Publications by authors named "T Mellman"

Article Synopsis
  • Patients admitted to hospitals after emergencies are at risk for mental health issues, prompting the need for screening tools like the Hospital Mental Health Risk Screen (HMHRS), which showed promise in preliminary studies with diverse groups.* -
  • A recent study involving 631 patients across three U.S. hospitals confirmed the HMHRS's effectiveness, identifying 79% of those with elevated mental health symptoms and achieving good predictive accuracy across different ethnoracial backgrounds.* -
  • The study highlights the strong performance of the HMHRS in recognizing at-risk patients, suggesting that routine screening could enhance mental health outcomes and equity, with potential for further research in other populations.*
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Background: High rates of mental health symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been found in patients hospitalized with traumatic injuries, but little is known about these problems in patients hospitalized with acute illnesses. A similarly high prevalence of mental health problems in patients hospitalized with acute illness would have significant public health implications because acute illness and injury are both common, and mental health problems of depression, anxiety, and PTSD are highly debilitating.

Methods And Findings: In patients admitted after emergency care for Acute Illness (N = 656) or Injury (N = 661) to three hospitals across the United States, symptoms of depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress were compared acutely (Acute Stress Disorder) and two months post-admission (PTSD).

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Study Objectives: Self-reported sleep disturbance has been established as a risk factor and predictor for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); however, less is known about the relationship between objective sleep and PTSD symptom clusters, and the specific role of hyperarousal. The present study examined the relationships between sleep continuity and architecture on PTSD symptom clusters.

Methods: Participants underwent two in-laboratory sleep studies to assess sleep continuity and architecture.

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Study Objectives: Effective pharmacological treatments for sleep disturbance related to trauma with and without co-occurring posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are needed. There is debate regarding what effects on rapid eye movement sleep (REMS) would be beneficial. Suvorexant is the first dual orexin receptor antagonist (DORA) approved for the treatment of insomnia.

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Background: Chronic insufficient sleep is linked to a variety of adverse health outcomes, and African Americans have been found to have poorer sleep than their non-Hispanic White counterparts. African Americans disproportionately live in low-income disordered neighborhoods which increases their risk of trauma exposure and adversely affects their sleep. Fear of sleep is a construct linked to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

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