Ohio to Spend $20M to Study Depression, Suicide, Overdoses

Ohio plans to spend $20 million in taxpayer funds over the next 10 years to study the causes of depression, suicide and drug overdoses.

The research initiative, conducted with Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine, along with several stat universities, is expected to study the role of biological, psychological, and social factors that underlie what officials call an epidemic.

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Commentary: A Generation Alone

The following is a condensed version of “One Generation Passeth Away, and Another Cometh” by Sam Negus, published at Law & Liberty.

Three millennia ago, King Solomon wrote that “folly is bound up in the heart of a child.” It has ever been thus: the rueful old lament the apparent decadence of the young. In her new book Generations, social scientist Jean Twenge suggests an obvious explanation for this ageless trend: “It might be because they [are] always right. With technology making life progressively less physically taxing, each generation is softer…”

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Large Study Links Heavy Marijuana Use to Psychotic Symptoms, Bipolar Disorder, Depression

Cannabis use disorder, also known as marijuana addiction, was strongly tied to psychiatric problems, including psychotic symptoms and bipolar disorder, in a population-based study of Danish citizens’ medical records from 1995 to 2021.

The study, which analyzed data of about 6.6 million people aged 16 and up, was conducted by Dr. Oskar Hougaard Jefsen of Aarhus University and his colleagues. Individuals with prior diagnoses of cannabis use disorder were up to four times as likely to be diagnosed later on with bipolar disorder and psychotic symptoms, the study found.

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Study Finds Use of Contraceptive Pill from Young Age Increases Risk of Depression in Women by up to 130 Percent

A study from the UK finds women who began using the combined contraceptive pill as teenagers increased their risk of depression by 130 percent, while those who began to use the contraceptive in their 20s or older showed a 92 percent increased risk of depressive symptoms.

The population-based cohort study that utilized data from more than 250,000 UK Biobank women was published in Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences and online by Cambridge University Press.

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Commentary: Today’s Youth Are Digital, De-Churched, and Depressed

The kids aren’t alright, and it’s starting to show. Last week, the New York Post published a front-page story that heralded “The New Great Depression,” tracking the twin rise of social media and juvenile depression. 

Since 1991, the University of Michigan has annually polled thousands of students in middle and high school, asking whether they agree with the following three statements: “I can’t do anything right,” “I do not enjoy life,” and “My life is not useful.”

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Women Who Start Birth Control Pill as Teens 130 Percent More Likely to Show Depression: Study

Women who started taking birth control pills as teenagers showed depression symptoms at a 130% higher rate than those who never used oral contraceptives (OC), according to a new study of more than a quarter of a million women.

Women who began taking oral contraceptives as adults had a 92% higher rate of depressive symptoms compared to those who never took the pill, while women who started taking the birth control pill “before or at the age of 20 had 130% higher rate of depressive symptoms,” according to a U.K. study published Monday by Cambridge University Press.

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Apple Reportedly Developing iPhone Technology That Knows When You’re Depressed

Person holding an iPhone

Apple is reportedly working on iPhone technology capable of detecting and diagnosing depression, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The tech giant is developing the iPhone features to reliably detect and diagnose depression as well as cognitive decline, people familiar with the matter told the WSJ. The technology is being developed in partnership with researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and pharmaceutical company Biogen.

The technology is in its early stages of development, according to the WSJ, but will collect data on iPhone users’ mobility and sleep patterns, physical activity, and other behaviors. However, researchers are still unsure whether they can create algorithms that reliably detect the mental health state of users.

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Fraternities Say Duke’s Latest Action Poses ‘Existential Threat’ to Greek Life

After Duke University decided to end recruitment of freshmen by Greek and non-Greek selective living groups, nine fraternities decided to disaffiliate from the Interfraternity Council, and thus from the university itself.

Duke University has made several changes to Greek life since the hiring of former Tufts University dean of student affairs Mary Pat McMahon. McMahon is now the vice president and vice provost for student affairs at Duke.

McMahon collaborated with the Office of Undergraduate Education to create a new committee called the Next Generation Living and Learning 2.0 Committee in 2020. The committee seeks to “build a joyful and intentional 4-year residential experience that promotes growth, meaningful inclusion, and health, and that is distinctly Duke.”

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Survey: Mental Health Continues to Plummet Amid Pandemic, Hits 20-Year Low

Americans’ mental health has plummeted during the coronavirus pandemic as lockdown restrictions and social distancing measures remain in effect across the country, according to a survey published Monday.

Mental health is worse than any other point in the last two decades, Gallup reported on Monday. A survey conducted by Gallup showed 76% of Americans reported their mental health as either excellent or good, a decline from past surveys in which more than 80% of Americans reported positive mental health.

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Ohio State Board Considers Approving More Conditions for Marijuana Treatment

With medicinal marijuana sales imminent in the Buckeye state, the Ohio State Medical Board is currently considering a slew of additional medical conditions for medicinal marijuana treatment. Currently, 21 conditions are approved for the controversial treatment. A number of the conditions cover a wide swathe of ailments. For example, cancer…

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