Recovery Update

Spending too much time scrolling through social media and watching more television has been linked with symptoms of depression in young people — and a new study reveals to what extent screen time and depression may be intertwined. For every additional hour young people spend on social media or watching television, the severity of depressive symptoms they experience goes up, according to a study published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics recently.

Youth with chronic physical conditions (CPCs) are at an increased risk for mental illness, according to nationwide cohort data published in Pediatrics. In addition, activity limitations may contribute to the development of mental health conditions. Investigators abstracted data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), an annually conducted, nationally representative survey of the U.S. population.

Millions of Americans use compounded drugs created by a pharmacist or physician who combines, mixes, or changes a drug's ingredients to meet individuals' needs. They trust the 7,500 or so compounding pharmacies that do this work. That trust is sometimes misplaced. In 2012, for example, contaminated steroid painkillers mass-produced by the now-defunct New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Massachusetts, killed more than 100 people and sickened more than 750 others in 20 states.

A state Department of Mental Health patient suffocated to death earlier this year at the bottom of a dogpile of agency employees who failed to follow the department’s training on physically restraining patients. At least three of the employees involved in the death of 35-year-old William Avant had not been trained properly, according to an ongoing probe by state health regulators reviewed by The State as part of the newspaper's weeks-long investigation into Avant’s death.

A growing number of people in the St. Louis region are seeking mental health treatment in hospital emergency rooms, according to a recent report from the St. Louis and St. Louis County health departments. The report’s authors found the rate of people seeking mental health care in emergency rooms increased more than 40% in both the city and the county between 2010 and 2016, indicating people can’t get access to long-term care for chronic issues, health officials say.

On Sept. 17-18, join PRA and the National Council for Behavioral Health for Hill Day 2019 in Washington, D.C. Registration for the Capitol Hill visits is free and includes breakfast on Wednesday, Sept. 18. Hill Day provides hundreds of behavioral health providers, consumers, family members, board members, administrators and community stakeholders access to sessions and workshops on federal behavioral health policy, followed by visits with their elected officials on Capitol Hill to advocate for better resources for mental health and addiction treatment across the country.

PRA Certification examinations are now available 365 days per year! Candidates applying to sit for an exam will no longer need to choose a narrow testing window, allowing more flexibility for your busy schedules. If you sit for an exam, your results will be processed at the end of each quarter, with score reports arriving approximately one month following the end of each quarter (i.e. Jan-Mar exams will be scored and results sent around April 30).