Week of November 3–7, 2025

General Mental Health

• The Trump administration’s plan to revamp the entire Health and Human Services Department, which Congress has rejected, has nevertheless led to the gutting of a 33-year-old agency that had been leading the nation’s response to the drug and mental health response epidemic. Read more here.
• Mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, and ADHD affect millions worldwide and contribute significantly to the global burden of disease—impacting individuals’ health and daily lives and placing a substantial strain on social systems and national and global economies. These conditions often involve differences in brain development, particularly during childhood and adolescence. However, tracking these brain changes in relation to psychopathology — the study of mental health disorders — has been limited by the need for large, diverse neuroimaging datasets. Read more here.
• The Department of Veterans Affairs has confirmed it is expanding psychedelic-assisted therapy trials for veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), treatment resistant depression, and anxiety disorders. Nine VA facilities, in the Bronx, Los Angeles, Omaha, Palo Alto, Portland (Oregon), San Diego, San Francisco, West Haven, and White River Junction; are participating in the multi-year studies, each designed to test the safety and clinical impact of psychedelic compounds used under strict supervision. Read more here.

Research

• In this cross-sectional study of U.S. adults, energy insecurity was associated with mental health symptoms. As household energy insecurity is expected to increase, these findings provide valuable evidence for policymakers deliberating the future of federally funded assistance programs. Read more here.
• Almost a third of health care workers in Europe report symptoms of depression, and more than 10% had suicidal thoughts within the past 2 weeks, according to results from a World Health Organization (WHO) survey. Working long shifts was associated with poorer mental health. Read more here.
• A recent study in JAMA Psychiatry found that, following recreational cannabis legalization in the U.S., cannabis uptake increased among individuals with psychosis more than in the general population. Read more here.

Government Shutdown

• Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is casting much of the blame for rising health premiums on her own party, arguing Republicans should have reformed the Affordable Care Act and its expiring tax credits sooner. Expiring subsidies in the Obama-era bill have been at the forefront of Democrats’ challenge to the House-passed continuing resolution that would reopen the government after funding lapsed more than a month ago. Read more here.
• A bipartisan quartet of House lawmakers released a “statement of principles” for a potential compromise on an extension of Obamacare subsidies, which would include a two-year sunset and an income cap for eligibility. The compromise framework from Republican Reps. Don Bacon of Nebraska and Jeff Hurd of Colorado, and Democratic Reps. Tom Suozzi of New York and Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, is the first public tangible offering on health care policy since the government shutdown began. Read more here.
• Some Floridians are starting to learn how much more they'll soon be expected to pay for health insurance if Affordable Care Act tax credits expire at the end of this year. Those "enhanced premium tax credits" make monthly health care payments more affordable for eligible households. The credits weren't included in President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act” signed into law this year. Now, with the longest federal government shutdown, Democratic Senators say they won't pass a budget extension that doesn't restore the tax credits. Read more here.