Responding to Acute Mental Health Crises in Black Youth: Is It Safe to Call 911?

Mental health professionals routinely advise the public to call 911 in case of an acute mental health crisis to access emergent care and ensure safety. Although there is no national database collection process, available data shows that individuals experiencing an acute mental health crisis and Black youth are both at a significantly elevated risk of being harmed or killed by law enforcement during any encounter. This brief analytic essay explores whether advising the public to call 911 is truly the best practice recommendation for Black youth in a mental health crisis.

Ethical Considerations in Balancing Use of Seclusion and Restraint With Risk of COVID-19 Exposure: Recommendations for Youth Inpatient Psychiatry Units.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has presented unique challenges for inpatient psychiatry units (IPUs). IPUs, especially those caring for children and adolescents, rely heavily on milieu group programming to provide care and supervision for patients, and have had to adapt unit policies and procedures to maintain a therapeutic milieu while minimizing COVID-19 transmission. Simultaneously providing care while preventing transmission of COVID-19 within IPUs is a formidable task, and many IPUs face the additional challenge of treating youth who have been exposed to, or are actively infected with, COVID-19.

Involuntary Treatment of Minors with Severe and Enduring Anorexia Nervosa.

Anorexia nervosa is among the most lethal of all psychiatric illnesses and is increasingly prevalent in children and adolescents. There are limited treatment options specifically for youth with severe and enduring illness who decline treatment. Although treatment guidelines increasingly favor outpatient family-based treatments, there is a continued role for inpatient psychiatric treatment and involuntary commitment for high-risk patients.