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On another note, if you are interested in more mental health content, check out this newsletter ➡ Mental: Fighting the fragmentation of mental health one policy at a time

In today’s newsletter:

• 41 states + Washington DC sue Meta, claiming that its platforms harmed children’s mental health 🖥️

• Research found a relationship between Adult ADHD & Dementia 🧠

• Insurers push back on Biden's proposal to ease mental health care access ✋

Question: How many hours a day do children use social media? 📱

40+ states sue Meta over mental health

Meta, the parent of social media platforms Facebook and Instagram, is being sued by a group of more than 40 states for designing products that are “deliberately addictive and fuel the youth mental health crisis”. The states allege that Meta has deceived the public about the harms of social media, with some comparing this lawsuit to the one against Big Tobacco in the 1990s.

The lawsuit aims to create financial penalties for addictive features and to force the company to create safer platforms for young people.

Is social media detrimental to mental health? We don’t really know because studies have provided inconclusive claims. A 2022 review of the research highlighted that:

• There is research linking higher social media use to lower well-being. Some attribute this to social media-induced isolation, while others argue it substitutes meaningful in-person relationships with less satisfying online connections.

• Other research shows that social media is associated with higher well-being for certain people. For example, online communication may benefit people who are socially anxious and isolated, helping them to feel more at ease online and to create or bolster relationships that they would have trouble nurturing off-line.

Other News

• Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, run by Kaiser Permanente, will pay a $200 million settlement due to violations and deficiencies in its provision of behavioral healthcare services. The investigation found that Kaiser Permanente “canceled behavioral health appointments and, in many cases, did not provide enrollees with behavioral health appointments that met timely access and clinical standards that were still required, regardless of a strike by mental health clinicians that was initiated in August of 2022” (link)

• A few months ago, we briefly covered Clubhouses: Community-based locations that offer people with mental illness a community, along with opportunities to live, work, and learn. New York announced a $30 million investment into new clubhouses, which will allow an additional 3,700 people to take part in the programs. Governments are hopeful that the Clubhouse model can be a part of the systemic solution to helping people with serious mental illness (link)

• In Los Angeles, a “real estate agency for the unhoused” is helping unhoused people move more quickly into homes. Brilliant Corners, the nonprofit which serves as a sort of real estate agency, finds and persuades landlords to take unhoused people with vouchers. Their secret sauce? Financial strength. The nonprofit convinces landlords to accept housing vouchers by paying rent before a tenant moves in and providing over 1 month rent for a security deposit. The program places around 200 people into housing each month and has a budget of $200 million (link)

Reads on research

• A study analyzed an Israeli cohort of over 100,000 members born between 1933 and 1952 and found that adult ADHD was associated with a 2.77-fold increased risk of dementia, while people with adult ADHD treated with stimulant medication did not display this increased risk for dementia (link)

• Exercise and mental health 🚴🧘

  • A study found that many children who took part in a middle school cycling program improved their psychosocial well-being. The study also found that males, white students, those from high socioeconomic status families, those who get adequate sleep, those who are more active, those who have reduced screentime, and those who are involved in school activities were less at risk of developing a psychosocial disorder, as measured by the WHO-5 Well Being Index and the Pediatric Symptom Checklist (link)

  • Another study found that approximately 1 heated yoga session per week was associated with significantly greater reduction in depression symptoms than a waitlist control (link)

Reads on policy

• A few weeks ago, we spoke about how the Biden administration sought to strengthen access to mental health by implementing policies that pushed back on restrictive prior authorizations and narrow provider network that make it harder for people to access mental health care. Insurers pushed back on the proposal, blaming workforce shortages as the main driver of barriers to care and claiming that there could be ‘unintended consequences’ such as a lower-quality of providers (link)

• Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the state Office of Mental Health has received two federal grants totaling $13.5 million to expand access to mental and behavioral health services in primary care practices for youth and to implement the ‘Zero Suicide’ model at 13 certified community behavioral health clinics across the state (link)

Tech, business, and interesting reads 😎

• Hero Journey Club, a startup that offers mental health support to individuals playing video games, has landed $14.6 million in funding. The startup allows members to join virtual mental health support sessions while gaming (link)

• Waymark, which provides community-based services for people receiving Medicaid, has secured $42 million in fresh funding that will be used to hire new community care teams, among other things. The company currently manages care for about 50,000 Medicaid enrollees in Washington state and Virginia (link)

• Sonar Mental Health, started by a Stanford MBA candidate, is using AI to analyze the online activity of young people and to provide notifications and support recommendations should it detect concerning behavior. The goal is to help identify people who are at risk, and to help them to obtain care (link)

• Take a deep and poignant dive into the mental health complex with “How Washington State’s mental health labyrinth claimed a life” (link)

Answer: On average, 8- to 12-year-olds use about 5.5 hours of screen media per day, while 13- to 18-year-olds use about 8.5 hours of screen media per day ❗ (link)

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