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And Happy September!

There is an inverse relationship between income (as measured by Gross Domestic Product) and fertility (the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime). In other words, the more wealthy a country is, the less children women have, and vice versa.

There are three major reasons for this relationship: Empowerment of women (increased access to education and labor market participation), declining child mortality, and a rising cost of bringing up children (to which the decline of child labor contributed).

Question: Which country had the fastest drop in babies per woman? (The answer may surprise you)

News

Ketamine and Blind Optimism

Ketamine, a powerful anesthetic which is commonly called K, Special K, and Vitamin K, can be injected, snorted, added to cigarettes, or put in drinks. It causes a psychedelic trip which lasts about 2 hours.

It was initially used in Belgium as anesthesia for animals in the 1960s, and was then given to injured soldiers in the Vietnam War. However, people started to recognize the potential benefits of the medicine once doctors and emergency responders noticed that it could help people who were suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts.

Today, Ketamine is the TikTok of psychedelics and has all the hype behind it. It has been touted as a potentially effective treatment for depression and suicidal thoughts, and along with other promising psychedelics, has led to a surge of research and entrepreneurial activity in the space. Furthermore, the FDA has approved 1 Ketamine medication for depression, a nasal spray called esketamine (Spravato).

Yet despite the hopefulness, concerns continue to grow around take-home Ketamine models, protocols, and a general sense of blind optimism.

The research on Ketamine has not yet approved an optimal dosage and frequency of administration, which leads to a lot of guessing. That tends to be a dangerous way to approach novel treatments with inconclusive research.

Furthermore, businesses are cutting corners. While experts advise that trained staff sit with a person throughout treatment, some clinics instead use video cameras or periodic check-ins. And some of these clinics are promoting themselves more as wellness spas and are not run by mental health professionals.

Some companies such as Mindbloom are offering ketamine therapy at home, which overlooks a major part of the healing process: the interaction with the mental health professional. There is also a lack of research on at-home use of oral ketamine. Finally, we must recognize that Ketamine can cause side effects such as withdrawal, liver problems, elevated blood pressure, and respiratory depression.

Moving forward, we must be mindful and take into consideration both the potential benefits of Ketamine, alongside considerations such as the lack of research and regulation in the space.

Other social work-related news

• Mental health medication such as Depakote and Lithium can cause birth defects. This creates a difficult dilemma for women who take these medications and who are looking to have children. On top of this, bans on abortion create an added layer of complexity.

• California is seeking to pass a bill that would provide legal refuge to parents from other states who risk having their transgender children taken away or being criminally prosecuted if they support their children’s access to gender-affirming procedures and other health care

• At a remote mental health facility, a culture of cruelty persists despite decades of warnings

Reads on research

• A recent research study indicates that watching TV or engaging in other passive activities increases the risk of dementia, while the risk is lowered for those who read or engaged on their computer. The results remained the same even after the scientists accounted for levels of physical activity

• Expanded use of telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a reduced risk of opioid overdoses

• A study found that children are more candid about mental health when talking to robots

Other reads on policy

• The U.S. government took a significant step toward legitimizing psychedelics as a therapeutic treatment by announcing the formation of an interagency task force around the issue

• California Gov. Gavin Newsom's controversial proposal to steer homeless people with severe mental disorders into treatment cleared the state Assembly on Tuesday and is on its way to becoming law despite objections from civil liberties advocates who fear it will be used to force unhoused residents into care they don't want.

• First-of-its-kind legislation will keep California’s children safer while online. The bill, the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act, will require firms such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube to install guardrails for users under the age of 18, including defaulting to higher privacy settings for minors and refraining from collecting location data for those users.

Tech, social work, and cool opportunities 😎

• “Scary easy. Sketchy as hell.”: How startups are pushing Adderall on TikTok

• A webinar on How to Work With Families and Substance Use Disorders

• Interested in Healthcare policy? Check out the RWJF Health Policy Fellowship

• PsycApps, a startup that came up with a gamified mental health game called eQuoo, raised a $1.7 million seed round

• Clinical Content Manager at Alongside

• Senior Clinical Training Manager at Two Chairs

• Provider Success Manager at Hurdle

• Health Partnerships Manager at Amazon

Answer: The country with the fastest drop in babies per woman is Iran