General Mental Health

• Early intervention after the onset of psychosis improves recovery and can substantially reduce hospitalizations compared with standard care. However, North Carolina’s specialized psychosis clinics are serving more people than current funding can support. Read more here.
• A Nature Communications study found that 9/11 first responders exposed to greater heat and air pollution faced higher risks of frailty, PTSD, and depression later in life. Living in greener areas was associated with lower risks of all three conditions. Read more here.
• Project Healthy Minds has launched the Workforce Lab, a coalition of businesses, researchers, and thought leaders studying effective approaches to workplace mental health. The research hub will combine business, economic, and public health perspectives to help employers build healthier and more resilient organizations. Read more here.
• Trauma is common and can have lasting effects on both mental and physical health. Research has consistently linked PTSD with increased risks of cardiovascular disease and death across diverse populations, including veterans and trauma-exposed women. Other conditions, including mood, anxiety, and substance use disorders, may also develop after traumatic experiences. Read more here.

Youth Mental Health

• California has enacted laws restricting teens’ access to addictive social media features and limiting their interactions with chatbots. Platforms must either disable features such as infinite scroll and autoplay for users under 16 or prevent those users from accessing the platforms. Supporters say the measures address the youth mental health crisis and pressure tech companies to improve safety. Read more here.
• The gender gap in suicide rates among U.S. children ages 10 to 14 has nearly disappeared. Boys had twice the suicide rate of girls in 2017, but by 2024, their rate was only 4% higher—the closest to parity recorded to date. Read more here.

Maternal Mental Health

• A cohort study of 414,890 infants found that those whose mothers experienced depressive symptoms shortly after delivery had a higher risk of dying within the first year than infants of mothers without such symptoms. The association persisted across maternal characteristics and major causes of infant death, highlighting the need for further research and early risk-reduction strategies. Read more here.
• New Jersey’s near-universal postpartum depression screening requirement enabled researchers to study depressive symptoms across the state’s full birthing population, rather than only among those who access maternal care. By using detailed symptom measures, clearly timed screenings, extended follow-up, and cause-specific mortality data, the cohort study demonstrates how public policy can standardize care while creating valuable infrastructure for rigorous population health research. Read more here.

Military and Veteran Mental Health

• A study of 692 Colorado ERPO petitions filed from 2020 to 2024 found that 68 involved service members or veterans. Their cases did not differ significantly from civilian cases in filing reasons, court outcomes, or firearm access. However, narratives frequently identified overlapping threats of violence, mental health crises, PTSD, and substance misuse, suggesting ERPOs may help reduce firearm-related harm in this population. Read more here.

Psychedelics and Mental Health

• The American Legion adopted a resolution supporting research and potential use of psychedelic therapies for veterans and service members with conditions such as PTSD, depression, and traumatic brain injury. The resolution endorses the bipartisan Veterans Health Administration’s Novel Therapeutics Preparedness Act, which would explore psychedelics and other nontraditional treatments for military populations. Read more here.

988 Lifeline

• Representatives Adam Smith, Kim Schrier, Brian Fitzpatrick, and David Valadao introduced the bipartisan 988 Crisis Response Act to strengthen the national crisis-care system. The bill would provide $100 million in grants to establish or expand mobile crisis response teams and make the 85% federal Medicaid matching rate permanent for mobile teams, crisis call centers, and stabilization facilities. It would also ensure Medicaid reimbursement for all three components of the crisis-care continuum. Read more here.

Research

• A study of 1,589 participants across five trials found that a model could consistently rank patients by their predicted benefit from internet-based CBT for depression across different programs. However, withholding treatment from those predicted to benefit least worsened overall outcomes, highlighting the need to assess both predictive accuracy and real-world clinical consequences. Read more here.
• People with depression may die up to 12 years earlier, partly because of physical health conditions. A QIMR Berghofer study found genetic links between depression and cardiovascular, metabolic, gastrointestinal, and immune disorders, with the strongest associations involving gastrointestinal diseases. Genetic risk factors for these conditions overlapped with nearly half of those linked to depression. Read more here.

Federal and State Policy

• On Overdose Awareness Day, HHS and SAMHSA announced $77 million in new grants to support substance use prevention, treatment, and recovery, as well as community mental health, suicide prevention, and crisis services. More than $22 million will fund community-based substance use prevention initiatives as National Substance Use Primary Prevention Month concludes. Read more here.