Only 1 in every 4 U.S. adults struggling with schizophrenia receive “minimally adequate treatment,” new data shows. Many of these patients also struggle with other mental health issues, such as substance abuse or depression, and they are further challenged by social and economic hardship, according to the new report. The data comes from the U.S. Mental and Substance Use Disorders Prevalence Study, which surveyed almost 4,800 adults aged 18 to 65 between 2020 and 2022. The study is sponsored by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency (SAMHSA). A total of 114 of those surveyed had a diagnosis of schizophrenia, according to researchers led by Natalie Bareis. She’s an assistant professor of clinical behavioral medicine at Columbia University in New York City. Bareis’ team found that, besides being diagnosed with schizophrenia, more than half (52%) of these patients also had depression, while 17% had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Suicidal thoughts ad attempts were much more common among these patients, as well. Nearly a quarter (23%) also had alcohol use disorder and 20% also used cannabis. Health care coverage was available to nearly all of the 114 patients with schizophrenia, and 70% had received some form of mental health treatment over the prior year. However, adequate levels of treatment were rare. For example, just 30% of patients were taking an antipsychotic…  read on >  read on >

Over 40 percent of U.S. adults are now obese, with rates roughly the same for men and women, new government data shows. Obesity rates fluctuated with age and fell as levels of education increased, said the report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The only good news: The rate of adult obesity did not change between 2013 and 2023, said a team led by Samuel Emmerich, an epidemiologist at the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. Obesity was defined as a BMI of 30 or above. For example, a person 5-foot 10-inches tall with a weight of 210 pounds has BMI of 30. So does a 5-foot-6 person weighing 185 lbs. Rates of severe obesity have risen among U.S. adults, however. In 2013, 7.7% of adults were severely obese, but that number jumped to 9.7% 10 years later. According to the CDC, severe obesity begins at a BMI of 40, equivalent to a 5-foot-10-inch person weighing 280 lbs. The peak time for obesity was middle age: 46.4% of adults ages 40 to 59 were obese, compared to 35.5% of those aged 20 to 39 and 38.9% of those over the age of 60, the report found. Similar trends were seen among people with severe obesity. While 44.6% of adults with only a high school degree were obese, that number fell to 31.6%…  read on >  read on >

Psilocybin could help people suffering from a mental health problem that can lead to eating disorders, a new study suggests. Psilocybin, the active chemical in “magic” mushrooms, significantly reduced symptoms in people with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), researchers reported Sept. 24 in the journal Psychedelics. BDD causes an obsessive preoccupation with perceived flaws in one’s physical appearance, and is frequently tied to eating disorders and other unhealthy behaviors, researchers said. For this pilot trial, eight people with hard-to-treat BDD received a single 25-milligram dose of psilocybin. Brain scans showed that the psilocybin treatment increased levels in connectivity between different brain regions related to emotional processing, cognitive activity and feelings and thoughts about oneself. People who had the greatest strengthening in these connections experienced the most improvement in their BDD symptoms within a week, results show. The findings “align with a growing body of evidence indicating that psychedelic compounds like psilocybin can promote mental health by enhancing the brain’s capacity for flexibility and integration,” concluded the research team led by Chen Zhang, a research assistant with the New York State Psychiatric Institute. “By facilitating communication within and between brain networks that are often dysregulated in psychiatric disorders, psilocybin may help restore more adaptive cognitive and emotional functioning,” the research team said in a journal news release. However, more studies in larger groups of people with BDD…  read on >  read on >

Psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, appears to ease depression symptoms at least as well as one of the most commonly used antidepressants, a new clinical trial shows. Patients showed significant improvement in their depressive symptoms after taking either a single dose of psilocybin or a six-week course of the SSRI antidepressant escitalopram (Lexapro), researchers reported Sept. 21 in the journal Lancet eClinicalMedicine1. They also presented the findings at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology’s annual meeting in Milan. However, patients given psilocybin also reported additional long-term benefits, including a greater sense of meaning in life and better psychological connectedness to others. “Both treatments led to comparable improvements in alleviating symptoms of depression at the six-week mark, such as sadness and negative emotions,” said lead researcher Tommaso Barba, a doctoral candidate with Imperial College London in the U.K. “However, this work shows that psilocybin outperformed escitalopram in several measures of well-being, meaning in life, work and social functioning,” Barba said in a journal news release. “These results appeared to be maintained over a six-month follow-up period.” SSRI antidepressants like Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft are one of the main types of drugs used to treat depression, researchers said. However, about a third of patients don’t respond to treatment. “SSRIs work well, but not for everyone. They are also associated with some side effects,” Barba said. “This…  read on >  read on >

Having a husband or boyfriend with adult ADHD can harm a woman’s mental stability, a new study suggests. About 3 in 5 women (59%) with male partners with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) had symptoms of depression, a rate on par with caregivers who help loved ones deal with health problems like autism, heart rhythm disorders, Alzheimer’s disease and kidney failure, researchers report. The women also had lower quality of life scores than folks whose partners suffer from health challenges like schizophrenia, depression, anxiety and stroke, results showed. “Our findings emphasize the importance of viewing ADHD as a condition that impacts not only the individual but also their close relationships,” concluded the research team led by Adina Maeir, a professor of medicine with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s School of Occupational Therapy in Israel. “By addressing the well-being of partners, we can take a more holistic approach to treatment, offering both individuals and couples the tools they need to improve their quality of life,” the researchers wrote in a university news release. For the study, the team recruited 100 heterosexual Israeli couples in which the man had been diagnosed with ADHD. On average, couples had been together for about nine years, with 65 married and 35 living together. Both the men and the women filled out questionnaires related to the man’s ADHD symptoms. Women also were screened…  read on >  read on >

SATURDAY, Sept. 21, 2024 (Healthday News) — Workplace anxiety. Who hasn’t experienced it? However, if that anxiety is so strong that it hurts your performance or lingers for months, you might have a problem, one expert says. Dr. Asim Shah, executive vice chair in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor Colege of Medicine in Houston, explains what can trigger workplace anxiety, how to manage it and when to seek professional help. “The goal is not to suffer and not let your anxiety affect work performance. About 60% of people experience workplace anxiety. It is common, which means you can do something about it,” Shah said. Workplace anxiety can be caused by surly co-workers, a demanding supervisor, small, annoying tasks or overwhelming major projects. If you have workplace anxiety, you might notice signs like: Feeling overly anxious or nervous Experiencing excessive sweating or trembling Obsessing about a task Having a lack of interest in your work “The anxiety becomes so overwhelming that you are unable to focus and concentrate,” Shah noted in a Baylor news release. “These feelings can impair your daily work functions.” If that continues for more than six months, Shah said it might be time to seek professional help. “Some employers might offer an employee assistance program where you can go for help. You can also start talking to…  read on >  read on >

A cavalry of sorts can come to the rescue of combat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a new study says. Combat veterans who regularly care for horses experience an easing of their PTSD symptoms, as well as an overall improved mental outlook, researchers found. Focusing on a horse’s welfare can help a veteran shed the hypervigilance that often accompanies PTSD, explained researcher Andrea Quinn, assistant director of the Center for Psychological Services in the Rutgers Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology. “When I think about what our veterans with PTSD struggle with, the results make sense,” Quinn said in a Rutgers news release. At some point, seven out of 100 veterans will develop PTSD, researchers said in background notes. Veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan have the highest rates of PTSD, with 29% experiencing it at some point, researchers noted. Veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq have a 21% rate of PTSD. For the study, published recently in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry, researchers asked six combat veterans to participate in an eight-week horsemanship program. In 30-minute weekly sessions, veterans were instructed on basic horse safety and horse behavior, then asked to groom a horse and lead it around an arena. “In the study, the veterans had to perform tasks requiring them to be very much in the moment,” Quinn…  read on >  read on >

Doctors sometimes turn to antidepressants as a means of easing older people’s physical pain, but a new expert review finds there’s little evidence to support the practice. Antidepressants may even come with hazards for seniors who don’t need them, said researchers from the University of Sydney in Australia. “Harms of antidepressant use in older people are well documented,” said study senior author Dr. Christina Abdel Shaheed. Her team found that, compared to older folks using other methods to ease pain, those on antidepressants had higher risks for falling, dizziness and injury. “These medicines are being prescribed to remedy patients’ pain, despite the lack of evidence to adequately inform their use,” said Abdel Shaheed, an associate professor in the university’s School of Public Health and the Institute for Musculoskeletal Health. The findings were published recently in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. According to the researchers, over the past 40 years there have been only 15 trials worldwide that focused on the use of antidepressants for physical pain in people over the age of 65. Poring over the data from these studies, the Sydney team found little evidence to support the use of the drugs to ease pain in seniors. Standard international guidelines do support the use of antidepressants for chronic pain generally, but the data those guidelines are based on did not focus on patients…  read on >  read on >