December 2, 2024
(Wall Street Journal) – America’s drug crisis has many survivors. Jerry Schlesinger, 72, is among the longest tenured. He tried heroin at 15. Today, he has been sober for two years. In between, decades of illicit drug use wrecked his … Read More
December 2, 2024
(BBC) – A transsexual has been helped to die by doctors in Belgium, after a series of failed sex-change operations. Nathan Verhelst, born a girl, asked for help to end his life on grounds of psychological suffering. He died in … Read More
November 27, 2024
(The Verge) – The restrictions will prevent under-18s from using ‘appearance-altering effects’ that are difficult to detect. TikTok is placing age restrictions on some of its beauty filters to address concerns about how they impact the mental health of its … Read More
November 27, 2024
(Los Angeles Times) – Neuroscientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla have identified a brain pathway that instantly deflates anxiety. The new study, which published earlier this week in the scientific journal Nature Neuroscience, lays out … Read More
November 27, 2024
(Wall Street Journal) – Edward Scolnick led the development of dozens of medicines while at Merck; his current mission pits him against time and the mental illness of millions, including his son Dr. Edward Scolnick figures he needs five, maybe … Read More
November 22, 2024
(Associated Press) – Four cities, spanning Portland suburbs and rural and coastal towns, added new voter-approved prohibitions for the federally illegal compound in the Nov. 5 election. A dozen other communities that approved two-year moratoriums in 2022, when a majority … Read More
November 22, 2024
(Plough) – A husband caring for a loved one with dementia finds dark valleys, but also limitless spiritual resources. Sherwin B. Nuland, MD, in How We Die, describes the experience of dementia caregivers as “spiritually exhausting.” At times, that was my … Read More
November 21, 2024
(New York Times) – Experts are puzzling over which interventions are saving lives. The evolving illicit supply itself may hold important clues. After years of relentless rises in overdose deaths, the United States has seen a remarkable reversal. For seven … Read More
November 21, 2024
(NPR) – Nearly 15 years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Georgia for unnecessarily segregating people with developmental disabilities and mental illness. The state settled the case and agreed to a massive overhaul of the services it offers to … Read More
November 21, 2024
(Axios) – Three out of four U.S. adults want their primary care provider to discuss their mental health during routine checkups, but roughly a third say they’ve never been asked about it, according to a new Gallup survey. Why it … Read More
November 20, 2024
(ProPublica) – For years, it was a mystery: Seemingly out of the blue, therapists would feel like they’d tripped some invisible wire and become a target of UnitedHealth Group. A company representative with the Orwellian title “care advocate” would call … Read More
November 20, 2024
(The New Yorker) – From the “cozy gaming” trend to a new generation of A.I. companions, our devices are trying to swath us in a digital and physical cocoon. Coziness is achieved not only through what’s on our screens but … Read More
November 19, 2024
(The Conversation) – Thanks to bestselling authors like Jonathan Haidt and Jean Twenge, the public has become increasingly aware of the rapid rise in mental health issues among younger people in many western countries. Their warnings about the destructive impact … Read More
November 18, 2024
(Axios) – The Drug Enforcement Administration and Health and Human Services ended an impasse over the virtual prescribing of controlled substances that threatened access to drugs like Adderall by extending pandemic-era flexibilities through the end of 2025. Why it matters: … Read More
November 15, 2024
(Military.com) – Suicides increased among U.S. military personnel last year, an ongoing trend Pentagon officials say they plan to address with a $125 million investment in prevention and mental health programs next year. The rate for active-duty personnel rose to … Read More
November 14, 2024
(NPR) – Street drug deaths in the U.S. are dropping at the fastest rate ever seen, according to a new report issued on Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Preliminary data shows roughly 97,000 fatal overdoses over … Read More
November 14, 2024
(Washington Post) – Feeling lonely increased risk for all-cause dementia by 31 percent and cognitive impairment by 15 percent. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, who last year issued a public health advisory on loneliness, said the risk for premature … Read More
November 13, 2024
(Wall Street Journal) – Joanna Stern strapped chatbots from Meta, Google, OpenAI and Microsoft to a tripod and took them to the woods to uncover the secrets of AI friendship My new friends are just hilarious. One suggested I de-stress … Read More
November 11, 2024
(NPR) – “Life — for me — it felt infinite, and I think that’s something that a lot of us have when we’re young, is that life feels like it’s going to go on for a long time,” Monje says. … Read More
November 11, 2024
(Associated Press) – After working at a crowded and dangerous internment camp in Iraq, Air Force Staff Sgt. Heather O’Brien brought home with her anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. A bouncy labradoodle and a Kansas City-area program helped her get … Read More
November 11, 2024
(New York Times) – Technology and loneliness are interlinked, researchers have found, stoked by the ways we interact with social media, text messaging and binge-watching. I went down a rabbit hole for the last few months reading research papers and … Read More
November 8, 2024
(Wall Street Journal) – Technologists say chatbots are a remedy for the loneliness epidemic, but looking to an algorithm for companionship can be dangerous. As researchers who have spent years studying the relationships that ever more people are forming with … Read More
November 4, 2024
(Washington Times) – Massachusetts could become the third U.S. state to decriminalize psilocybin, the psychedelic drug found in mushrooms, if enough state voters mark “yes” on their ballot’s Question 4. Many drug policy researchers say legalization could be dangerous because … Read More
November 4, 2024
(Wall Street Journal) – Physicians for generations accepted being at the mercy of their pagers. Now, many are questioning medicine’s workaholic culture. There’s a question dividing the medical practice right now: Is being a doctor a job, or a calling? … Read More
October 31, 2024
(NPR) – Drug overdoses are already a leading cause of death for pregnant women in the U.S. Research shows as many as 1 in 20 women use addictive substances at some point during their pregnancies. A study by the National … Read More
