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Filipino-American faculty college students’ psychological well being suffered throughout Covid

Filipino-American college students' mental health suffered during Covid

When Covid-19 cases soared nationwide during the first few months of the pandemic, Amelia Catacutan said that her mental health was at an “all-time low.”

Catacutan, a Filipino-American college student entering her sophomore year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said it was hard to cope with the social isolation, virtual learning environment and anxiety over her family’s well-being plus the rise in anti-Asian hate during the pandemic.

As she adapted to this new reality, Catacutan said she felt like she was being crushed by more and more stress and anxiety piling on top of her, making it difficult to express her emotions and go about her daily life.

Amelia Catacunan, a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Source: Ciboney Reglos

Catacutan was not alone in experiencing mental health struggles. Nearly half (46%) of Asian-Americans reported anxiety during the pandemic and 15% reported depressive symptoms, according to a Stop AAPI Hate survey.

But another survey conducted by the UC Davis Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies during the first half of 2020 indicates that the pandemic may have had a higher impact on the mental health of Filipino-Americans in particular.

The Filipinx Count Survey found that 81% of Filipino-Americans reported anxiety during the pandemic and 73% experienced depression.

For Filipino-American college students, there were a lot of factors that took a toll on their mental health.

 “The pandemic was just a recipe for disaster for so many Filipino-American students,” said Christine Catipon, a licensed clinical psychologist in Los Angeles, who works with college students. “They had to balance family duties and working on top of a more rigorous learning environment, like every student did, but also had stressors like moving back into a multigenerational household with intergenerational conflict, cultural pressures, fears about their family’s well-being as health workers and more,” Catipon said.

Family members on the front lines

Catipon said many of her clients had heightened anxiety about family members who were health-care or essential workers during the pandemic. She noted that they had a “constant fear” of those front-line family members contracting the virus.

This was true for Catacutan. She said one of the major sources of her mental health struggles during the pandemic was having parents who worked as health-care workers in the Covid units of their respective hospitals.

Filipinos make up a large portion of the health-care industry in the U.S., with 4% of registered nurses nationwide being Filipino, according to a 2020 report from National Nurses United. During the pandemic, nearly 32% of registered nurses in the nation who have died of Covid-19 and related complications were Filipino, the report said.

More from College Voices:
College graduates are struggling to make up for the ‘lost year’ created by the coronavirus pandemic
Why Black and Latinx women are more likely to struggle with impostor syndrome—and how to overcome it
Women in STEM: 3 Challenges we face ̶ and how to overcome them

Catacutan said this disproportionate impact of the pandemic on Filipino health workers brought her a substantial amount of stress and anxiety. With her parents working on the frontline, she said she worried tirelessly about their safety, was left to take over household responsibilities and even decided to quit her part-time job at a local restaurant.

“I had to put a lot of things on hold, like my job, just to make sure that I wasn’t risking their safety even more and that I could take care of the house,” Catacutan said.

But Catacutan said her decision to quit her part-time job was also due to heightened anxiety over the rise in hate towards Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, or AAPI, during the pandemic.

Racism targeting Asian-Americans is nothing new in the U.S. There were actually federal policies that barred immigration from Asia until 1965. But inflammatory political rhetoric about the coronavirus, such as the term “China virus,” prompted a surge in hate crimes against AAPI during the pandemic, according to Stop AAPI Hate.

For example, Anti-Asian hate crimes in 16 of America’s largest cities increased by nearly 150% in 2020, according to data collected by the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. The data also indicated that the first spike occurred in March and April, the outset of the Covid pandemic when the harmful rhetoric first proliferated.

Catacutan said the rise in AAPI hate stoked anxiety about her own safety, which played a role in her decision to quit her part-time job.

“I had people who refused to touch me when I worked because they were scared that I carried the virus. It was really hurtful and felt really, really othering,” Catacutan said. “I ended up quitting, partly because the industry was a bit slow, but also because I was starting to receive racial remarks. I didn’t feel safe.”

The stress of moving back home

Catipon, who works with college students, noted that many of her Filipino-American clients experienced a decline in their mental health after moving back home with their family during the pandemic.

Catipon said when students go home, they may encounter intergenerational conflict with their immigrant parents, which refers to a disparity in values between different generations.

For example, some Filipino immigrant parents may have differing beliefs about racial issues, an over-emphasis on academics, or may be prone to unsolicited comments about their child’s appearance and life, she said.

This was the case for Carolene Ulep, a rising fifth year at Texas Tech University, who said her mental health worsened after sheltering at home with her family during the pandemic.

Ulep pointed to “toxic” Filipino family dynamics, recounting a time when her dad made unsolicited comments about her appearance. While Ulep said her dad did not intend to hurt her, she said his comments stuck with her long after.

“When he makes those kinds of comments, or when my mom makes comments about things I should be doing when I already have so much on my plate, I start thinking that I can do so much more. But in reality, I can’t,” Ulep said. “So, it’s difficult because I feel pressure to please my parents about these things, but at the same time, I know it’s my life.”

Carolene Ulep, a fifth year student at Texas Tech University

Source: Ashley Parker

Ulep added that Filipino family dynamics also include showing the utmost respect to elders, which leaves her unable to correct her parents when they make hurtful comments.

Roy Taggueg, the author of the Filipinx Count Survey and a Ph.D. student at UC Davis, also underscored the academic pressures that Filipino-American college students face when they move back home, and how it impacts their mental health.

“The pandemic puts students under really intense scrutiny of their parents when it comes to school since many had to go back home,” Taggueg said. “Students get stressed trying to meet their parents’ expectations to do well, and it goes back to the whole idea of ‘utang na loob.’”

“Utang na loob” is a Filipino cultural value that translates to “debt of gratitude.” Taggueg said it describes when Filipinos feel a sense of debt towards their family members who have made sacrifices for them, such as bringing them to the U.S. from the Philippines, raising them and supporting them throughout their lives.

Catacutan said she felt this pressure to excel academically and to “make her parents proud.” She said it caused her to push herself to the extreme when it came to school and increased her mental stress as a result.

“My parents are both immigrants and they both came here from the bottom up. A big part of the pressure comes from feeling so grateful for them so that you feel like you have to spend all of your time accomplishing just so you can pay them back for everything – all the opportunities that they gave you,” Catacutan said.

“And it’s a constant drive from both them and myself to keep going and going. And I never really learned how to take a break, I just get too busy trying to attain the most,” Catacutan continued.

“Sometimes we think that’s what’s healthy for us and it’s not at all.”

No social outlet

Catacutan also said the pandemic left her with “no outlets” to relieve the heightened mental stress from school, pointing to the lack of social interaction.

This was a trend that Catipon, who works with college students, noticed among her own Filipino-American clients. She said for many students, socializing and spending time with peers served as a “respite” from stressors in their lives.

When pandemic shutdowns across the nation cut off the social lives of students, Catipon said their mental health issues were amplified and they were left with no way to cope with new stressors from the pandemic, such as the rise in AAPI hate and fears about their health-care worker parents contracting the virus.

This was true for Jolene Soriano, a rising junior at the University of Michigan, who said social isolation led to a decline in her mental health.

“The pandemic forced me to be in my room alone with my own thoughts a lot,” Soriano said. “I found that to be a very scary thing, because a lot of thoughts were not the greatest and the pandemic really brought out my feelings about the stressful things in my life.”

Jolene Soriano, a junior at the University of Michigan

Source: Kristina Mallabo

“There were plenty of moments during my second semester where I was so overwhelmed with everything,” Soriano continued. “Sometimes I would set off into a crying fit, or I’d start hyperventilating, and then it would feel like a downward spiral.”

Like Soriano, Ulep said her mental health reached a “low point” during pandemic shutdowns that left her unable to socialize with her peers.

She said social isolation led to loneliness and a significant loss in motivation, which became detrimental to her academic performance.

“I was so used to seeing my classmates and friends during school. Being in lockdown just made me really, really sad and unmotivated,” Ulep said. “I just had no sense of responsibility and I didn’t try my best or get the best grades.”

Prioritizing mental health

While Soriano’s mental health undoubtedly took a hit during the pandemic, she said she now feels “more in tune with it” as she prepares to return to in-person classes in the fall.

“As opposed to just ignoring the problems like I did before, the pandemic has forced me to really look at and prioritize my mental health,” Soriano said. “And as we go back to some sense of normalcy, I’m definitely more aware of it, and trying to make sure I’m taking care of myself in that regard.”

This represents the broader change that Taggueg said needs to occur within the Filipino-American diaspora.

Taggueg said many Filipino-Americans and Filpinos still don’t regard mental health as an issue.

“We have been categorized to be a quote-unquote ‘perfect’ migrant in the U.S. that doesn’t cause problems, that adapts to hardships and does what’s needed because we want to work hard,” Taggueg said.

“That outlook has been shaped by the history of colonialism in the Philippines and has been used by generations of Filipinos to make sense of the world. And when it comes to mental health, it doesn’t fit into that world,” he continued.

However, Taggueg said organizations like the Bulosan Center are making progress in researching and raising awareness about mental health issues among Filipino-Americans.

Resources to help

There are several resources available for Filipino-Americans struggling with their mental health, including the Asian American Psychological Association’s Division on Filipinx Americans. The organization promotes awareness of Filipino-American mental health and provides services such as therapy referrals.

The Filipino Mental Health Initiative of San Francisco is another resource that provides services for Filipino-Americans and aims to destigmatize mental health issues. While they are based in Northern California, they provide resources such as a free suicide hotline with trained and experienced counselors, in-person or virtual wellness workshops and “Mental Health First Aid” training in English and Tagalog, the national language of the Philippines.

Catipon recommended that college students of all backgrounds who are struggling with their mental health utilize the resources available on college campuses, such as counseling centers.

For those who are apprehensive about seeking counseling or therapy, Catipon encouraged attending workshops or peer mentoring groups within their local community.

Catacunan said that she is hoping to re-establish her “boundaries surrounding school” and focus on balancing her wants and needs.

“As stressful as school and navigating my professional life is, it isn’t everything. I want to reinvigorate my love for myself, my hobbies and the people and places around me,” Catacunan said, adding that it is important for college students to prioritize their mental health.

“There’s a reason students are considered ‘part-time’ or ‘full-time’ — being a student is a physically, mentally and emotionally draining job and sometimes we gloss over the fact that we are doing our best, especially in this altered society,” Catacunan said.

“You know your needs better than anyone else and listening to them is so important for your well-being,” she continued. “People tend to think of mental health as being one big entity when the reality is that it isn’t. It’s a multitude of little things that we neglect and that truly add up. So it’s important to take things step by step in order to thrive in the stressful conditions of academia.”

CNBC’s “College Voices″ is a series written by CNBC interns from universities across the country about getting their college education, managing their own money and launching their careers during these extraordinary times. Annika Kim Constantino is a senior at the University of California, Berkeley, studying media studies, music and journalism. She is an intern on CNBC’s politics desk. Her mentor is Dawn Kopecki. The series is edited by Cindy Perman.

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Choose might unseal some psychological well being data in Elizabeth Holmes case

Judge may unseal some mental health records in Elizabeth Holmes case

Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes (center) and her lawyer are leaving the court on June 15, 2021. Holmes is due to stand trial later this year on wire fraud and other charges.

CNBC

The federal judge in the fraud case of former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes is considering unsealing details of her psychological assessment as part of a media request to make parts of her case public.

Dow Jones & Co., publisher of the Wall Street Journal, petitioned the court to unseal documents in the Holmes case. Dow Jones attorneys said that around 40% of the documents in Holmes’ case are kept under lock and key.

“This is a very significant amount of material, as the court is painfully aware,” said John Cline, a Holmes attorney, during the hearing on Tuesday. “And Ms. Holmes’ view is that a significant portion of it can likely be unsealed at this point, but not all of it.”

The federal prosecutors support the motion to unseal parts of the case, stating that Holmes must be prepared if they are planning a mental health defense.

“The main thing we are dealing with is the continued sealing at the current level, including high-level issues including the defense of Ms. Holmes under Rule 12.2, and that hinders the preparation of the process by the government,” said Kelly Volkar, an assistant US attorney. Indication of a psychological defense. “The question is how far the seal will go.”

Prosecutors had Holmes examined by a psychological expert after defense lawyers announced that they were planning to hire a clinical psychologist to testify about a “mental illness or defect” related to the guilt issue.

Another set of documents that can potentially be unsealed is why Judge Edward Davila separated the trials of Holmes and her co-defendant Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani. Balwani was her business partner and served as COO at Theranos. The couple had a romantic relationship but never revealed it to their investors.

Holmes and Balwani’s relationship reportedly ended around the same time he left Theranos.

“I will reiterate that Mr. Balwani has never requested that any part of these trial files be filed under lock and key,” said Jeffrey Coopersmith, a Balwani attorney. “Dow Jones has had a sealed filing notification for a year and a half. You are filing this now. I think we understand why, they like to sell newspapers. It is on the eve of the trial of Ms. Holmes.”

Holmes and Balwani both face a dozen criminal wire fraud and conspiracies to bring wire fraud charges. Prosecutors say the two misled patients, doctors and investors about Theranos’ blood testing technology. Neither of them pleaded guilty.

In a July interview with CNBC, former Wall Street Journal reporter who exposed the Theranos scandal, John Carreyrou, said Holmes’ defense strategy may be blamed on her ex-boyfriend.

“A large part of her defense now seems to be blaming Sunny, basically telling the jury that Sunny kept her in his psychological grip,” said Carreyrou. “Your defense plans to take on the case that he was the older friend, 19 years older, who was really the puppeteer here, and she was the puppet. And obviously they’re going to see a psychologist to sort this out.”

Davila ordered Holmes and Balwani’s lawyers to look into which documents could be unsealed and redacted by the end of the week.

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Mother and father and caregivers reported psychological well being points extra usually than others through the pandemic, a C.D.C. examine says.

Parents and caregivers reported mental health issues more often than others during the pandemic, a C.D.C. study says.

Parents and unpaid caregivers of adults in the United States reported far higher rates of mental health issues during the coronavirus pandemic than people who held neither of those roles, federal researchers reported on Thursday.

About 70 percent of parents and adult caregivers — such as those tending to older people, for example — and about 85 percent of people who were both reported adverse mental health symptoms during the pandemic, versus about a third of people who did not hold those responsibilities, according to new research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study also found that people who were both parent and caregivers were eight times more likely to have seriously considered suicide than people who held neither role.

“These findings highlight that parents and caregivers, especially those balancing roles both as parents and caregivers, experienced higher levels of adverse mental health symptoms during the Covid-19 pandemic than adults without these responsibilities,” the authors said.

“Caregivers who had someone to rely on for support had lower odds of experiencing any adverse mental health symptoms,” they said.

The report follows innumerable anecdotes and several studies suggesting spikes in mental health problems among parents and caregivers during the pandemic. But the new C.D.C. report noted that “without prepandemic mental health data in this sample, whether adverse mental health symptoms were caused by or worsened by the pandemic is unknown.”

The study is based on data from online English-language surveys administered to panels of U.S. residents run by Qualtrics, a company that conducts commercial surveys, for the Covid-19 Outbreak Public Evaluation Initiative, an effort to track American attitudes and behaviors during the pandemic. The data was gathered from Dec. 6 to 27 last year, and from Feb. 16 to March 8 of this year, and relied on 10,444 respondents, weighted to match U.S. demographic data, 42 percent of whom identified as parents or adult caregivers.

The study noted that the results might not fully represent the U.S. population, because of factors like the surveys only being presented online and in English.

The surveys included screening items for depression, anxiety, Covid-19 trauma and stress-related disorders, and asked respondents whether they had experienced suicidal thinking in the past month. About half of the parent-caregivers who responded said that they had recently had suicidal thoughts.

Elizabeth A. Rohan, a health scientist at the C.D.C. and one of the study’s authors, said in an interview that what set this research apart was a large sample size and a broad definition of caregiver, which allowed for a more inclusive picture of people in that role.

“Our net captured more people than other surveys,” Dr. Rohan said.

Dr. Rohan said that the study reinforced the need to destigmatize mental health issues among caregivers and for better support systems. Communication is key, she said, and “it doesn’t have to be professional help.”

She added, “We cannot underestimate the importance of staying connected to one another,” which is helpful whether the person is “a trusted friend, a family member or a professional.”

If you are having thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK). You can find a list of additional resources at SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.

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When Your Job Harms Your Psychological Well being

When Your Job Harms Your Mental Health

“When you’re really stressed out and have a mental health issue you’re grappling with, it is very difficult to think more broadly about the team,” said John Quelch, dean of Miami Herbert Business School in Coral Gables, Florida. and co-author of the book “Compassionate Management of Mental Health in the Modern Workplace”. Even so, he added, “you have to try to get into your employer’s mind.”

Mental health problems were ubiquitous during the pandemic. A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that as of June 2020, 40 percent of adults in the United States were struggling with mental health problems or substance abuse.

It’s okay to be open and admit to yourself and those you trust that you’re in trouble, said Paul Gionfriddo, president and CEO of Mental Health America. In fact, he added, “Most good employers will ask, ‘What can I do to help you?'”

You can also choose to keep your concerns private and discuss them with your therapist, and that’s fine, too. Establishing healthy working boundaries is crucial, according to experts.

“Remember that you are a worthy and valuable person, regardless of your job role, productivity, and even how others might evaluate you,” said Dr. Burnett-Zigler. “When feelings of self-doubt and non-belonging arise, don’t lose the unique talents and ideas that you bring to the workplace.”

But say your efforts to improve your emotional wellbeing at work have failed or the work environment has become toxic. In this case, the experts say, it’s probably best to look for another job, especially if you are being mocked, threatened, or verbally abused by a manager.

It is illegal for an employer to discriminate against you just because you have a mental illness. And according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, if you have a qualifying condition like major depression or post-traumatic stress disorder, you are legally entitled to reasonable accommodation that would help you with your job – the ability to make schedules around, for example Bypass therapy appointments, a quiet office space, or permission to work from home.

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Psychedelic drug increase in psychological well being remedy nears actuality

Psychedelic drug boom in mental health treatment nears reality

Magic mushrooms are seen in a grow room in the Netherlands in this 2007 file photo.

Peter Dejong | AP

Entrepreneur Dick Simon has never shied away from speaking up about business topics other CEOs might find too stigmatized to touch. He has spent years dedicated to improving U.S. business relations with Iran, and more recently, the Boston-based CEO has embraced another passion: improving the market for and medical community’s understanding of how psychedelic drugs can be used to treat mental illness. It’s a health, and emerging health business, that Simon came to appreciate through the firsthand frustration of watching people in his life suffering — not just from mental illness, but from the failure of existing and costly medical treatments.

Drugs long stigmatized, such as psilocybin and MDMA, are rising in profile as mental illness treatment options. Just last week, results from a phase 3 trial of MDMA combined with talk therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder showed results that were impressive.

“This is a pivotal event,” said Elemer Piros, a biotech analyst at Roth Capital Partners who covers the emerging alternative mental health treatment space. “It may not seem humongous, but it is one of the best and most rigorously executed trials in the space. And the results corroborate what we have seen time and time again from smaller studies over the past two decades,” he said, referencing remission rates double that of a placebo. “The magical experiences kept showing up, but no one had the courage to take it through to regulators.”

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The results of the MDMA study, whose senior author is Rick Doblin, Ph.D., founder and executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), are expected to be published in Nature Medicine on Monday and FDA approval could come by 2023, according to a New York Times report.

A recent Imperial College London study of psilocybin use in depression reported in The New England Journal of Medicine also produced positive results. Before the end of the year, clinical results also are expected from a study involving Compass Pathways — which IPO’d late last year — using its approach of guided psilocybin experiences as a treatment for drug-resistant depression.

“People still believe that ‘your brain on drugs’ commercial is the truth rather than all scientific evidence on major therapeutic benefits,” said Simon, who heads the Psychedelic Medicines for Mental Health Group at entrepreneurial network YPO and also serves on an advisory council at Mass General Hospital on the topic. (Dr. Sharmin Ghaznavi, Mass General Hospital Assoc. Director, Center for the Neuroscience of Psychedelics, will speak at the CNBC Healthy Returns Summit on Tuesday, May 11.)

A focus on depression treatment outcomes

There are example of stigmatized drugs in FDA-approved medical usage, ketamine, for example, as an anesthesia since the 1970s, and ultimately, used on an “off-label” basis to treat depression based on the existing FDA authorization. In 2019, a Johnson & Johnson ketamine-derived treatment for drug-resistant depression was the first new approach for the mental health condition specifically approved by the FDA in decades.

The current treatment approach of helping people to live with depression and PTSD, and on medication, creates a patient population and cost factor that is a burden on the health-care system. That may ultimately help the new drug companies gain acceptance if the clinical trials results continue to be positive.

A close friend of Simon’s almost lost a child suffering from mental illness. The individual was looking at a prognosis of never going back to school, never being able to work, at best not being a danger to themselves with medication. “That was not a prognosis you want for a 20-year-old,” he said. “They had tried everything, and eventually out of complete desperation, they started learning about the potential for psychedelic-assisted therapies, and it worked,” he told CNBC in an interview conducted late last year.

Now, he says, that person is off medication, in a relationship and leading a normal professional life.

Mental illness is among the most costly medical expenses in the U.S., and it has a high cost to employers in lost productivity. In 2019, 51.5 million adults were living with a mental illness in the U.S., and the number of people suffering and drug costs, already in the tens of billions of dollars annually, are projected to grow in the years ahead, with Covid-19 compounding mental health issues globally.

Roughly 7% of Americans suffer depressive episodes annually, and roughly 1% are resistant to treatment, the latter associated with a significantly higher economic burden including hospitalization. Americans who suffer depressive episodes have additional bouts within 2-5 years at a rate exceeding 40%, according to a recent Cowen & Company research report on Compass Pathways, and that risk increases with each new depressive episode.

“Covid has done a lot of terrible things, but it has elevated mental health visibility, and as a result of that there is lots of interest,” Simon said.

Public vs. professional acceptance of illegal drugs

Denver became the first city in the U.S. to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms in 2019, and in a 2020 ballot measure, voters in Oregon made it the first state to decriminalize mushrooms and legalize them for treatment purposes. But investors behind the new drug treatment approaches are not focused on public acceptance, the trend of microdosing (for which they say data remains slim) or consumer recreational market potential, though many do find ideas about these drugs to be outdated.

“Consciousness is not the key here,” Simon said. “For purely medical use, there is a tremendous amount of data and traction for expanding use, which is where I’m focused.”

One of the biggest investors in the emerging field is Atai Life Sciences, a holding company for multiple biotech start-ups pursuing alternative treatments for depression, anxiety and addiction based on stigmatized drugs, and backed by venture capitalist Peter Thiel. It recently filed for an IPO.

Atai’s chairman Christian Angermayer — who says he has never touched a beer even though he comes from Bavaria where it is “our daily nutrition,” or smoked a joint or cigarette — is a personal believer in the power of psychedelics to have a positive influence on life. He described his first experience with psychedelics as “the single most meaningful thing” in his life.

“Nothing else even comes close,” Angermayer told CNBC in an interview conducted late last year.

But his personal experience is distinct from his role as an investor and executive focused on the mental health market needs. Angermayer was an early investor in Compass Pathways, where one of the founders, Lars Christian Wilde, suffered from drug-resistant depression and found help in psychedelics.

“We want to bring it back to the legal realm, but in the shamanistic setting of today, and that is with a therapist. We want to make it legal, but solely for doctors or psychotherapists in a clinical setting,” said Angermayer, who will speak at CNBC Healthy Returns on Tuesday. “These are not drugs you can take alone and not everyone can afford to go to the Amazon and see a shaman. We need to bring it into the medical system.”

Investment risks

A common thread among those closely watching, and investing in this space, is the personal experience with family and friends suffering from mental illness and struggling to find a successful medical treatment. “These people have been suffering for decades,” said Piros, who has a family member now struggling with depression and who has not yet found an effective medical therapy.

The new companies come with a high level of investment risk, common in the biotech space, with early trials showing promise but the business generating no revenue today. Advocates and investors in these alternative drug treatments say the economic argument is compelling when compared to current options.

Piros, who has spent more than two decades analyzing biotech companies, says investors need to be mindful that when you get involved with a development stage company it is not about the money being made already, but factors including how long the companies will have IP protection, when they can be expected to enter the market, and potential cash flows over a period between a decade to 15 years.

I’m not a medical professional or a researcher, but as a CEO and entrepreneur, I’m someone who is used to making things happen.

Dick Simon, heads the Psychedelic Medicines for Mental Health Group at entrepreneurial network YPO

Unlike biotechs working with brand new compounds which have a failure rate as high as 90%, the trials using psychedelic drugs that have been studied for decades are less likely to result in outright failures. Still, Piros said that the proper way to think about this new theme is as part of an existing investment risk tolerance for the biotech sector, and these new drugs should be no more than 10% of that existing allocation.

“It’s not chronic medicine, which as a business model is reasonably predictable and a great business model. It remains to be seen how this business model works, but … if we only need treatment for depression twice a year to be in remission that is a thousand times better than anything we can offer today, and PTSD has no approved drug,” Piros said. “It’s not like a crapshoot anymore.”

If a company like Compass makes it to market, its treatment approach could reach millions of Americans — estimates range from roughly 2 million to 4 million — not being served well by the current class of depression drugs. Pricing of the treatment could be $10,000, according to Cowen estimates, or as high as a $20,000, according to Piros, which he said is closer to the cost of current treatments. Depending on the number of patients who are resistant to current drugs that the therapy reaches, a 5%-7% market share could be worth billions. According to a Cowen estimate, $1 billion in annual sales; according to Berenberg Capital Markets, more than $2.5 billion; and according to Piros, possibly as much as $5 billion for a new, successful entrant at peak.

“We don’t expect 5% penetration two years after launch, more like five to seven years after launch, and going beyond 5% is crazy. But that is still a very large chunk of value,” Piros said. “We don’t need to go to the consumer angle.”

Many factors would influence the overall size of the market, from patients who are designated as good candidates for the new treatments, to the number of treatments needed, the infrastructure required for the guided sessions, which need to be in controlled environments like existing treatment centers that currently administer ketamine, and physician acceptance. Compass is creating 100 centers to train medical professionals and offer guided therapy, and plans to grow to 3,800 centers in a peak year.

Medical resistance

Getting the medical establishment to embrace these treatments may be among the most difficult parts of the journey. Piros said he has discussed alternative treatments with psychiatrists on behalf of his family, but they told him they would not be interested until there are decades of placebo-controlled trial data behind the drugs. “These were young doctors, fully up to date on the latest trials and literature. It’s going to be a long road before full acceptance.”

Cowen expects the existing anti-depression drugs in the SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) class, which account for upwards of 75% of prescriptions, to remain the first line of choice in therapy, but its analysts also wrote in a recent report that surveying and interviews it has conducted with doctors indicate roughly 30% of patients are resistant to these drugs and as many as 1 in 4 patients might be considered for new treatment alternatives.

The executives in the field know the history, and even with seven decades of research into use of psychedelics culminating in the latest, more rigorous work, they expect continued resistance. But they are determined, and now with a growing body of clinical trial data to back up psychedelics.

“There are those who have been out there in the wilderness metaphorically, major institutions carrying on research over the last decade. How do I help them get past the stigma society still has around this work?” Simon asked. “How do you get veterans groups who don’t like the fact that 22 veterans a day commit suicide, and each year more die in suicide than in all wars since 9/11, how do you engage them, across the political spectrum? I’m not a medical professional or researcher, but as a CEO and entrepreneur, I’m someone who is used to making things happen.”

After his initial psychedelic trip, Angermayer said the first thought he had was that he needed to call his parents and tell them how much he loved them. The second thought: “This must be legal as a treatment. … We’re several years away. It’s not tomorrow, but it’s not in ten years,” he said. 

If you are having thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK) or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.

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Pharmacies Are Getting into the Psychological Well being Market

Pharmacies Are Entering the Mental Health Market

CVS, which merged with insurer Aetna three years ago, plans to use its mental health pilot program to reduce overall health costs, said Dr. Servant. Mental health problems that are not addressed turn into crises, he added. “Our goal is therefore to make mental health services accessible and locally available so that we can address these issues before they get worse and lead to significant morbidity and poor outcomes.”

Vaile Wright, senior director of health care innovation for the American Psychological Association, says removing barriers to psychiatric care by making providers more accessible is helpful. “Cost is.”

Psychiatrists take out less insurance than other types of doctors, and many psychologists, social workers, and others who offer therapies also decline insurance because they say that insurance payments are relatively low and managed care companies sometimes do intrusive audits undergo.

The mental health services provided by CVS MinuteClinics are covered by many major health insurers and Employee Assistance Program programs, a spokeswoman said.

“The pricing options without insurance range from $ 129 for an initial assessment to $ 69 for a 30-minute session, with lots of options in between,” she added.

At Walmart, the first therapy session is $ 60, and the 45-minute follow-up visits are $ 45, according to the company’s website.

If you’re considering using a retail location to get therapy, be sure to ask the same questions you would ask any new therapist, experts advise. Some examples are:

  • Where did you get trained?

  • What kind of license do you have?

  • What is your specialty?

  • How will we monitor my progress?

  • How long does my session last and how many sessions do I have?

  • Is there a follow up if I need a transfer?

  • How much is it?

  • How is my data stored and shared?

If you identify yourself as LGBT or are a member of another minority group, or if you already know that you have a specific illness such as anxiety or depression, it is helpful to know if the therapist has worked with similar populations in the past and Alfiee Breland-Noble , Researcher on health inequalities and founder of the AAKOMA project, a non-profit mental health organization for adolescents and their families.

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How Meals Impacts Psychological Well being

How Food Affects Mental Health

The results were remarkable for several reasons. The diet benefited mental health even though the participants did not lose any weight. People also saved money by eating more nutritious foods, which shows that eating healthy can be economical. Prior to the study, participants spent an average of $ 138 per week on groceries. Those who switched to healthy eating cut their food bills to $ 112 per week.

The foods we recommend were relatively cheap and available in most grocery stores. These included canned beans and lentils, canned salmon, tuna and sardines, and frozen and conventional products, said Felice Jacka, the study’s lead author.

“Mental health is complex,” said Dr. Jacka, Director of the Food & Mood Center at Deakin University in Australia and President of the International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research. “Eating a salad won’t cure depression. But a lot can be done to lift your spirits and improve your sanity, and it can be as simple as increasing your intake of plants and healthy foods. “

A number of randomized trials have reported similar results. In a study of 150 adults with depression published last year, researchers found that people who followed a fish oil-fortified Mediterranean diet for three months had greater reductions in symptoms of depression, stress and depression after three months compared to a control group Had anxiety.

However, not every study has produced positive results. For example, a large, year-long study published in JAMA in 2019 found that a Mediterranean diet reduced anxiety, but didn’t prevent depression in a group of high-risk people. Taking supplements such as vitamin D, selenium, and omega-3 fatty acids had no effects on depression or anxiety.

Most mental health professionals have not followed dietary recommendations, partly because experts say more research is needed before they can prescribe a particular mental health diet. However, public health experts in countries around the world have begun encouraging people to adopt behaviors such as exercise, sound sleep, a heart-healthy diet, and avoiding smoking that can reduce inflammation and have benefits for the brain. The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists issued guidelines for clinical practice urging doctors to consider diet, exercise, and smoking before starting any medication or psychotherapy.

Individual clinicians also include nutrition in their work with patients. Dr. Drew Ramsey, a psychiatrist and clinical assistant professor at Columbia University College for Physicians and Surgeons in New York, begins his sessions with new patients by taking their psychiatric history and then examining their diet. He asks what they eat, learns about their favorite foods, and finds out if foods he thinks are important for the gut-brain connection are missing in their diet, such as plants, seafood, and fermented foods.

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1 in three Covid survivors suffers neurological or psychological problems: examine

1 in 3 Covid survivors suffers neurological or mental disorders: study

Reyes Magana, Teamsters Local’s 848 business agent, will be tested for COVID-19 at a test site provided by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters on July 16, 2020 in Long Beach, California.

Mario Tama | Getty Images

One in three Covid-19 survivors has suffered a neurological or psychiatric disorder within six months of being infected with the virus. This was estimated in an observational study of more than 230,000 patient records.

The study, published Tuesday in the Lancet Psychiatry Journal, analyzed data from the electronic health records of 236,379 Covid-19 patients from the US-based TriNetX network, which includes more than 81 million people.

This group was compared to 105,579 patients diagnosed with influenza and 236,038 patients diagnosed with respiratory infection (including influenza).

Overall, the estimated incidence of a diagnosis of a neurological or mental disorder after Covid-19 infection was 34%. This was the result of a study by researchers at Oxford University who examined 14 neurological and mental illnesses.

For 13% of these people, it was their first recorded neurological or psychiatric diagnosis.

The most common diagnoses after the coronavirus were anxiety disorders (17% of patients), mood disorders (14%), substance abuse disorders (7%), and insomnia (5%). The incidence of neurological outcomes was lower, including 0.6% for cerebral hemorrhage, 2.1% for ischemic stroke, and 0.7% for dementia.

Taking into account the underlying health characteristics such as age, gender, ethnicity and existing health conditions, there was an overall 44% higher risk of neurological and mental health diagnoses after Covid-19 than after flu and after Covid a 16% higher risk -19 than after Respiratory infections.

Since the coronavirus first appeared in China in late 2019, over 132 million cases of the virus and over 2.8 million deaths have been reported, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Professor Paul Harrison, lead author of the study in the Department of Psychiatry at Oxford University, said the latest study underscores the need to equip health systems to potentially cope with higher numbers of neurological disorders in survivors of the virus.

“These are real data from a large number of patients. They confirm the high rates of psychiatric diagnoses after Covid-19 and show that serious disorders of the nervous system (such as stroke and dementia) also occur. especially in patients with severe Covid-19, “he noted.

“Although the individual risks for most diseases are small, the impact on the health and welfare systems of the population as a whole can be significant because of the scale of the pandemic and the fact that many of these diseases are chronic. As a result, health systems must do so . ” Provide funds to meet anticipated needs within both primary and secondary care. “

Dr. Max Taquet, co-author of the Oxford University study, said more research needed to be done to see “what happens after six months”.

“The study fails to uncover the mechanisms involved, but it does indicate the need for urgent research to identify them in order to prevent or treat them.”

Since the pandemic emerged worldwide in spring 2020, numerous studies have been conducted into the short and long-term effects of the virus. Oxford University’s Psychiatry Department noted that there was growing concern that survivors could be at increased risk for neurological disorders.

“A previous observational study by the same research group reported that Covid-19 survivors were at increased risk of mood and anxiety disorders in the first three months after infection. However, there is no extensive data yet investigating the risks of neurological and psychiatric diagnoses in the six months after the Covid-19 infection, “said the department.

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Science Performs the Lengthy Recreation. However Folks Have Psychological Well being Points Now.

Science Plays the Long Game. But People Have Mental Health Issues Now.

When assessing government-funded research projects – presumably a cleaner company – I re-asked the questions that people in crises keep asking me. Is this study useful in any way to my son or sister? Or, more generously, given the pace of research, could this work possibly be useful to someone at some point in their life?

The answer was almost always no. Again, this does not mean that the tools and technical understanding of brain biology have not been further developed. It’s just that these advances didn’t affect mental health in one way or another.

Don’t take my word for it. In his upcoming book, Recovery: Healing the Mental Health Care Crisis in America, Dr. Thomas Insel, former director of the National Institute of Mental Health: “The scientific advances in our field have been breathtaking, but as we studied risk factors for suicide, the death rate had increased by 33 percent. As we identified the neuroanatomy of addiction, deaths from overdose had tripled. While we were mapping the genes for schizophrenia, people with the disease were still chronically unemployed and died 20 years earlier. “

And it continues to this day. Government agencies like the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Mental Health Institute continue to double up, pouring huge sums of taxpayers’ money into biological research to someday find a neural signature or “blood test” for possible psychiatric diagnoses, perhaps someday in the Future useful – while people are in crisis now.

I’ve written about some of these studies. For example, the National Institutes of Health is conducting a $ 300 million study of brain imaging in 10,000+ young children with so many interacting variables for experience and development that it is difficult to pinpoint the study’s main goals. The agency also has a $ 50 million project underway to try to understand the myriad, cascading, and sometimes random, processes that occur during neural development and that could underlie some mental health issues.

This kind of great scientific effort is well-intentioned, but the payoffs are indeed uncertain. The late Scott Lilienfeld, big-budget psychologist and skeptic of brain research, had his own terminology for these types of projects. “They are either fishing expeditions or Hail Marys,” he would say. “Make your choice.” When people drown, they care less about the genetics of breathing than they are about a lifesaver.

In 1973, well-known microbiologist Norton Zinder took over a committee that considered the National Cancer Institute’s grants to study viruses. He concluded that the program had become a “gravy train” for a small group of preferred scientists and recommended that their support be cut in half. A tough, Zinder-like review of current behavioral research spending, I suspect, would result in equally sharp cuts.

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Psychological well being professionals are in excessive demand because the pandemic enters a second yr

Mental health professionals are in high demand as the pandemic enters a second year

Coronavirus has rocked the nation with a year of restrictions, bans, missed meetings and events, isolation, and a staggering loss of more than half a million Americans. As the pandemic extends for a second year, Americans struggling with increased rates of depression, anxiety, and insomnia are seeking mental health support, and providers are working hard to keep up with demand.

When the pandemic first started, Dr. Mary Alvord that there was an almost instant increase in those seeking treatment for anxiety and depression. Alvord is a psychologist and director of Alvord, Baker & Associates in Rockville, Maryland, a group of 19 clinicians primarily focused on children, adolescents and families.

“I think everyone was just in a state of disbelief that this was going on so quickly and so dramatically,” said Alvord. “That first rush was fear of the daily uncertainty of not knowing what was going to happen [regarding] the pandemic. And I think it led to a lot of sadness. “

Psychologists like Alvord report that they have seen more patients with anxiety and depression in the past year, and most say they treat patients remotely via telemedicine. Last fall, a third of psychologists said they saw more patients since the pandemic began, according to the American Psychological Association (APA).

Among psychologists treating anxiety disorders, nearly three-quarters of those surveyed by APA reported an increase in demand for treatment, while 60% of patients treating depression saw an increase. A similar increase in demand for treatments for traumatic and stress-related disorders and sleep-wake disorders has also been reported.

“We had a waiting list of about 187 people,” said Alvord. “We seem to take it down and then we go up again.”

Telemedicine use has expanded thanks to states-issued emergency directives to improve access to services during the pandemic, the APA said. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid have also revised the rules to allow for expanded services via telemedicine. The group is pushing for this access to continue for at least six months after the federal government declares the pandemic is over.

There are still many barriers to treatment, including the number of mental health professionals available, cost, scarring, and time, but the expansion of telehealth has improved access to care for many.

“You can see a therapist in your own home, you don’t have to rely on transportation or childcare. I think that helps having access to it once you’re under treatment. But we still have a pretty big problem with the health system with having enough providers for the people who need them, “says Dr. Vaile Wright, Senior Director, Healthcare Innovation at APA.

However, Wright noted that the shortage of healthcare professionals was a long-standing problem prior to the pandemic. “Even if we do things like lower the retirement age or increase the workforce, we will never meet everyone’s needs,” he said.

The pandemic may have fueled the growth of telehealth services, but the course is expected to continue. According to financial data firm PitchBook, the global telemedicine market beyond therapy is expected to reach $ 312 billion by 2026, more than quadrupling from 2019 levels. A total of $ 1.8 billion was invested in virtual health companies in 2020, including Doctor on Demand and MDLive, both of which offer virtual therapies, PitchBook analysis shows.

Frontline health workers, parents of children under the age of 18, and fathers – more than mothers – have been seeking treatment lately, according to the APA. It’s too early to tell if those who sought treatment during the pandemic will continue to have access to care once life returns to normal, but advanced telehealth could help.

“I think the convenience consumers expect will encourage them to stay in treatment rather than having to come back in person. So that’s going to be a big component,” Wright said. “I also think that if individuals are unable to manage the stress they are experiencing, we will have long-term mental health consequences.”

In particular, Wright noted that key workers – including frontline healthcare workers – are most vulnerable to parents with children under 18, people from color communities, and younger adults with high levels of stress and stress.

Alvord of Alvord, Baker & Associates is also committed to expanding telehealth and has trained 10,000 mental health professionals on how to do this effectively and ethically over the past year. One silver lining for the extreme challenges facing the world over the past year is that the conversation about mental health has come to the fore.

“We’re all in it together, so the message is, ‘You are not alone,'” she said. “The mental health stigma has really gone because it’s okay not to be okay. There are normal levels of stress that is a part of life and the grief and loss and sadness that come with it.”