Behavioral Health News
President Biden to Announce Strategy to Address Our National Mental Health Crisis
In his first State of the Union, the President will outline a unity agenda consisting of policy where there has historically been support from both Republicans and Democrats, and call on Congress to send bills to his desk to deliver progress for the American people. [...]
A Path Forward: Vanderbilt research provides new insights and possible solutions into mental health crisis
When the COVID-19 pandemic first hit in the spring of 2020, it was a phenomenon unlike any the modern world had seen. “The fact that a virus can seemingly come out of nowhere, float in the air and put your life or the lives of [...]
US facing a mental health crisis, especially those 18 – 29 years old
A mental health crisis besets young adults in the U.S. to such an extent that more than a third (35%) of individuals ages 18 through 29 years old said that they could not work nor engage in other activities of daily living, according to a [...]
NPR: What’s Really Causing America’s Mental Health Crisis?
This week the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force announced recommendations that doctors screen all patients under 65 for anxiety. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we've heard about sharp increases in the number of people suffering from mental health problems. With a health care system [...]
Addiction Treatment News
DEA Seized Enough Fentanyl to Kill Every American in 2022
The Drug Enforcement Administration on Tuesday said it has seized more than 379 million deadly doses of fentanyl this year, as the country continues to struggle with an epidemic of drug overdose deaths. The seizures include 50.6 million pills laced with the ultra-deadly synthetic opioid [...]
Telehealth Proving To Be A Lifeline For Substance Use Disorder Patients
Telehealth has offered a safe, viable option to patients with substance-use disorder (SUD) during the COVID-19 pandemic and, in some ways, has potentially made care more accessible. Phone or video calls can help reduce the stigma wrongly linked with obtaining effective SUD treatment, and the [...]
Annual Economic Toll of Opioid Epidemic Reaches $1.3 Trillion
Sam Rivera used to wake up every morning and brace himself for the inevitable call: another person found dead of an opioid overdose in a park or a bathroom or an alley. But that started to change on Nov. 30, when New York City opened [...]
Availability of Telehealth Improves Treatment Outcomes For Opioid Addiction
Medications such as methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone can be highly effective for treating opioid use disorder. But these are heavily regulated in the United States, which can impede their use. During the COVID-19 pandemic, health agencies used emergency authorities to allow opioid treatment programs to [...]
The Costs of the Opioid Epidemic Reached Nearly $1.5 Trillion in 2020
Today, in Recognition of National recovery Month, the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC)—led by Chairman Don Beyer (D-VA)—released a new analysis that finds the opioid epidemic cost the United States a record of nearly $1.5 trillion in 2020. This is up 37% from 2017, [...]
