Mental Health

Each September marks National Suicide Prevention Month, an observance meant to raise awareness around suicide and ways in which to mitigate its risk.

A study published in JAMA Pediatrics linked exposure to gun violence to a rise in pediatric ED visits for mental health issues, especially for children who witnessed such actions.

The prevalence of avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder varied significantly based on how the disorder was defined, according to study results published in Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Remote school may do more harm to the mental health of older and Black and Hispanic kids and those from lower-income families, according to a nationally representative, cross-sectional study in JAMA Network Open.

ED visits for youth with suicidal thoughts and behaviors initially decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic, likely because of lockdown orders, then aligned with 2019 levels, according to a cross-sectional study published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Maternal grandmothers who were underweight before becoming pregnant were more likely to have a grandchild diagnosed with ADHD than women in other BMI categories, a cohort study showed.

Children with ADHD, autism and other comorbid neurodevelopmental diagnoses who had well-controlled ADHD medication use for 1 year had improved cognitive test scores and ADHD symptoms, according to a Journal of Psychiatric Research study.

Suicidal ideation in early adolescence predicted other symptoms of depression, while depressive symptoms in middle adolescence predicted suicidal ideation, according to a study in Journal of Psychiatric Research.

Researchers reported that prenatal use of antipsychotics was not associated with risks for adverse outcomes in children — specifically, ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, preterm birth or being born small for gestational age.

Most adolescents in a cohort study conducted in Norway coped well during the COVID-19 pandemic, but intervention strategies may need to identify youth disproportionately affected by anxieties related to the pandemic, researchers noted.