Kids and teens are struggling with their mental health in America, and one new report suggests the overinvolvement of parents may be partly to blame. Kids don’t get to roam any more. They’ve lost time for free play and risk-taking amid parents’ fears about the dangers of the world, said report co-author David Bjorklund. While people think the lack of independence and the growth in mental health issues is new, it’s been a lot more gradual, said Bjorklund, a professor in the psychology department at Florida Atlantic University College of Science, in Boca Raton. “It’s not a really new phenomenon. It’s a growing one. And it’s been growing for decades,” Bjorklund said. The trend emerged in the 1960s and really accelerated in the 1980s, the authors said. Some eventually dubbed the trend “helicopter parenting.” Adults were well-intentioned in wanting to protect children, according to the paper, but this has deprived kids of the independence they need for mental health. And now young people are experiencing high levels of anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation. In 2021, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Children’s Hospital Association issued a joint statement to the White House that child and adolescent mental health be declared a “national emergency.” Last month, the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention reported on the…  read on >  read on >

A man with prostate cancer who takes the “watch-and-wait” approach has the same long-term survival odds as those who undergo radiation therapy or surgery, according to a new large-scale study. Patients had the same 97% survival rate after a decade and a half whether doctors treated their tumor or simply put it under observation, British researchers found. “Survival from prostate cancer was high after 15 years of follow-up, whether patients received radiotherapy, prostatectomy [prostate removal] or active monitoring,” said study co-author Jenny Donovan, a professor of social medicine with the University of Bristol. “Only 3% of patients in the study died from prostate cancer.” Researchers presented the findings last weekend at the European Association of Urology’s annual meeting, in Milan, and the results were published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine. For the study, researchers evaluated nearly 82,500 men in the United Kingdom who underwent a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test between 1999 and 2009. The study recruited just over 1,600 men diagnosed with localized prostate cancer as a result of their screening and randomly assigned them to one of three groups — an active monitoring group, a group that underwent surgery to remove their prostate, and a group that received radiation therapy for their cancer. After 15 years, only 45 had died — 17 in the active monitoring group, 12 in the surgery…  read on >  read on >

You may have heard of postpartum depression and “the baby blues,” but did you know that there’s another widely studied mental health condition called postpartum anxiety? Dr. Erica Newlin, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Westlake, Ohio, said in a Cleveland Clinic podcast that, “Peripartum and postpartum anxiety and depression, and just mental health concerns in general, are super, super common. Most studies really cite a prevalence of around 10%. But we think that that might be vastly underreported.” And postpartum anxiety doesn’t just affect mothers: A recent review published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & Gynecology revealed that about 1 in 10 dads were impacted. To understand how to better manage postpartum anxiety and reduce your risk factors for developing the condition, it’s important to learn what it is, its causes and key symptoms, and the treatments that are recommended by doctors, including commonly prescribed medications. What is postpartum anxiety? Postpartum anxiety is named after the time period immediately following delivery or becoming a parent. “You can start to experience it any time during the pregnancy and in that first year after delivering,” said Newlin. According to the Cleveland Clinic, what sets postpartum anxiety apart from normal worry is the severity of its symptoms. The condition is marked by irrational fears that go well beyond the natural concerns parents have for their children’s health and well-being.…  read on >  read on >

(HealthDay News) – For some children, it can be hard when mom or dad leave them at daycare, school or even just with the other parent. It’s normal for small children to feel some separation anxiety. But it can be more concerning when a child doesn’t outgrow these feelings or feels them very intensely. This significant fear is known as Separation Anxiety Disorder (SAD). “It’s rare that separation anxiety persists on a daily basis after the preschool years. If you’re concerned that your child isn’t adapting to being without you, chat with the pediatrician,” Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Communications and Media, suggested in a story about separation anxiety for the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). What is separation anxiety? Fear or acting out because of a desire to not be separated from a parent is normal for babies ages 9 to 18 months old, according to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). It can even start as early as 4 to 5 months, according to the AAP. It typically ends around age 2, according to the National Library of Medicine. That’s when kids are old enough to understand that after a separation their parents will return. But about 3% of kids continue to experience these feelings into elementary school, according to CHOP. That can increase…  read on >  read on >

Many older adults with depression don’t respond to their first antidepressant, so doctors will switch them to another one to see if that does the trick. Now, new research suggests that the best strategy for these folks may instead be to add the antipsychotic drug Abilify (aripiprazole) to the original antidepressant. “This is good news for older adults with difficult-to-treat depression,” said study author Dr. Eric Lenze, head of the department of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “Adding a second medication produces improvements in psychological well-being [e.g., positive mood, life satisfaction] and, often, remission from depression, and these improvements are greater than switching medications.” The two-part study included 742 people aged 60 and older with depression who had not responded to at least two antidepressants. In the first part, 619 people who were taking an antidepressant were randomly divided into three groups. Some remained on their original medication and added aripiprazole, others continued taking their antidepressant but added the antidepressants Wellbutrin or Zyban (bupropion), and a third group tapered off their original antidepressant and switched to bupropion. The patients were followed for 10 weeks, and their medications were adjusted accordingly. Nearly 30% of people who continued with their original antidepressant but added aripiprazole showed improvements in symptoms of depression, compared with 20% of those who were switched to bupropion alone,…  read on >  read on >

The annual shift to daylight saving time is a challenge for many parents, whose children may struggle with the change. A pediatrics sleep medicine expert offers some tips for making springing forward a little easier for all ages. “Whether it be jet lag, spring break or daylight saving time, a break in sleep structure can make things challenging. But we have ways to cope with that,” said Dr. Sonal Malhotra. She is an assistant professor of pulmonary and sleep medicine services at Baylor College of Medicine, in Houston. Children tend to fall into three sleep categories depending on age, Malhotra said — infants under 6 months; toddlers and young children who have a natural inclination to wake early; and older kids and teens who struggle with morning wake-up times. The time change isn’t typically an issue for the youngest group, Malhotra said. “At this age, children are still building their circadian rhythms,” she said. “Although their sleep schedules are fragmented by naps throughout the day and night, there is still structure that ensures they get enough sleep.” The spring change is easier for the second age group than turning the clocks back in fall. It can be beneficial for parents to let them stay up later and sleep in more, Malhotra said. For kids over 6 months of age who struggle to wake up in…  read on >  read on >

Tossing and turning, waking up frequently or lying awake for hours is no laughing matter. According to the National Sleep Foundation, the average adult should aim for seven to nine hours of sleep each night. Why? The Cleveland Clinic explains that lack of sleep can lead to: impaired memory relationship stress decreased quality of life increased risk of a car accident Chronic lack of sleep, or insomnia, can also lead to serious health issues including: high blood pressure diabetes cardiac issues obesity So, if you are asking yourself why can’t I sleep, here are some tips on getting better shut-eye: Try sleep restriction therapy According to Dr. Sanjeev Kothare of Northwell Medical in New Hyde Park, N.Y., “insomnia from an unknown cause or underlying anxiety or depression” is one of the more common sleep disorders. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine says that approximately 35% of adults experience insomnia at some point. One potential solution is sleep restriction therapy. The basis for this therapy is that time spent in bed and not sleeping can increase anxiety and worsen insomnia. For example: If you usually go to bed for seven hours but only sleep for five hours, then you would limit your time in bed to five hours. Once your sleep improves, slowly increase your time in bed by 15 to 30 minute increments. Initially, sleep…  read on >  read on >

Ongoing shortages of a medication that hospitals and emergency rooms rely upon to treat breathing problems are likely to worsen in coming days and weeks, experts warn. That’s because one of the two major U.S. suppliers of liquid albuterol, Akorn Pharmaceuticals, abruptly laid off its entire workforce and closed plants in New Jersey, New York and Illinois in late February. “We’re down to just one plant that’s supplying liquid albuterol to all patients in the United States,” said Dr. Juanita Mora, a Chicago allergist/immunologist and volunteer spokesperson for the American Lung Association. That remaining supplier of liquid albuterol, Nephron Pharmaceuticals, has had manufacturing issues of its own, exacerbating the situation even more, said Bayli Larson, a strategic initiatives associate with the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP). “Another phenomenon that could be at play is institutions, anticipating the shortage, may have increased their orders to ensure they had enough on hand,” Larson added. “ASHP discourages hoarding as a countermeasure to medication supply disruptions; however, some institutions feel they have to do it to avoid jeopardizing patient care.” The shortage comes at an extremely inopportune time, Mora said. “We are about to enter allergic asthma season, where pollen levels are going to begin to rise all throughout the United States,” Mora said. “And we know so many kids and adults suffer from allergic asthma symptoms and…  read on >  read on >