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A judge on Tuesday ordered that a Marine veteran charged with three counts of first-degree murder in a mass shooting at a North Carolina waterfront bar last year undergo psychiatric treatment after it was determined he is unable to understand his legal proceedings enough to help his lawyers. The case of Nigel Max Edge had been scheduled for a Brunswick County court hearing in which the local prosecutor was slated to reveal whether he intended to seek the death penalty. But District Attorney Jon David said in a news release that part of the case was set aside because questions about Edge’s “capacity to proceed” were raised by multiple mental health professionals. (4/8)

UCLA, Cal State L.A. and Cal State Dominguez Hills will receive $110 million to bolster their mental health programs, providing financial assistance and clinical resources to students seeking to fill the gaps of a major statewide shortage in the field of social work. (Buchanan, 4/6)

Alphabet Inc.’s Google plans to introduce new mental health support features for its Gemini chatbot as the company and rivals, like OpenAI, have faced several lawsuits accusing their artificial intelligence tools of leading to harm. Gemini will add an interface directing chatbot users to a support hotline when the conversation indicates “a potential crisis related to suicide or self-harm,” Google said in a blog post on Tuesday. Additionally, the company is adding a “help is available” module for chats about mental health and design tweaks to discourage self-harm. (Bergen, 4/7)

People with a sunnier outlook had less dementia risk, a study of nearly 9,100 people suggested. Over up to 14 years, each standard deviation increase in optimism was tied to a 15% lower risk of developing dementia (HR 0.85, 95% CI 0.82-0.88), after adjusting for age, sex, race and ethnicity, education, depression, and major health conditions, reported Säde Stenlund, MD, PhD, of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, and colleagues. (George, 4/8)

Greece will ban access to social media for children under 15, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said. The regulation will come during the summer of 2026 and will enter into force on Jan. 1 2027, Mitsotakis said Wednesday in a message on TikTok. (Tugwell, 4/8)