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The rate of suicides involving guns in the United States has reached the highest level since officials began tracking it more than 50 years ago, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rate increased by more than 10 percent in 2022 compared with 2019, and in some racial and ethnic groups, the rise was significantly steeper, especially among Native Americans. Overall, about 27,000 of 50,000 suicides were carried out by gun in 2022. (Baumgaertner, 11/30)

And while firearm suicide rates increased in all racial and ethnic groups during this period, the magnitude of the increase differed among groups, according to the report. "For example, whereas non-Hispanic White persons experienced the highest overall rate (11.1 during 2022), this rate represented a 9% increase from 10.2 during 2019. The largest rate increase (66%) occurred among (American Indian or Alaska Native) AI/AN persons, among whom the firearm suicide rate increased from 6.4 during 2019 to 10.6 during 2022," the authors wrote. (Moniuszko, 11/30)

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mental health program known as CARE Court arrives in Los Angeles County on Friday, with officials expressing optimism that it will help with the homelessness crisis. “We know that there are too many people with severe mental illness who are living on the streets,” Board of Supervisors Chair Janice Hahn said at a Thursday news conference. “We’ve all seen them, and so far, we’ve been unable to reach them or give them the care that they need. ... That’s why what we’re doing here today is so important.” (Cosgrove and Curwen, 11/30)

College students may be at a greater risk of experiencing depression and anxiety compared to young people who are not in higher education, according to a new study published in The Lancet Public Health. Researchers from University College London analyzed data from two studies. The first study looked at 4,832 young people who were 18 and 19 years old between 2007 and 2009. (Rudy, 12/1)

The gunman who shot and killed a security guard at New Hampshire’s secure psychiatric hospital two weeks ago had previously been a patient there, having been involuntarily committed to New Hampshire Hospital on multiple occasions in 2016 and 2017. That history, in addition to the fact that the gunman — 33-year-old John Madore — had also faced criminal charges following an earlier armed standoff at his home, has raised questions about whether a patchwork system of gun regulations may have allowed him to obtain firearms. (Bookman, 12/1)

An attorney for the state of Connecticut grilled the Killingly School District’s superintendent on Thursday about what immediate actions the local Board of Education took to address students’ mental health needs after a survey revealed that nearly 15% of 7th to 12th graders had considered suicide. (Monk, 11/30)

In recent years, phrases like this have become ubiquitous, particularly online: “stressy depressy,” short for stressed and depressed, “menty b,” short for mental breakdown, and “suey,” short for suicidal, are just some of the jokey shorthand people have begun using to talk about mental health and mental illness. (Asmelash, 11/30)

At the root of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a memory that cannot be controlled. It may intrude on everyday activity, thrusting a person into the middle of a horrifying event, or surface as night terrors or flashbacks. Decades of treatment of military veterans and sexual assault survivors have left little doubt that traumatic memories function differently from other memories. A group of researchers at Yale University and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai set out to find empirical evidence of those differences. (Barry, 11/30)

A woman’s menstrual cycle is driven by the ebb and flow of hormones that prepare the body for pregnancy. This symphony of hormones not only transforms the reproductive organs, but, according to recent research, also reshapes the brain. Two studies released in October performed detailed brain scans of women at multiple points across the menstrual cycle, finding that the volume or thickness of certain regions change in sync with hormone levels. The areas of the brain highlighted by both studies are those in the limbic system, a group of brain structures that govern emotions, memory and behavior. (Kim, 11/30)