Executive Mental Health

08/30/2024

Innovation is at the heart of everything we do, and we’re honored to see the incredible work of the EMH Psychiatry team be recognized by the Los Angeles Business Journal as a Finalist in the category of Outstanding New Health Care Product or Service of the Year!

Congratulations to Brian W. Wu, MD, PhD, MNM and his team for making a place alongside our industry’s leading businesses including UCLA Health, Keck Medicine of USC, Providence St. Joseph Hospital, Cedars-Sinai International, L.A. Care Health Plan, Molina Healthcare, and many more.

As LABJ publisher Josh Schimmels, MBA said, the awards “honor the particularly outstanding leaders in health care for our region. These individuals, organizations and programs have made remarkable strides helping Los Angeles (and beyond) to provide outstanding levels of care and treatment while fighting to help us navigate through uncharted waters.”

Thank you, Josh and Eva Juse, for the LABJ’s recognition, and go, team EMH Psychiatry!

08/30/2024

It’s a fact: A long weekend is good for you, so take it! Evidence shows people enjoy healthier lifestyle patterns when they have a short break, such as a three-day weekend. An increase in physical activity and sleep affords immediate positive effects on both mental and physical health, and those benefits can remain elevated for two weeks. Read more here.
https://neurosciencenews.com/three-day-weekend-health-23003/

A three-day weekend is good for our health, a new study reports. An extra day of rest improves sleep duration, increases physical activity and was associated with overall healthier behaviors.

08/30/2024

A recent study by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Michigan has uncovered a crucial insight: while phone calls, emails, and texts are common ways to stay in touch, they may not be enough to reduce loneliness in older adults. In-person visits significantly reduce feelings of loneliness, while digital communications fall short. Even brief face-to-face interactions, whether with close family or acquaintances, offer emotional comfort that a phone call or text simply can’t match. With loneliness linked to serious health issues like heart disease, cognitive decline, and even premature death, these findings highlight the importance of fostering real-world connections for the well-being of our aging population. Read more below on how a simple visit can make a world of difference.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-08-person-contact-linked-loneliness-older.html

In-person contact helps lead to lower levels of loneliness in older people, but other ways of staying in touch, such as phoning, emailing or texting, are not as effective in lowering loneliness, a team of researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Michigan have found.

07/10/2024

Summer travel planning took on a whole new level of meaning for Francesca Mari: To bring back life to her 72 year-old father’s fading memory.

“When I was growing up, my dad, who has left the country only a few times, told me about the trip to Europe he took with his parents when he was 14, in 1966. …As an adult, I spent years telling him that he and I should repeat the trip together — or at least a short version in which we went to Switzerland and Italy, Lugano and Naples, so he could show me where his family was from."

"But now that his Alzheimer’s was progressing, that proposal had taken on new significance. Revisiting the past would, I hoped, help him live better in the present.”

Read more here.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/30/magazine/dementia-alzheimers-reminiscence-therapy.html

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My dad always remembered his childhood journey through Europe. Now, with Alzheimer’s claiming his memories, we tried to recreate it.

07/09/2024

Leaving an academic legacy for older adult care, the Biden administration has awarded $206M to geriatrics clinician training programs. Called the Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program, the funds will reach 42 different universities and provider organizations across the country. The payments range from about $2.9 million to $5 million between the different educational groups.

With this, programs training primary care physicians, nurse practitioners and other clinicians will be able to integrate geriatrics training—particularly related to Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias—into primary care. Read more here.



https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/providers/biden-administration-awards-206m-geriatrics-clinician-training-programs

07/08/2024

Alzheimer’s drugs: Much ado about modest improvement? The geriatric medical community is abuzz with comment and expectations on the recent approval of the second ’s treatment drug, , from manufacturer Eli Lilly and Company. While is expected to provide coverage for the drug, CMS will require physicians to collect data about how well the drugs perform in the real world, opening the door for clinicians to carry out more cognitive assessments for monitoring both the condition and the effectiveness of the new drug. Read more here.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fda-approves-eli-lillys-alzheimers-drug-slows-memory-decline-rcna158794

The drug, also called donanemab, is the second treatment available in the U.S. that has been shown in trials to modestly slow a decline in memory and thinking abilities.

05/24/2024

EMH is back in the news! AARP highlights clinical psychologist Dr. Kristen Eddy’s work to achieve recognition for Pasadena Meadows Nursing Center resident “Rosie the Riveter,” Virginia Bellemeur, and to reveal her storied past. Author Alexandra Frost shares how Eddy nominated the nonagenarian for a special honor last year and how Bellemeur received the 2023 Congressional Leadership of the Year Award and a Congressional Certificate of Recognition from California Congresswoman Judy Chu.

Read more here:

Rosie the Riveter in uniform, this aviation specialist repaired wings of fighter jets

05/03/2024

Cognition does not always slow with age: Scientists have identified octogenarian super-agers who have the memory ability of people aged 30 years younger. According to recent studies carried out in Spain and Chicago, while traditional healthy aging strategies were considered positive for super agers, their nutrition, exercise, and sleep did not account for major cognitive differences among other octogenarians. One thing did stand out as a key differentiator among super-agers: Strong social relationships are a key ingredient to healthy brain aging.

See more insights from the super-agers studies here.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/29/well/mind/super-agers-study.html

New research explores why some octogenarians have exceptional memories.

04/10/2024

Feeling a little stressed out (and not just because it’s tax season)? You’re not alone, and not without resources to help. In April, hashtag brings attention to the negative impact of stress, and explores ways to manage it as an essential component of a healthy lifestyle. See here reflections from EMH's Assistant Chief Clinical Officer John Lee, PhD on how nurses can learn to manage the stress of their work -- including at the height of the pandemic--, by identifying the stressors of their occupations before they get out of hand, using nonjudgmental acceptance, and focusing on the present.

https://www.mcknights.com/blogs/why-nurses-are-feeling-the-strain-of-covid-19-and-four-things-they-can-do-about-it/

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03/31/2024

Tomorrow is the final day of 2024’s Women’s History Month, an opportune moment to reflect on this First Lady’s contribution on . Throughout her time aside President Carter, Roslyn Carter worked on her mission of better care, greater dignity, and reduced stigma for people with mental illness and their families. “Carter was a trailblazer in at least two key ways, said former APA president Nadine J. Kaslow, PhD, ABPP, who has served on the Mental Health Task Force since 2001 and worked closely with Carter on a regular basis. The first was placing the consumer front and center. “She really listened to people who had experiences with mental illness and to their top priorities for what would make a better mental health care system,” said Kaslow.
Read more here.

The former first lady never let up on her mission of better care, greater dignity, and reduced stigma for people with mental illness and their families.

03/27/2024

While AI’s early stages tapped into neuroscience, today’s appears to be prioritizing engineering over brain function insights.

In 1956, computer scientist John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, Nathaniel Rochester and Claude E. Shannon coined the term "artificial intelligence" in a proposal that they wrote for the famous Dartmouth conference. Initially introduced as simple models of brain-inspired systems, research on hierarchical processing in the visual system in the 1960s inspired the development of convolutional neural networks in the 1980s.

As Nature Science e-Magazine explores, “However, as AI research has evolved at a fast pace, progress over recent years has stirred a divergence from this original neuroscience inspiration. The pursuit of more powerful artificial neural systems in leading AI research labs, particularly those affiliated with tech companies, is currently focussed on engineering. This pursuit emphasizes further scaling up of complex architectures such as transformers, rather than integrating insights from neuroscience.”



Read more here.

After several decades of developments in AI, has the inspiration that can be drawn from neuroscience been exhausted? Recent initiatives make the case for taking a fresh look at the intersection between the two fields.

03/18/2024

EMH is back in the news! Assistant Chief Clinical Officer Dr. John Lee shares insights in AARP The Ethel on the benefits of reading, revealing how it can help lower anxiety and with relaxation, "even lowering an individual’s heart rate and decreasing blood pressure." Lee says reading (novels in particular) can help us “develop deeper empathy for others and learn how to identify emotions in others. And it can help us experience and process our own feelings. It can also lead to knowledge expansion and help us learn about other cultures, which can lead to a sense of deeper connection to others.” Read more here.

This will help feed your soul and boost your overall health.