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Those who engage in creative activities report better mental health

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By Kate Young

A poll found that people who engage in creative activities are more likely to report better mental health, according to a press release from the American Psychiatric Association.

According to July’s Healthy Minds Monthly Poll, which surveyed 2,202 adults from June 15 to June 18, 46% of Americans use creative activities to review stress or anxiety, and those who rate their mental health as very good or excellent are more likely to engage in creative activity more often than those who rate their mental health as fair or poor.
Read the full article in Healio.

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Mental Health Care Goes Beyond Just the Patient

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— Working with family members is one way to bolster quality of care

By Tomi Mitchell, MD
I believe that mental health care is one of the most underrated areas in healthcare. Mental illness is an epidemic plaguing virtually every corner of the world. While great strides have been made in identifying and treating mental disorders, particularly in wealthier countries, many people remain without adequate care for their conditions.
Read the full article in MedPage Today.

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Q&A: Mental Health Matters

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CareDx hosted the “Ask the Experts: Mental Health Matters” webinar in partnership with the National Kidney Foundation serving Northern California and the Pacific Northwest on Wednesday, May 18. More than 600 members of the transplant community, comprised of transplant recipients, caregivers, and clinicians, joined the live virtual discussion to learn more about the role mental health plays in the pre- and post-transplant journey.

Below is a summary of the questions posed during the session, as well as answers from both the patients’ and clinicians’ perspectives. Read the full article on CareDx.com.

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Is It the Right Time for a Paradigm Shift in Mental Health Care Delivery?

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— New review highlights evidence for a community-based approach

NEW ORLEANS — Mental health care delivery needs a paradigm shift, according to a review that was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry and presented at the American Psychiatric Association (APA) annual meeting.

Mental health professionals should move from an individual therapy and pharmacological treatment-focused approach to a community-level, public mental health-focused approach to achieve a more equitable model of mental health care, said Margarita Alegría, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues.
Read the full story in MedPage Today.

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Patients with CKD report COVID-19 negatively affected mental health, quality of care

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BOSTON — Patients with chronic kidney disease reported the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected their mental health and quality of health care, according to a poster presented at the National Kidney Foundation Spring Clinical Meetings.

“We did a study to look at the impact of COVID-19 on mental health and the quality of health care in patients with diabetes,” Neil Roy, MBBS, from the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, told Healio. Read the full story in Healio.

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National Kidney Foundation Recognizes National Mental Health Awareness Month

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“May is National Mental Health Awareness Month and The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) recognizes this important month by calling attention to NKF Peers, a free mentoring program that matches people in late stage kidney disease, those on dialysis or living with a transplant, as well as living donors with mentors who provide one-on-one support to guide them through their kidney health journey.  As COVID-19 cases in the U.S. continue to rise, NKF Peers is more important than ever because people with kidney disease and transplant recipients face a heightened risk for developing serious complications from COVID-19. In addition, people hospitalized with COVID-19 are developing kidney failure and becoming kidney patients. In these incredibly stressful times, the NKF Peers program is available to kidney patients seeking support, information, and understanding from someone who has been in a similar situation.”

Learn more about the NKF Peers program, here.

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Managing Anxiety as a Transplant Patient in a COVID-19 World

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Transplant recipients never needed a COVID-19 pandemic to be anxious about infections.

Long before the pandemic, living with a transplanted organ had its own caution, stress, and anxiety about illness.

Throw social isolation into the mix and your anxiety is only made worse.

Social Distancing’s Impact on Transplant Recipients Mental Health

Isabel Stenzel Byrnes has lived 16 years with a double-lung transplant. Byrnes is a licensed social worker and grief counselor from California who says she started to feel the effects of social isolation about two months into the pandemic.

“I was starting to really find myself in a slump, and missing the energy shared with human beings,” said Byrnes, who copes by taking socially distanced walks with people.

One positive aspect of life during COVID-19 is that today we have computers, tablets, and Smartphones, which can be useful resources to visually and auditorily connect transplant recipients with their doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, social workers, colleagues, and friends.

Read the full article, here.

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Supporting Strong Mental Health: Managing Chronic Conditions (Parts 1-3)

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“For the more than 60% of Americans with chronic disease, staying mentally and physically healthy during COVID-19 has been a challenge – especially for the kidney and transplant community. The National Kidney Foundation’s Kelli Collins, advocate and patient Valen Keefer and Paul Gionfriddo, CEO of Mental Health America share their insights and resources to help others with chronic disease focus on mental health.”

Watch all three parts of the series, here.

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