Tag: adolescent

Reading of the Week: Global Burden of Schizophrenia – the new Molecular Psych Study; Also, MedEd’s Evolution & Saxbe on Helping Depressed Teens

From the Editor

Is there more mental illness than before? Or is there greater awareness? 

Dr. Marco Solmi (of the University of Ottawa) and his co-authors attempt to answer these questions in a new paper for Molecular Psychiatry that focuses on schizophrenia. Drawing on 30 years of data globally, they consider prevalence (how many have the illness), incidence (the number who develop it each year), and the disability-adjusted life-years (the loss of one healthy year of life) using more than 86 000 points of data. They find: “Globally, we show that, from 1990 to 2019, raw prevalence increased by over 65%, incidence by 37.11%, DALYs by over 65%, but age-adjusted prevalence and incidence estimates showed a slight decrease, and burden did not change.” We consider the paper and its implications.

Textbooks, highlighters, and classrooms? The world of medical education is changing. Today, we have AI, sim, and e-learning. In the second selection, we look at the new Quick Takes podcast with Dr. Ivan Silver (of the University of Toronto), former vice president of education at CAMH who marvels at the potential. “This is the renaissance period for health professional education.” 

And in the third selection, psychologist Darby Saxbe (of the University of Southern California) writes in The New York Times about ways to help depressed adolescents. Drawing on recent studies showing the failure of school-based psychosocial interventions, she argues for a different approach. “It’s critical to keep pace with the evidence and attend to the first principle of all health care providers: First, do no harm.”

DG

Continue reading

Reading of the Week: Clozapine Monitoring – the New BJP Paper; Also, Suicide Trends Among Adolescents (CJP) and Van Gogh’s Ear & Iconography (ANZJP)

From the Editor

“Despite its strong evidence base, clozapine remains grossly under-prescribed in clinical practice. Although reasons for this are multifaceted, a commonly cited influence is the need for mandatory haematological monitoring.” So notes Ebenezer Oloyede (of the University of Oxford) and his co-authors in a new British Journal of Psychiatry paper. Could the requirements be simplified? 

In the first selection, Oloyede et al. look at outcomes of 569 patients on clozapine when, during the pandemic, routine blood monitoring was changed. In this mirror-image cohort study, they find: “[E]xtending the haematological monitoring interval from 4-weekly to 12-weekly did not increase the incidence of life-threatening agranulocytosis in people taking clozapine.” We consider the paper and its implications.

In the second selection, Dr. Rachel H. B. Mitchell (of the University of Toronto) and her co-authors analyze Canadian data on suicide and sex differences. In this Canadian Journal of Psychiatry research article, they find that suicide rates among female adolescents aged 10 to 14 years surpassed similarly aged males in 2011. “The marked and consistent trend of rising suicide rates among adolescent females aged 10 to 14 years in Canada signals increased distress and/or maladaptive coping in this segment of the population.” 

And in the third selection, Alexander Smith (of the University of Bern) and his co-authors write about Vincent van Gogh. In an Editorial for the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, they describe his mental health struggles but also their commercialization. “Vincent van Gogh’s ear has generated an intrinsic cultural currency. Yet, the psychiatric vulnerabilities encompassed by his act of self-harm are not always sensitively considered or acknowledged.”

DG

Continue reading

Reading of the Week: Shamiri Layperson-Provided Therapy in Kenya – Big Study, But Ethical? Also, a Reader Comments on Chatbots

From the Editor 

There are more psychiatrists of African origin in the US than in the whole of Africa. And I could actually say similar examples from the Philippines, or India, or many other countries. There is an enormous shortage of mental health resources…” 

So comments Dr. Vikram Patel (of Harvard University). Across low-income nations, mental health care services are profoundly difficult to access. Could Shamir (Kiswahili for thrive) – an intervention built on simple psychological concepts and delivered by laypersons – be part of the solution? 

This week, we look at a new paper from JAMA PsychiatryTom L.  Osborn (of Kenya’s Shamiri Institute) and his co-authors describe the results of a study involving adolescents with depression and anxiety symptoms. To our knowledge, this is one of the first adequately powered tests in this population of a scalable intervention grounded in simple positive psychological elements.” We look at the big paper. 

kenya-tanzania-africa-uganda-map-300x200

 But is the work ethical? In our second selection, we consider the editorial that accompanies the Osborn et al. paper. JAMA Psychiatry Editor Dr. Dost  Öngür (of Harvard University) defends the study and his decision to publish it: “Because this trial was already conducted, we considered the obligations of the journal to be different than those of investigators and prospective reviewers. The question for us was whether there is a benefit to society by publishing the study as it was conducted.” 

Finally, in our third selection, a reader writes us. Giorgio A.Tasca (of the University of Ottawa) responds to The New York Times article by Karen Brown considering chatbots. “Is scaling up an intervention with dubious research support – that results in low adherence and high dropout (and perhaps more demoralization as a result) – worth it?” 

Please note that there will be no Reading next week. 

DG  Continue reading

Reading of the Week: Are the Kids Alright? NYT on Severe Anxiety & Adolescents

From the Editor

“The disintegration of Jake’s life took him by surprise.”

This quotation is from a long, moving essay about a young patient with a big problem. The piece begins with Jake in his junior year of high school with much on his plate: three Advanced Placement courses, a spot on the cross-country team, invitations to Model U.N. conferences – and significant anxiety.

The essay explores his anxiety, and the anxiety of teens like Jake.

The essay, which recently ran in The New York Times Magazine, traces the struggles of Jake, and the writer puts these problems in a larger context.

Teen anxiety: A growing problem?

In this Reading, we review this essay.

DG

Continue reading