Mental Health

High levels of stress and anxiety can be debilitating, especially for health care providers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. But there are ways they can protect themselves and their ability to provide the best and most compassionate care.

A growing need for behavioral health services compounded by limited access to care has created a health crisis in the United States, according to a report issued by leaders of academic health centers across the country.

In an effort to understand why Shade Tree Clinic patients visit the Vanderbilt University Medical Center Emergency Department, the authors of a study found that mental health issues top the list.

Marci Zsamboky, DNP, RN, PMHNP/CNS-BC, has been named academic director of the Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (Lifespan) specialty at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing.

VUMC researchers are conducting a five-year multisite trial to explore potential methods for predicting which patients may have a worse course of depression or are most vulnerable to recurrent episodes.

Investigators will use computational methods to shed light on suicidal ideation and its relationship to attempted suicide, predict suicidal ideation and suicide attempt using routine electronic health records (EHRs) and explore the genetic underpinnings of both.

A molecule produced by the brain that activates the same receptors as marijuana is protective against stress by reducing anxiety-causing connections between two brain regions.