Week of March 2–6, 2026

General Mental Health

• The proportion of American adults who took anxiety medications jumped from 11.7% in 2019 to 14.3% in 2024, with most of the increase occurring during the covid pandemic, according to survey data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s 8 million more people, bringing the total to roughly 38 million, with sharp increases among young adults, people with a college degree, and adults who identify as LGBTQ+. Read more here.

The Opioid Crisis and Addiction Issues

• A retrospective cohort study suggested that disenrollment from health plans was associated with an increased risk of all-cause and overdose mortality among patients who initiated medications for opioid use disorder. Health insurance losses or changes may compromise continuity of critical treatment for opioid use disorder. The current safety net for patients taking opioid use disorder medications should be reinforced by "robust" policies, the researchers said. Read more here.

Crisis Services

• For decades, officers in Evansville responded to the same call about the same man. He cycled in and out of jail. Officers came and went — some retired — and still the calls kept coming. Each response looked the same: de-escalate if possible, transport to jail or the hospital if necessary, and hope the next encounter turns out differently. It didn’t until two years ago when Southwestern Behavioral Healthcare launched a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC). Clinicians, not police officers, are now responding to the majority of distressed person calls and addressing the root causes of the crisis. Read more here.

Research

• In this case-control study of U.S. counties, tropical cyclone exposure was associated with increased psychoactive drug–related death rates up to 3 months after exposure. These findings support the integration of substance use and mental health services into climate disaster preparedness and response planning. Read more here.
• In this cross-sectional study, U.S. adults with IDDs experienced substantially higher rates of mental health conditions, treatment use, and cost-related barriers compared with those without functional impairments. These findings highlight critical gaps for accessible, affordable, and disability-informed mental health services and policy reforms to address systemic inequities. Read more here.
• We conducted the first study of self-reported strengths, strengths knowledge, and strengths use in ADHD. We conclude that, while adults with and without ADHD may have both similarities and differences in strengths, interventions that focus on enhancing people’s strength knowledge and promoting the everyday use of their personal strengths could have universal applications to improve wellbeing in adulthood. Read more here.

Transgender Issues

• The Supreme Court cleared the way for California schools to tell parents if their children identify as transgender without getting the student’s approval, granting an emergency appeal from a conservative legal group. The order blocks for now a state law that bans automatic parental notification requirements if students change their pronouns or gender expression at school. Read more here.
• Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) issued a legal opinion that it is illegal for mental health care providers to “transition” children under state law. In 2023, Texas S.B. 14 went into effect, banning gender-affirming care to treat gender dysphoria in adolescents. The bill barred the use of puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgeries for adolescents, though surgical treatments for gender dysphoria are almost never performed before adulthood. Read more here.

Federal and State Policy

• Bills that would seek to provide greater online protections for kids moved forward on both sides of Capitol Hill, though a House measure was pulled back from a committee vote in a bid for bipartisan support. The Senate passed a bipartisan bill by unanimous consent that would amend current law to enhance protections for minors regarding the collection and use of their data by online platforms and extend such protections to children and teens under the age of 17. Read more here.