July 16, 2025
New Articles from BMC Medical Ethics Are Now Available
BMC Medical Ethics has new articles available online. Articles include:
Mental Health
July 15, 2025
‘I felt pure, unconditional love’: the people who marry their AI chatbots
(The Guardian) – Polyamorous but married to a monogamous wife, Travis soon found himself falling in love. Before long, with the approval of his human wife, he married Lily Rose in a digital ceremony. This unlikely relationship forms the basis … Read More
July 14, 2025
Study warns of ‘significant risks’ in using AI therapy chatbots
(Tech Crunch) – Therapy chatbots powered by large language models may stigmatize users with mental health conditions and otherwise respond inappropriately or even dangerously, according to researchers at Stanford University. While recent coverage in The New York Times and elsewhere … Read More
July 14, 2025
A New Edition of Hastings Center Report Is Now Available
Hastings Center Report (vol. 55, Issue 3, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
July 11, 2025
How a Single Overdose Unraveled an Empire of Heroin
(New York Times) – A man’s death after using “Flow” in a small Vermont city exposed a drug operation that spanned continents and sent a New York prosecutor on a heartbreaking journey. The Flow case encompassed scores of investigators, prosecutors … Read More
July 10, 2025
Focus on first responders’ mental health grows as death toll rises in flood-ravaged Texas
(Associated Press) – The triumphs of finding people alive ended days ago, while the mission of recovering bodies that might include even more children is far from over. The grim undertaking has prompted questions about how first responders and rescue … Read More
July 9, 2025
Stress is wrecking your health: how can science help?
(Nature) – Better stress assessment and tailored interventions could give clinicians the tools they need to fend off lasting damage. Decades of research have shown that, although short bursts of stress can be healthy, unrelenting stress contributes to heart disease, … Read More
July 8, 2025
In a Nation Growing Hostile Toward Drugs and Homelessness, Los Angeles Tries Leniency
(KFF Health News) – As many Americans have grown increasingly intolerant of street homelessness, cities and states have returned to tough-on-crime approaches that penalize people for living outside and for substance use disorders. But the Skid Row facility shows Los … Read More
July 8, 2025
Kids’ health declined over the past 17 years: Study
(Axios) – Children’s physical and mental health declined across multiple measures over the 17 years ending in 2023, according to new research led by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Why it matters: The findings published Monday in JAMA offer some … Read More
July 7, 2025
People Are Using AI Chatbots to Guide Their Psychedelic Trips
(Wired) – As psychedelic companies and therapy apps experiment with AI, people are already taking huge doses of drugs and using chatbots to process their trips. He recently asked the app’s “chat with your mind” function how he had become … Read More
July 2, 2025
Catherine talks candidly of ‘life-changing’ cancer treatment
(BBC) – In January, Catherine announced she was in remission from cancer, which had been diagnosed last year. But her latest comments are a reminder how this is a gradual path to recovery. She said: “You put on a sort … Read More
July 2, 2025
People Are Using AI to ‘Sit’ with Them While They Trip on Psychedelics
(MIT Technology Review) – Peter—who asked to have his last name omitted from this story for privacy reasons—is far from alone. A growing number of people are using AI chatbots as “trip sitters”—a phrase that traditionally refers to a sober … Read More
July 2, 2025
My Couples Retreat With 3 AI Chatbots and the Humans Who Love Them
(Wired) – It was when we got back to the house that afternoon that things fell apart. I was sitting on the couch in the living room. Damien was sitting next to me, angled back in a reclining chair. He … Read More
July 1, 2025
Rethinking adult ADHD
(Aeon) – Emerging research from the past few years has revealed that, within an individual, ADHD can be highly unstable across the lifespan. Many, if not most, individuals with ADHD, will meet formal diagnostic criteria for the disorder during some … Read More
July 1, 2025
Shadow of a Doubt: How OCD Came to Haunt American Life
(Harper’s Magazine) – What were we if not obsessive-compulsive, we who so often traced our origins to a people whose very name, the Puritans, epitomized the perfectionistic delusion underlying this illness? A people so committed to virtue that they’d risked … Read More
June 30, 2025
Real Doctors of New York Spill Their Guts
(New York Times) – E.R. doctors want you to know that they are people, too. At an event called Airway, one confessed, “I do not like these big, high stakes, bloody, messy, risky procedures.” Nine doctors were gathered at a … Read More
June 27, 2025
The people who clean up your TikTok feed are starting to fight back
(Rest of World) – Content moderators say they’re exposed to graphic violence, psychological trauma, and union-busting tactics, and now a larger movement is brewing. Yavuz is at the forefront of an international movement to demand better recognition, rewards, and working … Read More
June 25, 2025
TikTok bans #SkinnyTok. But content promoting unhealthy eating persists
(NPR) – Now the hashtag may be gone, but eliminating this kind of harmful content is not that simple. There’s still no shortage of people — on TikTok and other social media platforms — spreading unhealthy information on how to … Read More
June 24, 2025
Injury and inhibition
(Aeon) – The misunderstood story of Phineas Gage shows that we need a new way of understanding the experiences of brain injury survivors We mostly used the term ‘disinhibition’ as a mitigation: an invitation to think creatively about how to … Read More
June 23, 2025
A New Edition of Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy Is Now Available
Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy (vol. 28, no. 2, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
June 20, 2025
Inside One Man’s Journey to Mexico for Addiction Treatment With a Psychedelic
(Wall Street Journal) – Ibogaine has been touted for its potential to erase years of addiction and withdrawal in one session. Banned in the U.S., the drug is prompting Americans to cross borders for treatment. Desperate to break free from … Read More
June 19, 2025
Cannabis use raises risk of heart attack and stroke more than cocaine, other drugs, major review suggests
(Fox News) – The potential risk of cannabis use has been in the spotlight following recent research pointing toward negative health effects. This includes a new meta-analysis by French researchers, published in the journal Heart, which reviewed multiple studies to … Read More
June 19, 2025
The unseen
(Aeon) – Our crisis of work and technology is one in which too many people feel that nobody sees them as a fellow human being Instead, pundits and policymakers are applying the word ‘loneliness’ to address a real and growing … Read More
June 19, 2025
Dutch government recommends children under 15 stay off TikTok and Instagram
(AP) – The Dutch government advised parents on Tuesday not to have children under 15 use social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, citing psychological and physical problems among children using them, including panic attacks, depression and difficulties sleeping. … Read More
June 19, 2025
Screen addiction and suicidal behaviors are linked for teens, a study shows
(NPR) – A new study finds that addiction to social media, mobile phones and video games is linked to a higher risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. The study, published in JAMA on Wednesday, looked at data on more than … Read More
