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By Science Daily, December 19, 2019 Between 30 to 50 percent of youth in the United States diagnosed with an anxiety disorder fail to respond to cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT). A new study in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP), published by Elsevier, reports that computer-based attention training could reduce anxiety in children and adolescents. "CBT is the leading evidence-based psychosocial treatment," said co-lead author Jeremy Pettit, PhD, a...

By Robert Yolken, Cassie Stallings, Andrea Origoni, et al., Plos One, December 2, 2019 Abstract Background Serious psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have been associated with environmental exposures in early life. Contact with household pets such as cats and dogs can serve as a source of environmental exposure during these time periods. Methods We investigated the relationship between exposure to a household pet cat or dog during the first 12 years of life and...

By Jeffrey Vanderploeg, Hartford Courant, December 22, 2019 The statistics are sobering. Rates of depression, anxiety and suicide among teens are on the rise, and by the time our children reach the age of 17, more than 70 percent will have experienced at least one traumatic event, such as physical or sexual abuse or witnessing serious violence in their home or community. Schools and pediatricians say they are seeing more children struggling, with more intensive needs. Too often, our state’s...

By Science Daily, December 20, 2019 Ten years after the publication of their first plan for powering the world with wind, water, and solar, researchers offer an updated vision of the steps that 143 countries around the world can take to attain 100% clean, renewable energy by the year 2050. The new roadmaps, publishing December 20 in the journal One Earth, follow up on previous work that formed the basis for the energy portion of the U.S. Green New Deal and other state, city, and business...

By Katie Willis, University of Alberta, December 20, 2019 New research from University of Alberta neuroscientists shows that the brains of adolescents struggling with mental-health issues may be wired differently from those of their healthy peers. This collaborative research, led by Anthony Singhal, professor and chair in the Department of Psychology, involved adolescents between the ages of 14 and 17 who had a history of mental-health problems, including depression, anxiety, and ADHD. This...

By Daniel G. Whitney and Mark D. Peterson, JAMA Pediatrics, February 11, 2019 In children, mental health disorders have deleterious consequences on individual and socioeconomic factors and can impede healthful transitioning into adulthood, and the incidence of mental health disorders has been increasing over the decades. Recent initiatives led by global and national agencies were created to identify priority focus areas regarding the mental health–related burden. Some of the emerging...

By Laura Bauer, The Kansas City Star, December 22, 2019 In a hallway inside Indiana’s Capitol, the young man walks up to a state senator and gives her a quick hug. “Hey, it’s Josh Christian,” he tells Sen. Erin Houchin, a member of the Senate’s child welfare committee. “I went to Capitol Hill and I got published. It was crazy!” The encounter would have seemed more than unlikely just a few years ago, when Christian was one of the thousands of kids in Indiana’s foster care system. In about 18...

By Rachel Levin, San Francisco Chronicle, December 20, 2019 “I’m not a betting man, but if I was, I’d put my money on Fidelio,” says Markelle “The Gazelle” Taylor, winner of the 12th annual San Quentin Marathon — and the three before that. He isn’t running this year. The 26.2-mile race, held inside the 30-foot walls of what’s got to be the prettiest prison in America, is for inmates only. Prettiest, at least, when viewed from the outside, where the sparkling San Francisco Bay stretches to...

By Rachel O'Neal, Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette, December 22, 2019 One of the largest -- if not the largest -- provider of toys and gifts to the Centers for Youth & Families is a Little Rock tattoo parlor. Empire Tattoo and its manager, John Rhe'aume, host Toys for Tats, a Nov. 1-Dec. 18 fundraiser to collect toys for the children at the Centers. Toys for Tats is in its fifth year. Customers who bring in a toy worth at least $20 with a receipt receive 50% off the cost of a tattoo.

By Claudia Boyd-Barrett, California Health Report, December 20, 2019 California health officials are gearing up for the launch of a statewide screening effort that aims to help doctors measure children’s exposure to trauma and their risk of related health problems. Starting Jan. 1, California will become the first state in the nation to reimburse health care providers who screen patients enrolled in the Medi-Cal program for “adverse childhood experiences” or ACEs. The $40 million effort has...

By Steve Milne, Capital Public Radio, December 20, 2019 One of the last pieces of legislation from former California Gov. Jerry Brown’s final year in office would end the prosecution of pre-teens who commit crimes, other than murder and forcible sexual assault. Right now, California has no minimum age for sending children to juvenile hall. Beginning in the new year, counties will no longer be allowed to process kids under 12 years old through the juvenile justice system. Instead, they will...

By Gabriel J.X. Dance, The New York Times, December 23, 2019 In late November, the moderator of three highly trafficked websites posted a message titled “R.I.P.” It offered a convoluted explanation for why they were left with no choice but to close. The unnamed moderator thanked over 100,000 “brothers” who had visited and contributed to the sites before their demise, blaming an “increasingly intolerant world” that did not allow children to “fully express themselves.” In fact, forums on the...