General Mental Health Articles
- There might be a way to relieve pain without money and medication, and it might just blow your mind. A new study suggests mindfulness meditation is more effective at relieving pain than placebo treatments. Read more here.
Veterans’ Mental Health
- The House passed a sweeping package of measures to expand and strengthen private-sector medical care outside the Department of Veterans Affairs. The package will increase coverage for in-home care of disabled and aging veterans, fund mental health counseling for home-based caregivers, and better integrate information on private clinicians in the VA’s computer system to facilitate appointments and sharing patient records. Read more here.
The Opioid Crisis and Addiction Issues
- Mexican drug cartels are mixing weaker batches of illicit fentanyl, a likely reason behind the nearly 15% drop in overdose deaths in the last year, according to DEA Administrator Anne Milgram. Milgram claimed credit before a gathering of family members of those who have died from fentanyl poisoning from counterfeit pills or overdoses, citing pressure the DEA is putting on the cartels by targeting their criminal networks — from their chemical supply chains in China to their money-laundering operations. Read more here.
988 Hotline
- Public awareness of the 988 national suicide prevention hotline is growing but still low, new survey data from University of Pennsylvania found. Calls and texts to 988 are increasing. Still, the hotline can't help someone if they don't know about it, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center. Fifteen percent of people surveyed in September said they knew of the hotline and correctly identified its number as 988 in an open-ended format. Read more here.
- After a certain threshold, cumulative opioid use was associated with higher dementia risk, a study of adults over age 60 in Denmark showed. In a nested case-control study, opioid use above 90 total standardized doses (TSDs) was associated with increased all-cause dementia risk, reported Nelsan Pourhadi, MD, of Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet in Denmark, and co-authors. Read more here.
- For doctors who are reported to their medical board because of worries about their mental health or behavior, cooperating with such programs may be mandatory if they want to keep their license. Doctors, like nurses and pilots, are bound by stricter rules than other workers because errors can put others at risk. In some states, a doctor who receives a DUI may be obliged to report it to the licensing board; their employer can also make such a report if there is evidence of inappropriate substance use or if the doctor’s behavior is concerning. Read more here.
Medicaid Reform
- States are racing to have their Medicaid requests approved before the Trump administration takes power. The new administration is expected to have a very different view of Medicaid than the Biden administration, and GOP lawmakers in Congress are eyeing major changes. Some states want waivers that will impact their states’ budgets, but others seek to allow Medicaid to pay for social services, a Biden administration innovation that links health to social well-being. Read more here.
Federal Policy
- President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Mehmet Oz, the celebrity physician and TV personality known as Dr. Oz, to be administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. During the pandemic, Dr. Oz, 64, pushed unproven theories about Covid-19 cures, including hydroxychloroquine, that caught Trump’s eye. In 2022, Oz ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, losing to now-Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.). It is unclear, like Robert Kennedy who is the nominee for HHS, what his views are on mental health policy. Read more here.
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