They include autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, learning disabilities like dyslexia, developmental delays and “emotional disturbances.”

    It’s important not to send children who might have had a tough time during the pandemic into the special education system, said John Eisenberg, the executive director of the National Association of State Directors of Special Education.

    “That’s not what it was designed for,” he said. “It’s really designed for kids who need specially designed instruction. It’s a lifelong learning problem, not a dumping ground for kids that might have not got the greatest instruction during the pandemic or have major other issues.”

    In the 2020-2021 school year, about 15% of all public school students received special education services under federal law, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

    Among kids ages 6 and older, special education enrollment rose by 2.4% compared with the previous school year, according to federal data. The figures also showed a large drop in enrollment for younger, preschool-age students, many of whom were slow to return to formal schooling. The numbers varied widely from state to state. No data is available yet for last year.

    While some special education directors worry the system is taking on too many students, advocates are hearing the opposite is happening, with schools moving too quickly to dismiss parent concerns.

    Even now, some children are still having evaluations pushed off because of staffing shortages, said Marcie Lipsitt, a special education advocate in Michigan. In one district, evaluations came to a complete halt in May because there was no school psychologist to do them, she said.

    When Heather Wright approached her son’s school last fall seeking help with the 9-year-old’s outbursts and other behavioral issues, staff suggested private testing. The stay-at-home mom from Sand Creek, Michigan, called eight places. The soonest she could get an appointment was in December of this year — a full 14 months later.

    She also suspects her 16-year-old has a learning disability and is waiting for answers from the school about both children.

    “I hear a lot of: ‘Well, everyone’s worse. It’s not just yours,’” she said. “Yeah, but, like, this is my child and he needs help.”

    It can be challenging to tease out the differences between problems that stem directly from the pandemic and a true disability, said Brandi Tanner, an Atlanta-based psychologist who has been deluged with parents seeking evaluations for potential learning disabilities, ADHD and autism.

    “I’m asking a lot more background questions about pre-COVID versus post-COVID, like, ‘Is this a change in functioning or was it something that was present before and has just lingered or gotten worse?’” she said.

    Sherry Bell, a leader in the Department of Exceptional Children at Charleston County School District in South Carolina, said she is running into the issue as well.

    “In my 28 years in special education, you know, having to rule out all of those factors is much more of a consideration than ever before, just because of the pandemic and the fact that kids spent all of that time at home,” said Bell.

    The key is to have good systems in place to distinguish between a student with a lasting obstacle to learning and one that missed a lot of school because of the pandemic, said Kevin Rubenstein, president-elect of the Council of Administrators of Special Education.

    “Good school leaders and great teachers are going to be able to do that,” he said.

    The federal government, he noted, has provided vast amounts of COVID relief money for schools to offer tutoring, counseling and other support to help students recover from the pandemic.

    But advocates worry about consequences down the line for students who do not receive the help they might need. Kids who slip through the cracks could end up having more disciplinary problems and diminished prospects for life after school, said Dan Stewart, the managing attorney for education and employment for the National Disability Rights Network.

    Whitney, for her part, said she is relieved her daughter is getting help, including a case manager, as part of her IEP. She also will be able to leave class as needed if she feels anxious.

    “I realize that a lot of kids were going through this,” she said. “We just went through COVID. Give them a break.”

    ___

    Sharon Lurye in New Orleans contributed to this report. The Associated Press education team receives support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Care home nurses still need support to recover from Covid trauma, research shows

    Care home nurses still need support to recover from Covid trauma, research shows

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    Newswise — Those on the front line of the Covid pandemic need mental health support to help them recover from, or manage, the stress and trauma they faced – according to University of East Anglia research.

    A new report published today investigates the impact of the pandemic on nurses working in care homes.

    It shows how care home nurses were unprepared for the situation they found themselves in, and that this impacted their mental health and wellbeing.

    The research team say that these frontline workers need a mental health and wellbeing strategy to help promote recovery from the symptoms of trauma and moral distress that they faced during the pandemic.

    Lead researcher Diane Bunn, from UEA’s School of Health Sciences, said: “Our work shows that care home nurses were completely unprepared for the extraordinary situation they found themselves in during the Covid-19 pandemic, and that this has impacted their mental health and wellbeing.

    “They had to manage a highly infectious new disease, associated with high mortality, in residents already living with complex clinical conditions.

    “They did this alongside staff shortages, constantly changing and conflicting guidelines and with minimal external professional support.

    “Health and social care staff are still very much in a recovery phase. They need time to recover from all that happened during the pandemic and many of them will need counselling and mental health support for some time.

    “Supporting care home nurses to recover from the pandemic is essential to maintain a healthy, stable workforce.”

    The research team carried out in-depth interviews with care home nurses about their experiences of the pandemic, across homes for older people in England and Scotland. They particularly focused on the nurses’ resilience and mental wellbeing.

    “All of the nurses we spoke to described being attentive to the needs of others, but less attentive to their own needs, which came at personal cost,” said Bunn.
     

    “There are many lessons to be learnt to support their recovery and ensure appropriate policies are in place in preparedness for the next pandemic,” she added.

    The study highlights a range of strategies to help nurses accept and recover from their experiences, and suggestions for how to better-prepare for future pandemics. These include:

    • Bespoke mental health and wellbeing strategy for care home nurses in the current pandemic recovery period and ensuring that this is ongoing and adaptable for future pandemics and disasters.
    • Wider professional and government recognition of the specialist skills required of care home nurses.
    • Revisit guidance to better prepare for any future pandemics and disasters on care homes
    • Involvement of care home nurses in the development of disaster-response policies in care homes.
    • Consistency of guidelines, and research-informed methods for effective communication of guidelines.

    “Support for care home nurses will likely benefit other care-home workers either directly through wider roll-out, or indirectly through improved wellbeing of nurse leaders,” added Bunn.

    This work was led by the University of East Anglia in collaboration with researchers at the University of Leicester. It was funded by the Burdett Trust for Nursing and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

    ‘Care-home Nurses’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic: Managing ethical conundrums at personal cost: A qualitative study’ is published in the Journal of Nursing Scholarship on December 6, 2022.

    ENDS

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    University of East Anglia

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  • ‘Tis The Season to Focus on Your Mental Health

    ‘Tis The Season to Focus on Your Mental Health

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    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    Newswise — The holidays are usually a time for joy and celebration. But, this merry season can be stressful for some folks. According to a poll by the American Psychiatric Association, Americans are five times more likely to say their level of stress increases rather than decreases (41% to 7%) during the holidays. Johns Hopkins Medicine experts can provide tips for managing your mental health amid the bustle of the holiday season.

    The Holiday Blues and Seasonal Affective Disorder: What’s the difference?

    For some people, the holidays can trigger feelings of sadness, loss and anxiety associated with stress, missing loved ones or negative feelings from past memories of the holidays. These feelings are considered the holiday blues, and are usually temporary.

    However, when the holiday blues persist for a longer period of time, it could be seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a type of depression that can happen during certain seasons of the year, typically fall or winter. Symptoms may include low mood or anxiety that worsens in the winter, as well as changes in sleep, appetite and energy. SAD can impact a person’s ability to work, their social interactions and quality of life. Lindsay Standeven, M.D., and Paul Nestadt, M.D., assistant professors of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, are available for media interviews about the holiday blues and SAD, and can provide tips on how to cope and help ease the symptoms.

    Older children and teens may also experience SAD. Johns Hopkins Children’s Center clinical psychologist Joseph McGuire, Ph.D., M.A., is available for interviews to discuss the signs and symptoms parents should look out for to best help their children.

    In addition, Neda Gould, Ph.D., clinical psychologist and director of the Johns Hopkins Mindfulness Program, is available for interviews on the following topics:

    Holiday Self-Care for Caregivers

    For those taking care of a loved one with a mental illness, caregiving can be physically and emotionally exhausting — and particularly taxing during the holidays. According to an AARP survey, nearly 7 in 10 caregivers say it is stressful to care for their loved one during the holiday season. To cope and avoid burnout, Gould can discuss how mindfulness can help caregivers stay in the present and de-stress over the holidays.

    Taking the Stress Out of Holiday Shopping

    Gift-giving can be fulfilling, but it might be a source of anxiety and economic distress. According to a poll from the American Psychiatry Association, adults are most likely to be worried about affording (46%) and finding (40%) holiday gifts. If the pressure of finding the perfect gift is getting to you, Gould can provide tips to keep in mind while holiday shopping.

    Making and Keeping New Year’s Resolutions

    How many times have you made a New Year’s resolution and given up on it after a few months? Whether it’s to exercise, eat healthier or quit smoking, making a realistic plan and identifying potential obstacles might be the answer to make your resolutions a reality. Gould can discuss how to set attainable goals for the new year. 

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    Johns Hopkins Medicine

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