The Week in Review: May 22-26

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This week, Psychiatric Times® discussed a wide variety of psychiatric issues and industry updates, from the new Surgeon General’s Advisory on Social Media and Youth Mental Health to our exclusive coverage of the 2023 American Psychiatric Association (APA) Annual Meeting. Here are some highlights from the week.

US Surgeon General Issues Advisory on Impact of Social Media on Youth Mental Health

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US Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, MD, MBA, released an advisory about the effects of social media on the mental health of children and adolescents. In response to the national youth mental health crisis, the Surgeon General’s Advisory on Social Media and Youth Mental Health explores the current evidence on the positive and negative effects of social media usage on youth, noting that up to 95% of youth aged 13 to 17 years report using at least 1 social media platform, and more than a third report using social media platforms “almost constantly.”

The advisory also identifies the biggest concerns related to mental health and wellbeing; suggests opportunities for additional research to better understand the full impact of social media; and recommends some steps stakeholders can take to make social media safer for youth. Continue Reading

Poster Examines Accuracy of DID Information on TikTok, YouTube

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Recognizing the proliferation of mental health videos on TikTok and YouTube, researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston sought to examine the accuracy of the information presented. Overall, they found the quality of information was dependent on the source and varied as a result, according to a poster presented at the 2023 American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting.

The team chose to research dissociative disorder (DID), since DID is popular in media, movies, and social media platforms. They conducted searches for the terms dissociative identity disorder, multiple personality disorder, and split personality disorder, and found the top 60 videos for each term and on each platform based on most liked and most viewed. Exclusion criteria for videos included those that were shorter than 1 minute, longer than 20 minutes, not in English, duplicated videos, and irrelevant. Ultimately, 60 videos per platform were chosen. Continue Reading

Aerobic Exercise: Benefits Following Brain Injury

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Following a traumatic brain injury (TBI), aerobic exercise promotes cardiovascular fitness, cognitive recovery, and reductions in mood disorders.

Cardiorespiratory Fitness

Physical inactivity, increased sedentary behavior, and greater perceived fatigue are commonly reported following TBI.2 Chin et al3 enrolled a small sample of adults with nonpenetrating TBI in a 12-week aerobic training program to assess the impact of vigorous exercise on cardiorespiratory fitness. Participants (N=10) completed a cardiopulmonary exercise test measuring gas exchange during exercise (ie, oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide output), and completed the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) at baseline and following the 12-week exercise training.

Participants engaged in supervised exercise training on a treadmill for 30 minutes, 3 times per week at a vigorous intensity, maintaining 70% to 80% of heart rate reserve. At the training completion, statistically significant changes were noted in peak oxygen consumption, time to fatigue, and peak work rate. Participants also reported considerably lower fatigue as evidenced by statistically significant decreases in FSS composite scores. Continue Reading

PLUS: See our exclusive video coverage of the 2023 APA Annual Meeting from throughout the week, featuring experts from a wide variety of psychiatric specialties, at psychiatrictimes.com/conferences/apa.

See more recent coverage from Psychiatric Times here. And be sure to stay up-to-date by subscribing to the Psychiatric Times E-newsletter.

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