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The U.S. suicide rate dropped slightly last year from some of the highest levels ever reported, preliminary data suggests. Experts say it’s hard to know exactly why, or whether the decline will continue. A little over 48,800 suicide deaths were reported in 2024, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly 500 fewer than the year before. The overall suicide rate fell to 13.7 per 100,000 people. (Stobbe, 12/10)

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In other mental health news —

A New Jersey law that permits terminally ill people to seek life-ending drugs applies only to residents of the state and not those from beyond its borders, a federal appeals court ruled. The Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments challenging New Jersey’s residency requirement while acknowledging how fraught end-of-life decisions can be. The court noted that not all states have adopted the same approach. (Catalini, 12/10)

The heirs of an 83-year-old Connecticut woman are suing ChatGPT maker OpenAI and its business partner Microsoft for wrongful death, alleging that the artificial intelligence chatbot intensified her son’s “paranoid delusions” and helped direct them at his mother before he killed her. (Collins, O’Brien and Ortutay, 12/11)

Can social media cause ADHD in teens? Amid Australia's social media age limits, research looks at social media's impact on youth attention spans. (Klingberg and Nivens, 12/9)

The Supreme Court on Wednesday wrestled with whether to allow Alabama to execute a man with low cognitive function, a ruling that could set new rules for states to condemn those with borderline intellectual disabilities to death row. Roughly two hours of intense arguments did not seem to produce a consensus among the justices over how states should assess IQ tests to determine mental disability. (Jouvenal, 12/10)

An in-home headset that allows people with depression to send mild electrical current to their brains has been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration, in what medical experts consider a milestone for expanding mental health treatment beyond drugs. (Gilbert, 12/11)

Slow tapering of antidepressants with psychological support was as effective as antidepressant continuation in preventing relapse among patients with remitted depression, a systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomized trials suggested. (Jeffrey, 12/10)

The dogs are part of a mental wellness program that began after a rash of officer suicides. The dog unit’s fate is unclear as Commissioner Jessica Tisch shifts more officers to patrol duty. (Cramer, 12/11)