APA Blogs
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Video-based Program Helps Reduce Anxiety
Technology is increasingly being used in many ways to help meet needs for mental health services and support. For example, apps can help track your mood or symptoms and can help connect you to providers or other support. Among the barriers that technology may help overcome are access to care, cost and stigma. Despite increased awareness and acceptance of mental health care, many people are reluctant to seek help.
100 Day Step Challenge for Mental Health
Many employers offer wellness programs for their employees. A team of researchers in Australia wanted to explore the potential mental health benefits of a short-term workplace wellness program. Their study involved nearly 2,000 participants in a 100-day, 10,000-step challenge program. They found a small, but consistent effect on several measures of mental health over the term of the program. The positive mental health effect appeared regardless of whether a person reached the 10,000-step goal.
How to Help When Dementia Leads to Agitation
Dementia is a rapidly growing public health problem affecting around 50 million people around the world, according to a recent World Health Organization (WHO) report. It is a major cause of disability and dependency among adults, often causing significant caregiving and financial stress on families. People with dementia may develop agitation or psychosis which can be very challenging for caregivers. Agitation is a state of excessive physical movement or aggression associated with emotional distress.
Teachers’ Mental Health and Well-being Linked to Students’ Mental Health and Well-Being
Teachers have important roles in the lives of the children they teach. That influence extends into the realm of mental health and well-being, according to research published in the Journal of Affective Disorders. Researchers found that teachers’ mental health and well-being was associated with the mental health and well-being of their students.
FDA Approves Novel Depression Treatment
Last month, esketamine nasal spray became the first treatment for depression with a new mechanism of action approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since Prozac (fluoxetine hydrochloride) was approved in the late 1980s. Esketamine (sold as Spravato) has the potential to be extremely useful for people who have not responded to other treatments. Used in combination with an oral anti-depressant, it can take effect much faster than many common antidepressant medications. However, it comes with specific restrictions on its distribution and usage, potentially serious side effects, a high cost, and cautions from experts including the potential for misuse or dependence.