Mental health and drinking to cope in the early COVID period: Data from the 2019-2020 US National Alcohol Survey

Objective: To study the occurrence of death anxiety among hemodialysis patients before and during COVID-19.Study Design: Longitudinal study.Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out from November 2019 to May 2020 at Pakistan KidneyPatients Association, Rawalpindi.Materials and Methods: Data was collected, with formal written consent,from hemodialysis patients, throughconvenient sampling technique in two phases. In phase I, pre COVID 19 pandemic period data of 110 subjectsand inphase II, COVID 19 pandemic era, data of 83 subjectswerecollected. Demographic variablesand deathanxiety scale were used for descriptive analysis.Results: The study results have shown that patients, in the pre pandemic period, had mild level of death anxiety,despite having comorbid chronic illnesses like diabetes mellitus, hypertension, depression and hepatitis.However, during COVID 19 pandemic death anxiety experienced among the participants, ranged between mildto severe level.Conclusion: The surge in new cases of COVID-19 and deaths, together with the barrage of information to whichpopulation is submitted through media, care takers and doctors has influenced the mentality of patients,resulting into variation in death anxiety among hemodialysis patients. It is concluded that occurrence of deathanxiety before and during COVID -19 influence the mental health of patients.

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Drinking motivations in UK serving and ex-serving military personnel

Occupational Medicine ◽

10.1093/occmed/kqaa003 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 70 (4) ◽

pp. 259-267 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

P Irizar ◽

D Leightley ◽

S Stevelink ◽

R Rona ◽

N Jones ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Military Personnel ◽

Help Seeking ◽

Alcohol Misuse ◽

Social Pressure ◽

Post Traumatic Stress ◽

Drinking To Cope ◽

Interview Survey ◽

The Uk ◽

At Home

Abstract Background Drinking motivations within the UK military have not been studied despite the high prevalence of alcohol misuse in this group. Aims We aimed to characterize drinking motivations and their demographic, military and mental health associations in UK serving and ex-serving personnel. Methods Serving and ex-serving personnel reporting mental health, stress or emotional problems occurring in the last 3 years were selected from an existing cohort study. A semi-structured telephone interview survey examined participants’ mental health, help-seeking, alcohol use and drinking motivations. Results Exploratory factor analysis of drinking motivations in military personnel (n = 1279; response rate = 84.6%) yielded 2 factors, labelled ‘drinking to cope’ and ‘social pressure’. Higher drinking to cope motivations were associated with probable anxiety (rate ratio [RR] = 1.4; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.3–1.5), depression (RR = 1.3; 95% CI = 1.2–1.4) and post-traumatic stress disorder (RR = 1.4; 95% CI = 1.3–1.6). Higher social pressure motivations were associated with probable anxiety (odds ratio = 1.1; 95% CI = 1.0–1.1). Alcohol misuse and binge drinking were associated with reporting higher drinking to cope motivations, drinking at home and drinking alone. Conclusions Amongst military personnel with a stress, emotional or mental health problem, those who drink to cope with mental disorder symptoms or because of social pressure, in addition to those who drink at home or drink alone, are more likely to also drink excessively.

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Evaluating Mental Health Services; How Do Programs for Children “Work” in the Real World? Edited by Carol T. Nixon & Denine A. Northrup. Sage, Thousand Oaks CA, 1997. pp. 306. £16.60 (pb).

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry ◽

10.1017/s0021963098222918 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 39 (6) ◽

pp. 935-936

Author(s):

Anne Worrall-Davies

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Services ◽

Health Services ◽

Real World ◽

The Real

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Therapy and prevention for mental health: What if mental diseases are mostly not brain disorders?

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x1800105x ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 42 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

John P. A. Ioannidis

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Disease ◽

Brain Disorders ◽

Social Stressors ◽

Labor Education ◽

Mental Diseases ◽

Long Term Follow Up ◽

Political Decisions

AbstractNeurobiology-based interventions for mental diseases and searches for useful biomarkers of treatment response have largely failed. Clinical trials should assess interventions related to environmental and social stressors, with long-term follow-up; social rather than biological endpoints; personalized outcomes; and suitable cluster, adaptive, and n-of-1 designs. Labor, education, financial, and other social/political decisions should be evaluated for their impacts on mental disease.

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A Tribute to the Late William J. Curran

The Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics ◽

10.1017/s1073110500004058 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 24 (3) ◽

pp. 274-275

Author(s):

O. Lawrence ◽

J.D. Gostin

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Health Care ◽

Mental Illness ◽

United Nations ◽

Mental Health Care ◽

Harvard University ◽

Legal Medicine ◽

General Assembly ◽

International Institute ◽

University Professor

In the summer of 1979, a group of experts on law, medicine, and ethics assembled in Siracusa, Sicily, under the auspices of the International Commission of Jurists and the International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Science, to draft guidelines on the rights of persons with mental illness. Sitting across the table from me was a quiet, proud man of distinctive intelligence, William J. Curran, Frances Glessner Lee Professor of Legal Medicine at Harvard University. Professor Curran was one of the principal drafters of those guidelines. Many years later in 1991, after several subsequent re-drafts by United Nations (U.N.) Rapporteur Erica-Irene Daes, the text was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly as the Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness and for the Improvement of Mental Health Care. This was the kind of remarkable achievement in the field of law and medicine that Professor Curran repeated throughout his distinguished career.

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Prevalence of Self-Reported Depression Symptoms and Perceived Anxiety Among Community-Dwelling U.S. Adults Reporting Tinnitus

Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups ◽

10.1044/2020_persp-19-00178 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

pp. 959-970

Author(s):

Kelly M. Reavis ◽

James A. Henry ◽

Lynn M. Marshall ◽

Kathleen F. Carlson

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Fold Increase ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Self Report ◽

Depression Symptoms ◽

Community Based Interventions ◽

Data Set ◽

Health Distress ◽

Validated Questionnaire ◽

Mental Health Distress

Purpose The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between tinnitus and self-reported mental health distress, namely, depression symptoms and perceived anxiety, in adults who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examinations Survey between 2009 and 2012. A secondary aim was to determine if a history of serving in the military modified the associations between tinnitus and mental health distress. Method This was a cross-sectional study design of a national data set that included 5,550 U.S. community-dwelling adults ages 20 years and older, 12.7% of whom were military Veterans. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the association between tinnitus and mental health distress. All measures were based on self-report. Tinnitus and perceived anxiety were each assessed using a single question. Depression symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire, a validated questionnaire. Multivariable regression models were adjusted for key demographic and health factors, including self-reported hearing ability. Results Prevalence of tinnitus was 15%. Compared to adults without tinnitus, adults with tinnitus had a 1.8-fold increase in depression symptoms and a 1.5-fold increase in perceived anxiety after adjusting for potential confounders. Military Veteran status did not modify these observed associations. Conclusions Findings revealed an association between tinnitus and both depression symptoms and perceived anxiety, independent of potential confounders, among both Veterans and non-Veterans. These results suggest, on a population level, that individuals with tinnitus have a greater burden of perceived mental health distress and may benefit from interdisciplinary health care, self-help, and community-based interventions. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12568475

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