Tag: Mental health

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Statement on Mental Health and Access to Evidence-Based Care

The IOCDF is proud to be a member of the Mental Health Liaison Group, which distributed the below statement. To learn more about appropriate treatment for OCD, including the use of medication and SSRIs, visit IOCDF’s Treatment Guide.

Following the MAHA Institute May 4, 2026, Summit entitled, “Mental Health and Overmedicalization,” and HHS’ MAHA Action Plan to Curb Psychiatric Overprescribing, the Mental Health Liaison Group (MHLG)— a nonprofit coalition of national organizations representing people with mental health and substance use conditions, family members and caregivers, providers of mental health and substance use treatment and support, advocates, and other stakeholders— reaffirms that improving mental health outcomes requires expanding access to comprehensive, evidence-based care.

MHLG recognizes that mental health care should be appropriate, individualized, and guided by clinical expertise and informed patient decision-making. The goal is the right care, delivered at the right time and tailored to each person’s unique needs.

A strong body of evidence supports a range of effective, individualized treatments, including psychotherapy and, when clinically appropriate, medications such as Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs). These treatments are effective for many individuals when appropriately prescribed, monitored, and supported as part of a comprehensive care plan. Individuals should be supported in working with their health care providers to determine and refine over time the care plan, including the benefits and risks, that best meets their needs, and engage in medical professional recommendation-based treatment, which for many may include psychotherapy and medication as part of a comprehensive approach to care.

Public discussion of mental health treatment should be informed by scientific evidence to support informed decision-making and patient-centered care. Misinformation or claims not supported by evidence may discourage individuals from seeking or continuing treatment, particularly at a time when many already face significant barriers to care.

MHLG supports policies that support ongoing research to expand access to comprehensive, evidence-based mental health services, reduce stigma, and strengthen the ability of individuals to initiate and remain engaged in appropriate care across the continuum of prevention, treatment, crisis and recovery. These priorities are consistent with MHLG’s principles, available at https://www.mhlg.org/about-us/

MHLG stands ready to engage with the Administration and policymakers as they consider and advance approaches impacting mental health care.

The Mental Health Liaison Group (MHLG) is a nonprofit coalition of national organizations representing people with mental health and substance use conditions, family members and caregivers, providers of mental health and substance use treatment and support, advocates, and other stakeholders committed to strengthening Americans’ access to mental health and substance use care. As trusted leaders in the field, our 100+ member organizations are dedicated to elevating the national conversation around mental health and substance use. Together, we work to advance federal policies that support prevention, early intervention, treatment, crisis response, and recovery services and supports.

The post Statement on Mental Health and Access to Evidence-Based Care appeared first on International OCD Foundation.

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<![CDATA[New cohort and global data link teen high-potency cannabis use to higher psychosis, bipolar, and suicide risks. Here’s what psychiatrists and mental health clinicians should know in the era of legalization.]]>
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Addressing the Psychological Needs of Adolescents During the Wait Time for Mental Health Treatment: Service Design Study

<strong>Background:</strong> Adolescents waiting for mental health treatment often experience significant unmet psychological needs, including severe psychological distress, increased use of maladaptive coping strategies, and feelings of abandonment. However, current wait time support offerings across the mental health sector are sparse and lack clear evidence of effectiveness. <strong>Objective:</strong> Using design thinking, this early report describes the development of a service blueprint for a new model of care (<i>While We Wait</i>) designed to address the psychological needs of adolescents during the wait time for mental health treatment in Australia through targeted support from general practitioners (GPs) and brief, self-directed digital interventions. <strong>Methods:</strong> In partnership with health service designers from Deloitte Digital Australia, we conducted a rapid 6-week health service design sprint. This industry-led methodology involved iterative weekly activities, including the development of service user personas and service experience principles, consultation sessions with 12 youth with lived experience experts (aged 18 to 20 years) and 15 GPs, insight synthesis, and service blueprint development. <strong>Results:</strong> The design sprint produced a service blueprint anchored in 5 service experience principles: “I’m never alone,” “It’s for me,” “I’m in control,” “It’s easy to use,” and “It lifts me up.” The proposed service model incorporated a five-stage service journey: (1) recognition (the adolescent acknowledges the need for support), (2) initial consultation and onboarding with the GP, (3) support and monitoring, (4) preparation for treatment, and (5) transition to specialist care and follow-up. Key adolescent service outcomes included uptake, acceptability, self-advocacy, mental health and well-being, perceived quality of care, and help seeking intentions and behaviors. For GPs, outcomes included uptake, feasibility, acceptability, and confidence in supporting adolescents during the wait time. <strong>Conclusions:</strong> This work demonstrates that a rapid, industry-led design thinking approach may help identify priorities for developing services that address adolescents’ needs during the wait time for mental health treatment. The project also highlights the value of co-designing mental health services with lived experience experts and service providers. Together, these findings suggest that the wait time may represent an important opportunity for early therapeutic engagement rather than a passive delay before treatment.
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Curiosity in a Novel Virtual Reality Scenario and Its Association With Symptoms of Depression: Observational Pilot Investigation

Background: Curiosity plays a fundamental role in human learning, development, and motivation, and emerging evidence suggests that reduced curiosity is linked to poorer mental health outcomes, including depressive symptoms (DS). However, to date, the majority of curiosity research relies on self-report assessments and thus risks biased reporting. Virtual reality (VR), a novel tool increasingly used within mental health research and treatment, might represent a potent tool for offering ecologically valid insights into curiosity-driven behaviors while circumventing issues related to self-report assessments, including demand characteristics and recall bias. Objective: The study aimed to enhance the assessment of curiosity by using a novel VR environment and to examine its relevance to DS. Specifically, we tested 2 hypotheses using a novel VR environment: first, that curiosity, as assessed through spontaneous exploratory interactions and behaviors in VR, positively correlates with self-reported curiosity, and second, that VR-based curiosity is inversely associated with DS. Methods: This exploratory study used an observational design that included 100 volunteers. All participants completed self-reported assessments of DS and curiosity before engaging in a novel VR scenario. Although progression in the virtual environment required solving cognitive tasks, these were embedded as structural elements rather than framed as the primary objective. Instead, participants’ free explorations and interactions with objects formed the basis for the 4 curiosity metrics used in this study. After VR exposure, participants completed a questionnaire assessing cybersickness symptoms. Results: Hypothesis 1 was not supported, as only one curiosity metric, namely object interactions, was positively associated with one aspect of curiosity relating to motivation to seek new knowledge and experiences. Further, diminishing significance after correction for multiple testing warranted caution. Results relating to hypothesis 2 indicated partial support, in that object interaction was significantly associated with DS while controlling for age, sex, and cybersickness levels. Sensitivity analyses showed no associations between object interactions and self-reported anxiety and stress symptoms. Conclusions: VR may be a potent tool for assessing exploratory behaviors in a controlled, yet ecologically valid, environment that avoids issues related to self-report. However, whether such motivations translate to established curiosity constructs warrants further research. This study also provided preliminary insights into how assessing exploratory interactions in VR may be a promising avenue that could enhance the understanding of the etiology and assessment of DS—particularly its early stages.
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Biomarker of Epigenetic Aging Could Signal Depression

Research led by New York University suggests a marker of epigenetic aging could be linked to depression.

The team found that accelerated aging of a type of white blood cell called a monocyte was significantly associated with the psychological and cognitive expressions of depression in a group of women with and without HIV.

“Depression is not a one-size-fits-all disorder—it can look really different from person to person, which is why it’s so important to consider varied presentations and not just a clinical label,” said lead researcher Nicole Beaulieu Perez, PhD, assistant professor at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing, in a press statement.

“Our study reveals unique biological underpinnings of mental health that are often obscured by broad diagnostic categories.”

As reported in The Journals of Gerontology Series A, the researchers analyzed blood samples and depression scores from 440 women, 261 living with HIV and 179 without, from the Women’s Interagency HIV Study. They tested women with HIV as people with this disease and others affecting the immune system are at greater risk of depression than the general public.

The team looked at biological aging using two epigenetic clocks: a broad multi-tissue clock and a monocyte-specific clock that measures chemical modifications to DNA in these cells.

Depression was measured using the CES-D questionnaire, which separates physical, bodily expressions of depression such as fatigue, appetite loss, and agitation from psychological and cognitive expressions of the disorder such as hopelessness, anhedonia, and feelings of failure.

Accelerated monocyte aging was significantly associated with the psychological and cognitive expressions of depression and with anhedonia specifically, even after adjusting for HIV status, race, and ethnicity. The broader multi-tissue Horvath clock showed no association with any depression domain, suggesting it is the monocyte-specific aging signal, not generalized biological aging, that tracks with mood and cognitive symptoms.

Diagnosis of depression relies largely on self-reported symptoms and not a specific physiological test. The finding that monocyte aging maps onto cognitive and mood symptoms rather than physical ones is counterintuitive, since monocytes are inflammatory cells that one might expect to track physical, inflammation-driven complaints like fatigue.

The study is small and cross-sectional, so causality cannot yet be established, but if the claims of the study were validated it could help to personalize treatment for depression in the future.

“The dynamics of monocyte aging and depression warrant further study to clarify mechanistic links,” conclude the authors.

“Our findings bring us a step closer to this goal of precision mental health care, especially for high-risk populations, by providing a biological framework that could guide future diagnosis and treatment,” adds Beaulieu Perez.

The post Biomarker of Epigenetic Aging Could Signal Depression appeared first on Inside Precision Medicine.

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The Child Mind Institute Names Dr. Vera Feuer as Chief Clinical Officer

Feuer brings more than two decades of clinical leadership to inaugural role 

New York, NY – The Child Mind Institute, an independent nonprofit dedicated to transforming the lives of children affected by mental health disorders, today announced Vera Feuer, MD, as the organization’s first-ever Chief Clinical Officer. A seasoned specialist in pediatric and adolescent mental health, Dr. Feuer will oversee clinical strategy, including patient care in the New York City and San Francisco Bay Area offices, and help drive innovation across treatment and research. 

Dr. Feuer most recently served as Vice President of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Northwell Health and is a professor of psychiatry, pediatrics, and emergency medicine at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell Health. A board-certified psychiatrist, she brings more than 20 years of clinical expertise and leadership in pediatric and adolescent mental health and crisis care to the Child Mind Institute. She has helped pioneer innovative standards of care in pediatric crisis behavioral health care and suicide prevention, and she has led the development of programs for the pediatric medical community and school district partnerships to expand mental health care access for students.  

“I am thrilled to join the Child Mind Institute and beyond excited to bring my extensive experience of working with youth and families, creating access to care and innovative program development, and to work with this remarkable team,” Dr. Feuer says. “Together we will deepen access to high-quality, evidence-based care and develop programs that meet the needs of kids where they are.” 

Dr. Feuer will provide strategic oversight to a multidisciplinary team of more than 70 clinicians who deliver over 70,000 patient appointments annually, ensuring continued excellence in delivering care, developing school-based programs, and establishing community partnerships while expanding access to high-quality mental health services. As a member of the Child Mind Institute’s executive leadership, Dr. Feuer will be instrumental in shaping the organization’s clinical vision, providing medical expertise to improve outcomes for children and families and guiding the integration of research through data-driven approaches that advance care and innovation. 

“At a time when youth mental health needs are more urgent than ever, Dr. Feuer’s exceptional leadership brings crucial guidance to meet this moment,” says Harold S. Koplewicz, MD, founding president and medical director of the Child Mind Institute. “Our mission has always been to transform how families access and experience mental health care. With Dr. Feuer at the helm as our Chief Clinical Officer, we remain steadfast in our commitment to strengthening our clinical foundation, shaping the future of mental health and helping families nationwide.” 

To learn more, visit childmind.org, and read Dr. Feuer’s full biography. 

About the Child Mind Institute 

The Child Mind Institute is dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders by giving them the help they need. We’ve become the leading independent nonprofit in children’s mental health by providing gold-standard, evidence-based care, delivering educational resources to millions of families each year, training educators in underserved communities, and developing tomorrow’s breakthrough treatments. 

Visit Child Mind Institute on social media: Instagram, Facebook, X, LinkedIn 

For press questions, contact our press team at childmindinstitute@ssmandl.com or our media officer at mediaoffice@childmind.org. 

The post The Child Mind Institute Names Dr. Vera Feuer as Chief Clinical Officer appeared first on Child Mind Institute.

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Excessive Internet use and depressive symptom levels in adolescents with depressive disorders: chain mediation of social anxiety and sleep quality

BackgroundAdolescents with depressive disorders are at elevated risk for adverse mental health outcomes, and excessive Internet use has been increasingly linked to greater symptom severity. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the chain mediating roles of social anxiety and sleep quality in the association between excessive Internet use and depressive symptoms among adolescents with depressive disorders.MethodsA cross-sectional design was used. A total of 266 Chinese adolescents with clinically diagnosed depressive disorders (M = 15.79 years, SD = 1.85; 71.4% female) were assessed using the Internet Addiction Test, Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, Social Anxiety Scale for Children, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Correlation analyses and bootstrapping methods were conducted using SPSS and the PROCESS macro to examine the chain mediating effects of social anxiety and sleep quality.ResultsThe total indirect effect of excessive Internet use on depressive symptoms accounted for 65.66% of the total effect. Specifically, the indirect effects via social anxiety and sleep quality accounted for 24.10% and 26.51% of the total effect, respectively. In addition, the chain mediating effect of social anxiety and sleep quality was significant, accounting for 14.76% of the total effect.ConclusionExcessive Internet use was positively associated with more severe depressive symptoms among adolescents with depressive disorders, both directly and indirectly through the chain mediating effects of social anxiety and sleep quality. These findings highlight potential targets for preventing and intervening in excessive Internet use among this population.
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Adverse childhood experiences and non-suicidal self-injury in adolescents: the roles of depressive symptoms and teacher care

BackgroundNon-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) has become an increasingly prominent mental health problem during adolescence and often co-occurs with depressive symptoms, anxiety, personality-related difficulties, and experiences of childhood trauma, forming a complex psychosocial risk structure. From a risk and protective factor perspective, the present study examined the associations among adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), depressive symptoms, perceived teacher care, and NSSI among Chinese adolescents.MethodsThe participants were 2,221 junior high school students from three schools in China. Data were collected using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, the Adolescent Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Questionnaire, a depression scale, and a teacher care scale.ResultsAdverse childhood experiences and depressive symptoms were significantly positively associated with NSSI, whereas perceived teacher care was significantly negatively associated with NSSI. Higher levels of ACE exposure and more severe depressive symptoms were associated with higher levels of NSSI, while higher levels of teacher care were associated with lower levels of NSSI. Moreover, among adolescents reporting higher levels of perceived teacher care, the positive associations between ACEs and NSSI and between depressive symptoms and NSSI were attenuated, suggesting that teacher care, as an external support resource in the school context, may play an important protective role.ConclusionsAdverse childhood experiences and depressive symptoms are important risk factors for adolescent NSSI, whereas teacher care plays a significant protective role in the school context. School-based prevention and intervention efforts should prioritize adolescents with high levels of ACE exposure and pronounced depressive symptoms, while strengthening teacher care to enhance protective resources. Future research should further explore how specific dimensions and timing of ACEs, trajectories of depressive symptoms, and multiple sources of social support jointly influence the development and maintenance of NSSI in adolescents.