Rural law enforcement officers often receive little or no support for frequent on-the-job mental trauma

Police answer calls to tragic events such as school shootings, family annihilation, severe child abuse cases and domestic violence crimes. During those calls, victim care is a primary focus but little attention is given to the psychological trauma law enforcement officers may experience as they manage crime scenes, reports Susan Szuch for the Springfield News-Leader, which covers Ozark news.

It's often hard for police to ask for help, particularly in rural communities where suicide rates are higher, but reaching out for care is stigmatized, according to Szuch. If officers ask for mental support or have psychological struggles, they can be deemed unfit for duty.

Michael Mason

The experiences of Michael Mason, a rural police officer and later Police Chief in Humansville, Missouri, a town with roughly 900 residents, serve as an example. Mason had a hard time processing many of the difficult scenes he had to work. In 2023, he attempted suicide. Afterward, he was "given a choice to get help but be fired and lose his Peace Officer Standards and Training certification, or to resign and keep his credentials," Szuch writes. "Mason chose to resign."

Although Mason moved on from his job loss and landed the police chief position in Humansville, he faced similar challenges and had learned not to ask for help. "He took his own life on Dec. 14, 2025," Szuch reports. "He was one of at least 27 law enforcement officers who died by suicide last year."

While laws and attitudes toward psychological care for law enforcement officers have been slow to shift, some changes have been made. "In 2020, the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act established a data collection program to 'help agencies understand and prevent suicides,'" Szuch explains. "In 2022, the federal Public Safety Officer Support Act changed its definition for line-of-duty deaths to include suicide, which can affect not only the way the death is discussed but how honors are conferred and what benefits survivors receive."

For officers who want someone to talk to, law enforcement leaders stress the "importance of talking to someone who understands a law enforcement officer’s unique situation and experiences," Szuch reports. "CopLine, a hotline for law enforcement officers run by retired law enforcement officers, offers a free, confidential way for them to talk with someone who understands the trauma and pressures of the job." The phone number for CopLine is 1-800-267-5463 (1-800-COPLINE).

Military doctors try to replace therapy for PTSD with 'combat cocktails.' The practice has been linked to suicide risk.

Veterans are 50% more likely to commit suicide than civilian 
adults. (Medication-Induced Suicide Prevention graphic)

Although there is no data to support the practice, many military doctors prescribe "combat cocktails" to veterans with Post- traumatic stress disorder. "The practice, known as 'polypharmacy,' can tranquilize patients to the point of numbness, cause weight gain and increase suicidal thoughts when it involves pharmaceuticals that target the central nervous system," report Shalini Ramachandran and Betsy McKay of The Wall Street Journal. Because roughly a third of military veterans live in rural areas, the post-combat treatment may have a disproportionate impact on rural families and communities.

Medical guidelines for the Department of Veterans Affairs don't recommend giving patients simultaneous mixes of psychiatric medications, and the Food and Drug Administration warns against the practice. And yet, "prescribing cocktails of such drugs is one of the VA’s most common treatments for veterans with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder)," the Journal reports. "And the number of veterans on multiple psychiatric drugs is a growing concern at the agency."

Polypharmacy definitions vary, but "the VA defines it as taking five or more medications at the same time," Ramachandran and McKay explain. A growing number of VA physicians and researchers believes such dosing can have disastrous results, because powerful drugs can interact with patients' nervous systems and each other in unpredictable ways.

While talk therapy is considered the best PTSD treatment, therapists are often in short supply, so medical providers have turned to medicine to treat PTSD symptoms. "Nearly 60% of VA patients with PTSD were taking two or more central nervous system drugs at the same time in 2019," the Journal reports. "The VA declined requests from The Wall Street Journal to provide more recent polypharmacy numbers for veterans in its care."

Given that suicide rates among veterans are much higher than those of civilian adults, how the VA treats PTSD is under scrutiny from Congress, advocacy groups and veterans. "Studies by VA researchers link the simultaneous use of multiple psychiatric drugs to suicide risk among veterans," Ramachandran and McKay write. "Yet the agency has been slow to mandate changes."

Rural jails lack mental health resources. Inmates can linger for weeks in tiny cells awaiting psychiatric care.

Local jails weren't build to house mentally
ill populations. (KFF Health photo)

Many rural jails lack resources to manage inmates who need mental health treatment. In Polson, a small town in northwestern Montana, "when someone accused of a crime needs mental health care, chances are they’ll be locked in a basement jail cell the size of a walk-in closet," reports Katheryn Houghton of KFF Health News. Jails across the U.S. have problems similar to Polson, where demand for inmate mental health treatment exceeds any state's capacity to provide it.

Polson's basement jail cell was intended to be a short-term solution to keep mentally altered inmates away from the rest of the jail population until a psychiatric bed opened up. Houghton writes, "Last year, a man sentenced for stealing a rifle stayed in that cell 129 days. He was waiting for a spot to open at Montana’s only state-run psychiatric hospital after a mental health evaluator deemed he needed care."

Some jailed individuals haven't been found guilty of crimes because a judge ordered mental health care completed before allowing the case to move forward. At the Grays Harbor County Jail, located in the small town of Montesano, Washington, "approximately 20-30% of the jail population is made up of inmates who are supposed to be receiving [mental health] care," reports Susannah Frame of KING-TV in Seattle. The facility's medical ward is "the size of a closet. There are no mental health professionals on staff. There is not enough staff to safely deal with a crisis."

Wyoming, Nevada and Oregon jail systems have similar struggles. "More than half of Wyoming’s 23 sheriffs told lawmakers there that they were housing people in crisis awaiting mental health care for months," Houghton reports. "Nevada has struggled despite a $500 daily fine for each jailed patient whose treatment is delayed. Disability Rights Oregon has said delays in that state continue after two people died in jail while on the state’s psychiatric waitlist."

In Polson, Vincent River has been the jail's only mental health provider for 25 years. "He said he’s not always available because he’s the only psychologist in four northwestern Montana counties evaluating whether a person in jail needs psychiatric care," Houghton writes. "River said he can’t get people into any psychiatric bed in Montana because there are too few. Instead, he tries to stabilize people while they’re jailed. . . . Some are released without care if they linger too long on the state hospital’s waitlist."

Mental Health Association launches hub dedicated to improving rural mental health access and education

Rural health includes mental health care.
(Mental Health Association photo)

The Mental Health Association launched a new hub with information and free resources to help rural residents access mental health treatment, reports Liz Carey of The Daily Yonder. The site also provides community members with tools for supporting mental health care in their area.

MHA built its hub to help address the drastic need for improved mental health treatment and education in smaller communities. Carey reports, "About 7.7 million rural adults, or about a quarter (23%) of all nonmetropolitan adults in the U.S., reported having mental illness in 2022, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Additionally, about 1.6 million, or nearly 5%, of nonmetropolitan adults reported having serious thoughts of suicide that year."

While the hub contains many options, its conversational style and easy-to-use format make it approachable. The site's landing page features a "Get Help" drop-down list of information with links on managing a mental health crisis. The site features online mental health tests and surveys to help residents determine what kind of help might fit their situation.

America Paredes, MHA’s chief social impact officer, told Carey, "Based on an individual’s screening results, they have access to a self-guided platform that helps them navigate their mental health journey based on their experience and where they are in their journey."

Resources for communities working to help residents or families cope with mental illness are also available. Paredes told Carey, “We hope this hub serves as a first step for individuals who may feel alone in their experience and organizations looking to support these communities by providing them with free resources.”

Through the hub, MHA introduces rural residents to various care options, including telehealth, which can help them access care from mental health professionals they would otherwise have to drive long distances to see. Joy Jay, executive director of MHA-SC, told Carey, "The acceptance of telehealth has helped others in rural areas reach the help they might not have otherwise had access to."

Study looks at American gun ownership: A firearm can make owners feel safer, but it can also increase anxieties

Owners can have complicated reactions to having
their firearm nearby. (Adobe Stock photo)

U.S. gun owners come with a wide variety of backstories about why they like owning a firearm, but research suggests that most owners share some of the same reasons for wanting a gun, writes Nick Buttrick for The Conversation. "American gun owners tend to agree. . .that guns are for personal protection. In a 2023 Pew survey, 72% of gun owners reported that they owned a firearm at least in part for protection. . . 81% of gun owners reported that owning a gun helped them to feel safer."

Guns can also help their owners feel emotionally protected. Buttrick explains. "Owning a gun helps them feel more in control of the world around them and more able to live meaningful, purposeful lives that connect to the people and communities they care for." For individuals or families who fear police or government "are either unable or unwilling to keep them safe," a gun can provide an added layer of psychological assurance.

Even though some gun owners may feel safer with a deadly weapon, having one comes with hidden threats that owners may not recognize. "When gun owners look for danger, they often are more likely to find it," Buttrick adds. "[They] may end up perceiving the world as a more dangerous place, institutions as more uncaring or incompetent, and their private actions as all the more important for securing their lives and their livelihoods."

To gauge how gun owners psychologically relate to their weapon, Buttrick and his colleagues "recruited a group of over 150 firearms owners. . .along with over 100 demographically matched Americans who have never owned a gun," Buttrick explains. When gun-owning participants were "subtly reminded of guns in general. . .our participants reported feeling more safe and in control. About half of the times that we texted, the gun owners told us that they had a gun accessible. . . . When a gun was handy, participants [said] they felt more vigilant and anxious, and that their immediate situation was more chaotic."

Buttrick writes, "To more fully understand the many ways responsible firearm ownership can look, we are interviewing gun owners from all around the state of Wisconsin, a notably diverse state when it comes to gun ownership. . . We hope to learn more about the many different ways that people conceptualize what a gun can do for them."

As the U.S. faces an ongoing mental health crisis, 988 call centers look to add geolocation services

In 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention verified 45,979 suicides; in 2021, the numbers increased to 48,183. Added together, the number of people lost to suicides could fill the Rose Bowl Stadium. When the CDC's provisional suicide counts from 2022 and 2023 are tacked on, the death toll reaches 172,520. 

With those tragic numbers in mind, in 2022 the Biden administration transitioned the country's 10-digit suicide hotline to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which provides an easy-to-remember three-digit number for 24/7 crisis care. But the 988 program has a gaping problem: It lacks geolocation service, reports Kery Murakami of Route 50, which "means callers are being sent to call centers thousands of miles away from where they actually are. . . People dialing into the hotline are sent to a call center based on their area code, not on where they are physically calling from."

The lack of geolocation means 988 counselors lack the capacity to connect a caller with services and follow-up support in another state. Murakami explains, "The issue, according to Rob MacDougall, director of emergency services for Johnson County, Kansas, is that a call center in Kansas isn't equipped, for instance, to connect someone in Florida to the services and help they need." The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Federal Communications Commission are working with cellphone carriers to "test routing calls based on where a person in crisis is generally located." To ensure a level of privacy, call centers don't receive a caller's exact location.

While adding geolocation information will help 988 be more effective, some areas are still working to implement basic 988 services. "Many states are still working out technical kinks or struggling with staffing, which can lead to wait times or not reaching a counselor at all," Murakami reports. "In Florida, a distraught caller may have to sit on hold for 32 seconds, according to SAMHSA data. 

Despite struggles, the lifeline is making progress. "Before 988 was implemented, it might take several minutes to reach someone. Now the average response time has decreased from 2 minutes and 39 seconds to 41 seconds, according to SAMHSA," reports Christina Caron of The New York Times. 

Quick hits: Film explores Christian nationalism; human brain limits; sun activity and the eclipse; Marvel & HBO go rural

'Christianity is about the values of inclusion,' one of the
film's interviewees says. (God + Country photo)

A new documentary that explores the rise of American Christian nationalism and the threat its increasing influence poses to democracy has been released in select theaters, reports Russell Contreras of Axios. Directed by Robert Reiner, the film, "God + Country" features interviews with Black evangelicals, religious leaders and scholars, as well as Charlie Sykes of The Bulwark, a conservative anti-Trump website, and Russell Moore, a theologian who "resigned from the Southern Baptist Convention amid a backlash over his criticism of Trump." The film asks interviewees from all walks of life if/how the movement is based on Christian principles and what are the risks to the democratic process when Christianity becomes a political ideology.

For many Americans, maybe the post-pandemic "new normal" could be best described as "living with constant uncertainty," which is not a comfortable position for humans. "To stay motivated as we encounter unprecedented levels of uncertainty in every aspect of our lives, we should understand that the human brain simply was not built for this," report Heidi Grant and Tal Goldhamer of Harvard Business Review. "Knowing what your brain does well — and what it does surprisingly poorly — can give you a much clearer sense of the strategies you need not just to endure but to thrive." Read some comforting and helpful coping strategies here.

A NASA satellite captured this image
of sunspots. (NASA image via WP)

Greeting Earthlings! The sun is putting on some incredible shows this year. "Solar flares, eruptions on the sun's surface and sunspots are expected to multiply and intensify throughout this year, as our yellow star enters its most active period in two decades," reports Kasha Patel of The Washington Post. "That could lead to more beautiful dancing aurora far and wide, but also radio blackouts and satellite disruptions."

From outlawing gender discrimination in federally funded programs to bolstering cleaner air to reducing child poverty, the U.S. government has achieved some landmark policy successes, writes Darrell M. West in his opinion for Brookings. Read here for all 10 success stories.

The path of the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. (NASA Science Visualization Studio graphic via Mashable)

Unusual, dark and spectacular -- the solar eclipse is coming this spring. "Witnessing a total solar eclipse — wherein the moon completely blocks out the sun — is a rare opportunity," reports Mark Kaufman of Mashable. "But on April 8, 2024, millions of Americans will be in the 'path of totality,' allowing many to experience something that's at once astonishing, unsettling, and thrilling."

Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez in 'Echo' (Photo
by Chuck Zlotnick, Marvel Studios via DY)

New films featuring remote places are getting noticed. Even Marvel Studios left New York City to stage its new mini-series "Echo" in Tamaha, Oklahoma, where a Choctaw Nation adventure unfolds. Adam B. Giorgi of The Daily Yonder writes, "It follows Maya Lopez, a closely held associate of a New York-based criminal magnate, as she returns to her Oklahoma hometown after a violent falling out with her boss."

Night Country detectives face
unending darkness. (HBO photo)

 

For those who love rural and seek darker twists, HBO's newest "True Detective" season, Night Country, is set in Alaskan's northernmost place, the North Slope Borough, which is 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle. The story "follows the disappearance of eight men from a research station and how it might be linked to the unsolved murder of an indigenous woman," reports Kristian Bert of NBC Today.

North Slope Borough, Alaska
(Wikipedia map)

"The show gets its name from the concept of a Polar Night, a phenomenon that occurs at the north and south poles, where night lasts all day during the winter."

The plot involves two detectives -- Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis) -- who must work together to solve the crimes without the help of Anchorage police.

A story of hope: Rosalynn Carter's mental health advocacy 'changed journalism — and journalists'

Carter's advocacy created a framework for much of the
progress on mental illness in America. (Photo by Ric Feld, AP)

One reporter's journey to understanding the role journalism could play in improving Americans' lives began with Roslyn Carter's mental health advocacy. A condensed version of Aaron Glantz's NPR story is shared below.

"So much of who I am today is the result of receiving a Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellowship from The Carter Center 15 years ago.

"When I met former first lady Rosalynn Carter in Atlanta in 2008, I was accomplished — having written one book and under contract for a second — but I was also broken after three years reporting in Iraq and an equal amount of time chronicling challenges veterans faced back home. I wrote without purpose, drifting from story to story and full of rage at what I saw as the U.S. government's failure to take seriously the human consequences of the war it began.

"Mrs. Carter was the first person to ever ask me how my journalism would make an impact. It was such an obvious question that it changed my life.

"These days, the question of impact is regularly discussed in newsrooms, especially on investigative desks. But at the time, considering the purpose of one's journalism was often considered taboo. . . .Her challenge, laid out softly in her gentle Southern drawl, gave me a way to channel my trauma. I could deploy it, and the entire journalism toolbox, into making people's lives better.

"All my work since and the change it has made — the fact the VA now tracks veteran suicides in an effort to prevent them, that 500,000 fewer veterans are waiting for disability benefits, that 100,000 fewer are on government-prescribed opioids, and more — can all be traced back to Mrs. Carter and her vision that journalism should have a greater purpose, to fight stigma and make change.

"As she did with her other fellows, she watched my work closely, sending congratulatory letters when my reporting won major journalism awards. She took me seriously, which made me take myself seriously. . . . Since Carter's death, I've been crying — as I share memories with some of the more than 200 other journalists who have held the fellowship that bears her name. Even those who held the fellowship after Mrs. Carter's health began to slip when she could no longer attend in person and provide notes spoke of the impact she had on them.

"Carter was a visionary. When she established the Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellowship in 1996, the entire conception of mental health as a journalism beat was not well established. Screaming headlines in newspapers and chyrons on the nightly news proclaimed people to be 'crazy' or 'insane.' The idea of reporting with the expressed purpose of fighting stigma and improving conditions for people with mental illness was foreign to most editors and publishers. . . . Through deliberate work over more than two decades with hundreds of reporters; Carter changed that." 

The 'good life' is bigger than happiness: Here's how to help your kids (and yourself) experience all the good things

Illustration by Salini Perera, The Washington Post

Teaching children how to lay the groundwork for a "good life" means embracing lots of lessons. "For Robert Waldinger, this question of what constitutes a 'good life' isn't a hypothetical. Waldinger directs the Harvard University Study of Adult Development, which for more than 80 years has followed the lives of 724 participants and more than 1,300 of their descendants," reports Deborah Farmer Kris of The Washington Post. "When it comes to understanding human flourishing, Waldinger has the receipts, and he has detailed them in the new book The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness. "These lessons aren't just for adults. The findings also offer our kids a healthy framework for thinking about success, relationships and life's inevitable challenges," Kris writes. "And because kids learn best from the adults in their lives, here's what Waldinger says that parents can take away from his research." Here's a condensed summary:

Happiness isn't the (sole) aim: Waldinger's answer comes down to two concrete actions that form the foundation of wellness: engaging in activities we find meaningful and connecting with people we care about and who care about us. Waldinger told Kris, "I think of happiness as an accident. But if you put in these ingredients of well-being, you make yourself more accident-prone. We can teach our kids to prepare the ground so that happiness comes more easily, more often."

Learn to surf: Waldinger's research highlights humanity's ability to adapt in the face of obstacles beyond our control. He subscribes to mindfulness teacher and author Jon Kabat-Zinn's metaphor describing the struggles of life as waves in the ocean: "You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf."

Relationships are the fourth 'r:' People who have the strongest relationships are "proactive, reaching out rather than just assuming that friendships are going to take care of themselves," Waldinger says. As parents, we can model this for kids by reaching out to our own friends. For example, let them see you go on a walk with a friend, text a sibling or take cookies to a neighbor.

Practice radical curiosity: Look at one person in your life and ask: What's here about this person that I haven't noticed before? It could be anything, even the way sweat forms on your partner's forehead. Radical curiosity can be transformational in family relationships. Waldinger says, 'We all respond to somebody else's genuine interest. It's a big deal. It means so much to have someone just want to know what's happening with you.'

Allow for challenges: When our kids are distressed and we try to single-handedly fix the situation for them, then they don't develop the capacity to encounter challenges and learn from experience that 'this is going to pass, and in the meantime, there are things I can do to feel a little bit better.'

Rituals and routines are connectors: Waldinger's research points to the protective power of family rituals and routines. Our kids need connection, even when they become teens and appropriately try to pull away. . . . research shows that regular family dinners correlate with higher grade-point averages, greater self-confidence, and lower rates of substance abuse and depression. As Waldinger notes, simply being in the same room together once a day is a ritual that helps family members stay connected.

Embrace the long game: One of the best things this Harvard study provides is perspective. 'What we've seen — following these lives for 85 years — is that change happens,' Waldinger says. 'People take unexpected turns and twists.'. . . He knows this not just from data but also experience. 'Our older son was absolute hell on wheels as a baby. He wouldn't sleep. He was terrified of everything. He screamed all the time. . . . He is the most wonderful, mellow young man. Thank God for child development."

Education and online therapy are tools to help prevent farmer suicide, and farmers respond to it well, study shows

Natural Resouces Conservation Service photo via Successful Farming

Unpredictable weather, crop diseases, financial problems, and isolation: America's farmers have pressures that can lead to mental-health stress and suicide. And while there is no "silver bullet," community and farmer education, plus online therapy, may help head off that devastating choice, reports Courtney Love of Successful Farming: "The high rate of farmer suicide means that many rural communities have a mental crisis on their hands, says Jeff Winton, a rural upstate New York dairy farmer and founder of Rural Minds, a non-profit mental health organization. Winton, who recently lost his nephew to suicide, says the loss was unexpected as he and his nephew worked together on Winton's dairy farm. . . . Farming communities should not only learn when someone needs to talk but also know their resources to guide those needing support."

While many farmers share similar stressors, each handles problems their own way, so it's hard to predict which can lead to the saddest of outcomes. "Winton believes that farmers should be more open about depression, mental health, offer a listening ear, or help a struggling farmer connect with a mental-health professional," Love writes. "Compared to urban areas, most rural areas that offer mental health services lack a choice in providers, says the National Institute of Mental Health. The limited number of resources strengthens the stigma that marks mental health in rural communities, and people can often feel ashamed to seek the help they need, says Winton."

Researcher Rebecca Purc-Stephenson of the University of Alberta "found that farmers often denounce therapy as a waste of time," Love reports. "Cynthia Beck, a psychology professor at the University of Regina in Canada [and a beef farmer], disagrees. . . . Beck recently finished a clinical study asking if agricultural producers would engage in online therapy. Around 30 Canadian farmers participated in a five-lesson eight-week course with do-it-yourself guides and an option to access a therapist via email or telephone. Beck hypothesized that 25% of the 30 farmers would drop out of the course. . . . To her surprise, her study saw that farmers had an 82% completion rate compared to the general population in the clinical research study, which had a 31% dropout rate."

Beck told Love, "Producers told us they felt like they were speaking with a peer or friends because they felt the program completely understood them. . . . One participant said engaging in the course gave them more confidence and improved their overall view of help-seeking." Love reports, "Beck also found that farmers were interested in course materials. About 90% of the farmers download all 20 guides from the course, says Beck. Farmers also said they wanted more time with the course's therapist. . . . . Beck says the study proved that online therapy is a usable psychological intervention tool for farmers. Farmers expressed the course was worth their time and helped them feel less anxious and depressed."

For Beck's study, "The only limitation was broadband access," Love reports. "One farmer reported that he finished the course from the seat of his combine on his smartphone." The help site itself was easy to use. Beck told Love, "This farmer told us, 'There was a next button, a previous button, and a skip button. . . . If you can auto steer a tractor, then I am sure you could run the site.'"

Quick hits: Fake news is shared to maintain social circles; national parks you can visit without madding crowds . . .

Photo by Imgorthand, Getty Images

Conservative and liberal Americans both share fake news because they don't want to be ostracized from their social circles, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

From sunshine to fresh air to admiring trees, outdoor play is the healthiest for kids. "Science shows it can help your kids’ sleep patterns, undo the damage from screen time, and bolster their mental health," reports Lindsay N. Smith of National Geographic. "You may not have time for a trip to the park every day, but letting your kids spend five or 10 minutes at the school playground after pick-ups can pay dividends."

Warm weather is a tricky variable for mushers in this year's Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Alaska. Sunny skies and temperatures hitting 40 have made planning rest times and other strategies more challenging, reports Zachariah Hughes of Anchorage Daily News.

Image from piday.org

Teach kids math by using dessert ('cause it's almost Pi Day, 3.14!)

Are you tired of all the people? Longing for the outdoors? You can visit these delightful national parks and avoid crowds.

Marguerite Richards made a TikTok stoking her father's 10-year-old thriller novel. "Within a matter of days, millions of people would see her video, and her father’s book would top Amazon’s best-eller list. . . . Whether it was the gripping thriller, the author’s unassuming Vermont mien, or the efforts of a proud, tech-savvy daughter, the story of Lloyd Devereux Richards and Stone Maidens struck a chord," reports A.J. Willingham of CNN.

Rural schools need more mental health services. In Oklahoma, Project Rural Innovation for Mental Health Enhancement aims to hire 64 mental-health professionals in high-need rural Oklahoma schools. The five-year $5.6 million grant program will pay for the counselors, social workers and behavior analysts to attend graduate school, as well as cover fees and costs in the program," reports Kristi Eaton of The Daily Yonder.

Birds can make us happier, study in the U.K. finds

Geese on the wing (Photo by Steve Smith, Unspash)

An off-kilter skit from the television series "Portlandia" had some truth to it. To spread cheer, two cast members go from place to place, in someone else's house, putting birds on pillows, birds on birds, birds on toast. Feeling gloomy? Put a bird on it.

Turns out that birds do brighten and relax our minds. "A study recently published in the journal Science found that being in the presence of birds made people feel more positive," reports Sarah Gibbens of National Geographic.

The study in the United Kingdom spanned two weeks and included a smartphone app questionnaire that was completed three times a day. "Emerging from the app’s data was a discernible trend—study participants who saw birds were more likely to report a better mood," Gibbens writes. "Research is increasingly finding that getting outside is good for our brains, which is why scientists want to know more about what aspects of nature may be the most therapeutic."

Andrea Mechelli, a psychologist at King’s College London and one of the paper’s authors, told Gibbens that he was originally seeking information on why people who live in cities may be more likely to suffer from mental illness. He told Gibbens that they stumbled upon the facts: "I don’t have a particular agenda focused on nature myself. I wasn't thinking we were going to demonstrate nature has a strong effect. . . Our first finding [was] that nature has a very powerful effect."

"With the data he collected, Mechelli performed a statistical analysis that found a discernible improvement in well-being when birds were present, even when eliminating other factors like the presence of trees or waterways," Gibbens writes. "James and other scientists note the study provides an interesting insight into how specific parts of nature may influence well-being."

In putting the findings to use, Mechelli told Gibbens that he asks his "patients go for walks to observe the trees and plants growing in the city, and the wildlife fluttering by. It has no side effects. It’s something they could try, and they have nothing to lose.”

Media roundup: Alaska TV show is about Natives; candidate buys up paper with attack ad; brevity, soul of journalism?

Hilary Swank and Grace Dove are protagonists on "Alaska Daily."

"CNN is laying off hundreds of employees in a cost-cutting effort that illuminates the financial challenges facing a wide array of media companies as the economy teeters toward a possible recession," Jeremy Barr and Elahe Izadi of The Washington Post report in a story that is also about the previously announced layoffs at Gannett Co., which began yesterday.

"NPR is also facing a financial shortfall that will require $10 million in budget cuts over the next 10 months, chief executive John Lansing told employees on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, Washington Post Executive Editor Sally Buzbee informed employees of plans to close the company’s weekly print magazine, citing the Post’s plans for 'global and digital transformation'."

The Post's owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, built success on his "overlooked and underappreciated communication skills," Bill Heavey writes in a Wall Street Journal review of The Bezos Blueprint: Communication Secrets of the World’s Greatest Salesman, by Carmine Gallo, who analyzed 24 years of Bezos's letters to shareholders, which now average 16 words per sentence "with a readability score fit for an eighth-grader."

Some newspapers have used the Flesch-Kincaid readability scale to guide their reporters and editors, and maybe it's time to use it again, when they are competing with other information sources for attention. Axios is building readership nationally and in local markets with "smart brevity."

Gallo writes, “Our brains are not made to think,” citing neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett, who says “Your brain’s most important job is to control your body’s energy needs. In short, your brain’s most important job is not thinking.” Heavey writes, "This is one of the most reassuring sentences I have ever read. . . . Whether you’re writing an article, document or email, says Mr. Gallo, you have 15 seconds—the time it takes to read 35 words—to grab a reader’s attention. After that, 45% of readers will stop paying close attention."

ABC's "Alaska Daily" is in reruns until Feb. 23, but that means you can catch up with the show's primary subjects: local journalism and Alaska Natives. For The Seattle Times, Chase Hutchinson interviewed Vera Marlene Starbard, a Native and journalist who is a co-writer for the show: "She’s hoping the show will provide a more authentic portrayal of Alaska Natives that pushes back against harmful stereotypes she argues have been perpetuated in both television and journalism."

News literacy: "Billionaire couple Melanie and Richard Lundquist are throwing their support behind the News Literacy Project to arm students and the public against mis- and disinformation," Inside Philanthropy reports (behind a paywall).

Kentucky Press Association Executive Director David Thompson reports, "Seems there was an unhappy political candidate in Breathitt County just prior to the election. And you might think a newspaper selling out of all of its newsstand copies is great publicity for the paper. But what happened to the Jackson Times Voice on Nov. 2 was unusual. As soon as the paper opened its office that morning, calls and messages started coming in. There wasn’t a copy of the Times Voice to be found anywhere. After checking with some stores, the Times Voice learned that county judge-executive candidate Harvey Jason Richardson and his driver traveled throughout the county that a.m. buying up all copies of the Times Voice. The duo apparently told people they were buying up the copies for a “school project.” But investigating further, the Times Voice learned from sources close to the situation that Richardson was not happy with an ad that showed him in a negative light, namely multiple mugshots and court documents from previous DUIs and public intoxication arrests. Instead of going back to repress the day’s edition, the Times Voice just put the entire paper on its Facebook Page."

Journalism skills: Chris Sutcliffe and Catalina Albenau of Journalism.co.uk update their list of "12 essential self-taught journalism skills," from shorthand to coding.

Quick hits: Ginseng and Appalachia; why your brain likes forests more than cities; did you know about Manure Expo?

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email us at heather.chapman@uky.edu.

Registration is open for the North American Manure Expo, which will take place in Chambersburg, Pa., July 13-14. Registrants can enter a t-shirt contest for the Top 10 Rejected Manure Expo Slogans; a recent one suggested that attendees "be part of the movement." We want some of the official swag! Read more here.

On the 150th anniversary of Yellowstone National Park, a fifth of its wolves have been killed by hunters in the last six months. Read more here.

A new book explores the importance of wild ginseng to Appalachia. Read more here.

 

A newly published study shows why your brain prefers walking in a forest to walking down an urban street. Read more here.

The Black Lung Disability Trust Fund is funded by a federal tax on domestically produced and sold coal. At the end of last year that tax was cut by more than half, and the fund is running out of money. Democratic lawmakers have proposed legislation to extend the tax at its original rate through 2031, but the bill has stalled out, leaving the program's future uncertain. Read more here.

Study reveals extent of mental health professional shortage in rural America, offers county-level data

A new study details the extent of the shortage of mental health professionals in rural areas. Though 6.5 million rural Americans have some form of mental illness, 65 percent of rural counties don't have a psychiatrist, 47 percent don't have a psychologist, and 81 percent don't have a psychiatric nurse practitioner, Stephen Johnson reports for Big Think.

Check out the graphs from the study and see how your county stacks up:

Number of psychiatrists per 100,000 people. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Number of psychologists per 100,000 people. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Number of psychiatric nurse practitioners per 100,000 people. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Oregon board refuses weekly's request for public records about release of a murder suspect

A memorial for the man killed in a crash
with the suspect. (Photo by Les Zaitz)

After a murder suspect confessed to feigning insanity for 20 years to avoid a prison cell, the Oregon Psychiatric Security Review Board is "defying a state order that it release public records to the Malheur Enterprise and intends to sue the weekly newspaper to keep the records secret," the Enterprise reports. "The state board wants to keep confidential certain records it used in deciding last December to discharge from state custody Anthony W. Montwheeler, 49."

Since 1996, Montwheeler has been under the Security Review Board's jurisdiction after being found guilty but insane in an earlier kidnapping case, the Enterprise reports. The board released him "after learning in December that he had been faking his mental illness for 20 years. The Enterprise sought access to 15 of the 227 documents admitted as exhibits. The records included recent risk assessments of Montwheeler by state hospital officials. Under the Oregon Public Records Law, government records generally are open to the public. Exceptions allow agencies to keep some records confidential."

Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum has ordered the board to turn over the records sought by the Enterprise, but Security Review Board Executive Director Juliet Britton said in a Feb. 6 letter to the newspaper that "state and federal law prohibited the agency from releasing the documents. She also said that disclosing two documents would 'be an unreasonable invasion of a private citizen’s personal privacy'."

The day Montwheeler was released, state psychologist Brian Hartman warned the state board what might happen, co-owner Les Zaitz reports for the weekly. Hartman testified in December, “His risk of violence would be high and it would be most likely to target his intimate partner or other family member." Hartman was right. Three weeks after his release, "police say Montwheeler kidnapped and killed his ex-wife and then killed a Vale man and injured his wife in a collision as he was eluding police."

"Montwheeler now sits in the Malheur County Jail, charged with aggravated murder, assault, and kidnapping. He may face the death penalty. He declined an interview," Zaitz reports.

Prescriptions for psychiatric drugs, most from non-psychiatrists, are partly blamed for rising suicide rate among white, middle-aged women

La Plata County, Colorado (Wikipedia map)

An increase in psychiatric drug prescriptions is being linked to an increase in suicide rates among white middle-age women 45 to 54 working blue-collar jobs, Amy Ellis Nutt reports for The Washington Post in the latest story in a series about the phenomenon. The suicide rate among middle-aged white women increased from 7 per 100,000 in 1999 to 12.6 in 2014. Psychiatric drug prescriptions increased 117 percent from 1999 to 2013.

Colorado ranks fourth nationally for suicide rates among middle-aged white women, Nutt writes. Rural La Plata County, with a population of 53,284, leads the state among counties with more than 30,000 residents. Fourteen middle-aged white women in the county have committed suicide since 2007. A Post analysis "found striking commonalities: Most worked physically demanding jobs. Most suffered from chronic pain. And most struggled with mental-health issues that, surviving friends and relatives say, were addressed through psychiatric medications that were ultimately ineffective."

"The number of prescriptions written by non-psychiatrists also has risen," Nutt writes. "As many as 80 percent of all antidepressant prescriptions are written by physicians who are not psychiatrists, multiple studies have found, and doctors often give the drugs to people who have received no psychiatric diagnosis. Studies also show that the drugs work only about half the time and can produce side effects, such as anxiety and sleeplessness, that mimic worsening symptoms."

"More than half of all counties in the U.S.—all of them rural—have no practicing psychiatrists, psychologists or social workers, according to a 2013 federal report," Nutt writes. "In La Plata County, only one mental-health clinic accepted Medicaid." (Read more)

County-level maps show in local detail the lack of behavioral health providers in many rural areas

More than 80 percent (1,069 of 1,331) of "non-core" rural counties—ones without a city of 10,000 or more people—lack psychiatrists, says a study by the Rural Health Research Center and the Rural Health Research & Policy Centers. Non-core counties average 3.4 psychiatrists for every 100,000 people, compared to 17.5 psychiatrists per 100,000 in metropolitan areas. The U.S. average for all counties is 15.6 per 100,000. (Map: Number of psychiatrists per 100,000 in rural counties)

The study found that 91 percent of non-core counties are without psychiatric nurse practitioners (0.9 per every 100,000), 61 percent don't have a psychologist (9.1 per 100,000), 35 percent lack social workers (29.9 per 100,000) and 24 percent are without counselors (67.1 per 100,000). (Map: Psychiatric nurse practitioners per 100,000 in rural counties; click on maps for larger versions)

The study used data from the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System and the National Provider Identifier from October 2015.

Teletherapy could ease shortage of psychiatrists in rural America

Mental health advocates hope that teletherapy can ease some of the burden on psychiatrists, especially in rural areas, which often lack such professionals. A shortage of child psychiatrists is of particular concern.

"Psychiatrists and mental health advocates say America today needs more than 30,000 child and adolescent psychiatrists, and has only 8,300—and the need appears to keep rising," Emma Ockerman reports for Time magazine. Advocates have been struggling for an answer to the complicated problem for years. Teletherapy, a therapy session conducted remotely via digital technology, is one piece of that puzzle.

"As technology has become cheaper and more reliable, telepsychiatry has emerged as a practical approach to reaching more young people," Ockerman notes. "But it’s not without its detractors. Some advocates disagree on whether appointments . . . are as effective as those carried out in-person. Others see telehealth as just one promising piece of what must be a larger, more comprehensive solution."

The American Telemedicine Association reported earlier this year that the number of states requiring private insurers to cover telemedicine as they would in-person services had doubled in the past four years, Ockerman adds. Kentucky, for example, requires that "telemental health encounters" be covered through Medicaid and private insurance, including appointments with a licensed social worker. Ockerman's story uses a Kentucky teenager as an example; to read it, click here; for a shorter version from Kentucky Health News, go here.

Telepsychiatry is working in the Carolinas, where many rural counties lack mental-health providers

Photo: N.C. Center for Public Policy Research

Finding mental health care in rural America is often a struggle for patients, with 25 percent of Idaho's residents lacking access to a psychologist or psychiatrist. The problem is just as bad in North Carolina, where 58 of the state's 100 counties have been "designated as Health Professional Shortage Areas because they do not have enough mental health providers," according to the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research.

But in North Carolina rural residents are utilizing telepsychiatry to get the help they need, reports NPR. Psychiatrist Dr. Sy Atezaz Saeed told the radio network, "When you ask patients about this experience, most of them will tell you that after a few minutes of some hesitation, they even forget that they are talking to the doctor via this monitors."

A study by the NCCPPR found that the method works, stating that patients who use telepsychiatry "spend less time waiting in hospital emergency rooms and have a lower likelihood of returning for treatment. The study also found fewer involuntary commitments to state psychiatric hospitals and high satisfaction for telepsychiatry patients."

This is good news for a state where 28 counties don't have a psychiatrist and 18 counties only have one, the report states. It's even worse for children, with 70 counties lacking a child psychiatrist. Only six counties have a geriatric psychiatrist, five have an addiction psychiatrist and only 13 have physicians that specialize in addiction and chemical dependency.

The North Carolina model was based on success in South Carolina, where the average number of patients treated using telepsychiatry grew from 2010 to 2013 from 8.7 to 12.3 per day and "the length of stay in emergency departments while waiting for treatment decreased from 48-72 hours in 2010 to less than six hours in 2013," the report states.

Research in northeastern North Carolina, which has 10 of the 28 counties without a psychiatrist, found that through telepsychiatry "the length of stay in the emergency rooms for patients waiting to be discharged to inpatient treatment declined from 48 hours to 22.5 hours," the report says. The number of patients who had to return for treatment within 30 days decreased from 20 percent to 8 percent. Involuntary commitments to local or state psychiatric hospitals decreased by 33 percent. Re-admissions to psychiatric hospitals declined, and 88 percent of patients said they were satisfied with the telepsychiatry services.

The state legislature appropriated $2 million for fiscal 2013-14 and $2 million for 2014-15 to implement a new statewide telepsychiatry system; 49 of the state's 108 hospitals are participating, and the remaining hospitals are expected to join by July 2015. Gov. Pat McCrory said, "No matter where you live in North Carolina, you will soon have better access to mental health providers with the expansion of telepsychiatry across our state. Technology will help us connect people with appropriate treatment programs so patients can avoid long waits in the emergency room. North Carolina can be a national leader with this program." (Read more)