News

A growing body of research into PTSD and service animals paved the way for President Joe Biden to sign into law the Puppies Assisting Wounded Servicemembers (PAWS) for Veterans Therapy Act. The legislation, enacted in August, requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to open its service dog referral program to veterans with PTSD and to launch a five-year pilot program in which veterans with PTSD help train service dogs for other veterans.

Military sexual trauma, combat violence, and brain injuries are among the experiences that put service personnel at greater risk for developing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. The symptoms include flashbacks to the traumatic event, severe anxiety, nightmares, and hyper-vigilance. Psychologists note that such symptoms are actually a normal reaction to experiencing or witnessing such violence. A diagnosis of PTSD happens when the symptoms get worse or remain for months or years.

Research from Maggie O’Haire, an associate professor of Human-Animal Interaction at Purdue University, suggests while service dogs aren’t necessarily a cure for PTSD, they do ease its symptoms. Her published studies include one showing veterans partnered with these dogs experience less anger and anxiety and get better sleep than those without. Another one suggests service dogs improve cortisol levels in traumatized veterans.

A congressionally-mandated VA study, published earlier this year on the impact of service dogs on veterans with PTSD suggests those who partnered with these animals have less suicidal ideation and more symptom improvement than those without them.

Until now, the federal dog referral program – which relies on non-profit service dog organizations to pay for these dogs and to provide them to veterans for free – required that the veteran have a physical mobility issue, such as a lost limb, paralysis, or blindness, in order to participate.

Read more at NPR.org.

A new report from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) suggests the need for a culturally-responsive framework to achieve social and health equity among Native Hawaiians. For decades, this population has been plagued with disproportionately higher rates of chronic diseases and higher mortality rates than the general population in Hawaiʻi.

Nā Pou Kihi, the framework developed by Native Hawaiian Health Chair Joseph Keaweʻaimoku Kaholokula, proposes systemic changes in political, educational, economic, and social systems needed in order for Native Hawaiian health to improve.

“Nā Pou Kihi provides a culturally relevant means of aligning our diverse efforts toward the common goal of achieving optimal Mauli Ola, or health and well-being, for our communities. They are guideposts to what needs to be in place or strengthened if we are to be successful in this endeavor,” said Kaholokula.

Mele Look, director of community engagement in JABSOM’s Department of Native Hawaiian Health and one of the authors of the report, said the framework goes beyond health interventions. “It shows how policy needs to be developed more comprehensively to improve health,” she said.

In addition, the report provides evidence-based research that further supports the idea that the health of Native Hawaiians will thrive when their health care is rooted in Native Hawaiian culture.

“Because culture is such a significant part of what distinguishes a population, especially Indigenous communities, disease prevention, treatment, and management programs must be culturally-responsive at their core and the cornerstone of health promotion,” said Kaholokula.

The report stated that the development of more culturally-relevant programs like these are necessary and that “health equity will be achieved in part with effective, sustainable and culturally responsive health intervention programs—which also help to revitalize cultural practices and empower communities.”

Read more at Hawaii.edu.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey was in Fall River on Monday morning touring River to Recovery on Pleasant Street with the substance abuse agency’s Executive Director Kevin Doyle and Mayor Paul Coogan.

River to Recovery is a recipient of Healey’s Promoting Cultural Humility in Opioid Use Disorder Treatment grant to support equity in recovery services in Massachusetts.

“The opioid epidemic, substance abuse disorder, behavioral health, these issues are present in so many of our families. They really impact communities and COVID has only made it worse. I wanted to come down today to thank Mayor Coogan for his support to secure money for his city to support recovery programs, and I wanted to thank Kevin and his team at River to Recovery,” said Healey.

River to Recovery received a $44,000 grant from Healey’s office to fund a Spanish-speaking recovery coach. “They are servicing the Latino community and people of color,” said Doyle, adding the funding was important because it allowed River to Recovery to hire one more staff member to help the population.

She said there needs to be a continuation to make investments in addiction recovery and “to get rid of the barriers that stand in the way of people from being really where they want to be.”

River to Recovery assists in mental health and substance abuse counseling, connecting their clients with treatment and offering recovery meetings and group meetings seven days a week.

Read more at HeraldNews.com.

The pandemic has generated wide-scale physical and mental health challenges to the Asian and Pacific Islander communities, causing a public health crisis and greatly damaging the community, according to three leading public health experts.

The report, “Toward Healing and Health Equity for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Populations,” was recently released by Dr. Howard K. Koh, Juliet K. Choi, and Jeffery B. Caballero, mainly focusing on the demographics of the Asian American and Pacific Island (AAPI) population, its vulnerability to COVID-19 exposure, and its causes.

“This study could be vital,” said Koh, a professor of the Practice of Public Health Leadership at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “It will help people learn more about the AAPI community, instead of recognizing them with simple labels.”

The report found the AAPI group has become the fastest-growing racial and ethnic minority group in the U.S. for the past two decades. From 2000 to 2019, the AAPI population increased by nearly 95%, amounting to 7% of the U.S. population, and it is projected to double by 2060.

However, the rapidly expanding group also led to greater contact with COVID-19.

Lack of access to public health benefits has impacted many patients, both those who seek physical or mental assistance and has become a commonly discussed issue. At the beginning of the pandemic, very few hospitals or counseling services provided documents in any AAPI languages, causing extra difficulties when people with low English proficiency sought medical help.

The public health crisis, moreover, has a mental health perspective.

Aside from the lack of access to medical benefits and income issues, the AAPI community’s misunderstanding of mental therapy played a role in stopping it from getting mental help.

Read more at MetroWestDailyNews.com.

74% of American Indian and Alaska Natives said someone in their household has struggled with depression, anxiety, stress, and problems with sleeping, in a recent poll by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Only 52% of white people said the same.

COVID exacerbated long-standing stresses created by historic inequities, says Spero Manson, who is Pembina Chippewa from North Dakota and directs the University of Colorado’s Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health.

Native communities in the United States have had higher rates of infection, are 3.3 times more likely to be hospitalized, and are more than twice as likely to die from the disease than whites. And half of Native Americans in NPR’s poll said they’re facing serious financial problems.

“As we struggle to address the sudden and precipitous added stresses posed by the hour by the pandemic, it heightens that sense of pain, suffering, of helplessness and hopelessness,” says Manson. “And it’s manifesting in higher rates of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder,” he adds.

“I think the pandemic has definitely triggered this historical trauma that Native people do experience,” says Adrianne Maddux, the executive director at Denver Indian Health and Family Services, which runs a primary care clinic.

She’s witnessed higher demand for behavioral health services, including addiction treatment. “Our therapists were inundated,” says Maddux.

Read more at NPR.org.

Making the transition to adulthood can be full of challenges. A new study finds that the effects of discrimination can cause severe mental health damage to the already struggling young adult age group.

The study from researchers at UCLA found that young adults who endure frequent interpersonal discrimination based on race, sex, or physical appearance are at greater risk of mental health issues than those who don’t. The authors analyzed data from a 10-year survey and found that people aged 18 to 28 who experienced consistent short- or long-term discrimination are 25 percent more likely to experience psychological distress, to be diagnosed with a mental illness, or to report excessive drug use.

“It paints a striking picture of how discrimination is very strongly related to mental and behavioral health in young adults. It’s harder to be a young person today than it has been in a long time,” said the study’s senior author, Dr. Adam Schickedanz, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “The world is spinning faster. A lot of things are changing constantly, and there are a lot of challenges. If we’re more attuned to that … we can do better by young people.”

While the study focused on people of various backgrounds, racial discrimination has long been considered a significant mental health stressor for Black people, with government leaders increasingly acknowledging that health inequities along racial lines can cause psychological distress. Experiencing racism has been linked to higher levels of anxiety and depression among Black people. An estimated 67 percent of Black adults have said discrimination is a significant source of stress, according to a July 2020 survey from the American Psychological Association.

Simply experiencing racist discrimination isn’t all that affects mental health. The authors found discrimination to be linked to disparities in mental and medical health care, as well. Black mental health advocates have consistently highlighted that the country’s public health systems leave people with few options for culturally competent care.

Read more at NBCNews.com.