Every September, we strive to raise awareness of suicide — a stigmatized and often taboo topic. Suicide Prevention Awareness Month is a time when resources and stories are shared to help shed light on suicide and prevention efforts. We must build upon these efforts and continue them year-round if we hope to reduce the incredible number of lives lost to suicide.
It’s a well-known fact that employee health is directly related to employee productivity and job satisfaction. However, as the second pandemic of mental health emerges, the mental health of employees has become a top concern for 85% of employers, according to a September 2020 survey.
Supporting data from multiple sources, including the CDC, Mental Health America, and Kaiser Family Foundation, speak to the impact COVID-19 has had on employees’ mental health.
Now Available: Recording of 'Second Pandemic of Mental Health' Webinar
A recording of "The Second Pandemic of Mental Health: An Expert Panel Discussion" is now available for viewing.
The program, hosted by nView Health, brought together behavioral health experts for a frank discussion about challenges and opportunities around mental health. The panelists were Dr. Hansa Bhargava, Dr. Josh Spitalnick, and Sherry Farrugia.
Dr. Thomas Young Discusses Behavioral Health on Workplace MVP Podcast
Dr. Thomas Young, founder and chief medical officer of nView Health, is a featured guest on the Workplace MVP podcast where he discusses behavioral health solutions for employers with host Jamie Gassmann.
Dr. Thomas Young, founder and chief medical officer of nView Health, discusses opportunities for hospitals to play a more significant role in achieving concrete improvements to the current mental health system in a new Becker's Hospital Review column.
nView Health Hosting Mental Health Expert Panel for 'Second Pandemic' Webinar
ATLANTA, July 27, 2021 – nView Health will be hosting several of the nation's leading behavioral health experts for a panel discussion on August 17 from 4:30–5:30 EDT.
The complimentary program is titled "The Second Pandemic of Mental Health: An Expert Panel Discussion." The panel will explore the challenges facing healthcare providers in meeting the increased needs for mental healthcare; the effects of the pandemic, particularly on underserved communities; and how technology can accelerate progress.
If you've come here looking to learn more about patient health questionnaires used to assess mental and behavioral health disorders, you're in the right place. This blog provides information that helps answer the common question "What is a patient health questionnaire?" We'll discuss one of the most common patient health questionnaires and how it's scored and then briefly touch on a popular variant of this patient mental health screener.
More importantly, though, we'll provide an overview of why commonly used patient health questionnaires are coming up short. We'll conclude the piece by sharing some of the key qualities that providers should look for when choosing a better alternative to these flawed solutions.
Among the most tragic impacts of the global pandemic has been the skyrocketing rise of substance abuse among adults and adolescents. Deaths due to overdoses have hit all-time highs exacerbating a substance use disorder problem that was a crisis pre-pandemic in the country with addiction affecting 1 in every 3 families. In fact, on October 26, 2017, the US Department of Health and Human Services declared the opioid crisis a Public Health Emergency and began pouring billions of dollars into grants to help fight this rapidly growing epidemic.
Also in 2017, the US Surgeon General issued a report entitled, “Facing Addiction in America: A Spotlight on Opioids” that served as a foundation for communicating the federal government’s comprehensive, multi-faceted approach, which included:
Evidence is defined as, “The available body of facts or information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true or valid.” Using evidence-based behavioral health tools is the topic of today’s post.
With literally thousands of behavioral health assessment tools on the market, it’s important for mental health specialists and physicians to find solutions that are based on evidence.
Unlike physical health, where evaluation tools like an X-ray of a broken bone or an echocardiogram of a heart can be used to identify physical characteristics, mental health assessment involves patient-reported symptoms, not physical facts. It can be challenging for patients to communicate their feelings and fears, which in turn makes it challenging for mental health specialists to identify and properly diagnose the disorder.
Q&A with Dr. Josh Spitalnick
To properly diagnose a patient with a behavioral health disorder, like anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, or PTSD, specialists must use evidence-based assessment tools. Josh Spitalnick, PhD, ABPP is a licensed psychologist and anxiety and OCD expert, who shared his insights on this topic recently in a Mental Healthcare Today podcast. He is board-certified in behavioral and cognitive psychology, clinical director and owner of Anxiety Specialists of Atlanta (one of the largest anxiety clinics in the southeast), and an adjunct professor of psychiatry at Emory University. Here is what he had to say on the topic of evidence-based instruments.
The state of mental health in America is in crisis and was in crisis before the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the National Institutes of Health, pre-pandemic:
- 1 in 5 Americans suffered from a mental disorder each year,
- 1 in 17 suffered from a serious mental disorder each year, and
- there was a 35% increase in suicides in the past 15 years with suicide being the second-leading cause of death between the ages of 10 and 34.
The pre-pandemic statistics for our children are more troubling as:
- 5% of adolescents aged 13-18 had any mental disorder, and
- of adolescents with any mental disorder, 22.2% had severe impairment. (Source for all statistics: National Institutes of Health Mental Health Information)
The problem is even more severe in rural America as the graphic below depicts where approximately 50% of counties in the US lack a resident psychiatrist, 65% of non-metropolitan US counties lack a psychiatrist, and 47% lack a psychologist. (Source: The American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Geographic Variation in the Supply of Selected Behavioral Health Providers)
