Posted on April 20, 2020
Yahoo! News
Reports that one month into the quarantine, the kinds of mental health crises people are experiencing are changing and evolving as the pandemic wears on. “I think everybody has started to realize that we're in a chronic reality as opposed to an acute reality,” says Dr. Ken Duckworth, chief medical officer of NAMI and an assistant clinical professor at Harvard University Medical School. “I think we're just getting into a new normal of this, which is going to be ongoing.”
READ MOREPosted on April 16, 2020
HealthDay
An experimental drug may ease schizophrenia symptoms, without the side effects of existing medications, an early clinical trial suggests. Over one month, the drug helped manage a range of symptoms -- from delusions and hallucinations, to flattened emotions and social withdrawal. The drug, dubbed SEP-363856, also appeared to avoid the side effects common with standard antipsychotic medications. Dr. Ken Duckworth, CMO of NAMI said, "I'm glad to see they're investing in a drug with a new mechanism of action. And I'm cautiously optimistic about it."
READ MOREPosted on April 15, 2020
CBS News Bay Area: CA
Video segment of CBSN Bay Area's Kenny Choi talks with Ken Duckworth, MD with NAMI and Carolyn Merrell, Global Head of Policy Programs at Instagram. They talk about what the social media site connecting users to resources from experts during this challenging time.
READ MOREPosted on April 8, 2020
Refinery29
We have more time on our hands and we're eager to connect with people through video conferencing and social media. Instagram knows this, and the platform has partnered with NAMI for a week of sharing resources. They’re asking experts and influencers to offer advice on how they’re taking care of themselves during COVID-19. “This pandemic affects everyone and I mean everyone,” Dr. Ken Duckworth, CMO at NAMI says. “At NAMI we say 'you are not alone,' and it has never been more true than now."
READ MOREPosted on April 8, 2020
Bloomberg Businessweek YouTube Town Hall
On Wednesday, Joel Weber, Businessweek editor-in-chief, and Cynthia Koons, Bloomberg reporter, hosted a virtual town hall that aired live on YouTube and Facebook. The first segment focused on the increased need for telemedicine with the Chief Medical Officers from both Talkspace and Brightside. The second segment featured Dr. Ken Duckworth, CMO, NAMI and Dr. Christine Moutier, CMO, AFSP and focused on the larger issues around mental health and access to care. The third segment included everyone and they answered questions from the audience.
READ MOREPosted on April 7, 2020
ABC News
The current pandemic is not just a medical tragedy. Even when the medical threat has disappeared, psychiatrists say people across the globe will battle psychological scars for years. Dr. Ken Duckworth, chief medical officer of NAMI told ABC News that rates of suicide aren't always closely tied with viral pandemics or high rates of unemployment: "In the past few years we have seen a rise in suicide despite economic prosperity." Duckworth said the pandemic seems to be fanning the flames, with NAMI seeing an increase in calls related to anxiety and depression over COVID-19.
READ MOREPosted on April 7, 2020
Yahoo! News
The rapid spread of the coronavirus has dramatically affected the one in five Americans who deal with mental health in any given year, as well as those who work tirelessly to keep those individuals well. Already, NAMI, the largest grassroots mental health organization in the country, has increased staffing on its helpline to from 10 to 40 volunteers in order to keep up with increased demand, said Dr. Ken Duckworth, the group’s chief medical officer. “The volume is substantially up. People are anxious, and people are looking for support.”
READ MOREPosted on April 3, 2020
NPR The Pulse Podcast
The COVID-19 outbreak is creating increased demand for mental health services — lots of people are feeling anxious or getting depressed. At the same time, traditional mental health services have been disrupted. In-person sessions are not possible, nor are group sessions. We take a look at mental health services and what people are doing to stay well during these difficult times. The episode includes Dawn Brown, director of community engagement for NAMI, discussing NAMI’s guide for dealing with the fallout of COVID-19.
READ MOREPosted on April 2, 2020
Center for Public Integrity
Reports that amid the coronavirus pandemic, hotlines in the U.S. are seeing a spike in activity. Before COVID-19, 150 calls would be a big day, said Dawn Brown, the NAMI HelpLine director. Now it’s surpassing that number daily. “It’s continuing to go up,” she said, adding that nearly half the callers at some point mention the virus. Callers to NAMI’s line are sharing feelings of anxiety and depression as well as asking for advice about how to continue treatment and get medicine refilled during stay-at-home orders.
READ MOREPosted on April 1, 2020
Bloomberg News
Life during a pandemic has even the most resilient drowning in new levels of stress. The sudden and growing need for care has left mental health providers overwhelmed. One problem: There aren’t enough therapists to go around. “Demand has increased substantially for American mental health, and our supply hasn’t changed in a meaningful way,” says Ken Duckworth, CMO for NAMI. “It’s not really a system,” he says of the U.S. mental health infrastructure. “It’s a patchwork quilt of individuals and well-meaning policy people trying to provide large numbers of services to large numbers of people in a payment structure that is varied and complex. It’s quite a challenge.”
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NAMI HelpLine is available M-F, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. ET. Call 800-950-6264,
text “helpline” to 62640, or chat online. In a crisis, call or text 988 (24/7).