July 31, 2025
(Los Angeles Times via MSN) – A few months ago, Northeastern University computer scientist Annika Schoene was playing around with ChatGPT when she found a troubling gap in its safeguards against harmful content. The usage policies of OpenAI, creator of … Read More
July 31, 2025
(The Walrus) – Still under 40, many are responsible for aging parents while raising kids and managing debt Being a millennial has also been a key to my caregiving experience. And I’m not unique. According to the American Association of … Read More
July 30, 2025
(The Conversation) – Since the documentary first aired, the business of digitally resurrecting the deceased has grown significantly. People are now using AI to create “grief bots,” which are simulations of deceased loved ones that the living can converse with. … Read More
July 30, 2025
(Wall Street Journal) – Shooter at NFL headquarters believed he was suffering from CTE, caused by repeated head trauma Shortly after Shane Tamura was identified as the shooter at the NFL’s Park Avenue headquarters building in New York on Monday, … Read More
July 30, 2025
(Wall Street Journal) – Ultrapotent nitazenes, mostly from China, are easy to smuggle and mix into heroin, recreational drugs and gray-market pharmaceuticals Fentanyl fueled the worst drug crisis the West has ever seen. Now, an even more dangerous drug is … Read More
July 29, 2025
(New Medical) – People who are gestational carriers (or “surrogates”) appear more likely to be diagnosed with a new mental illness during and after pregnancy, according to new research from ICES, McGill University, and the Research Institute of the McGill … Read More
July 25, 2025
(New York Times) – Therapists are cautious about sharing personal information. When they fall ill or die unexpectedly, the shock can be shattering. Ethics guidelines require psychologists to make preparations in case they become incapacitated or die, appointing an executor … Read More
July 25, 2025
(Medical Xpress) – People who are gestational carriers (or “surrogates”) appear more likely to be diagnosed with a new mental illness during and after pregnancy, according to new research from ICES, McGill University, and the Research Institute of the McGill … Read More
July 24, 2025
(Wall Street Journal) – Highly realistic baby dolls have become a global phenomenon, with collectors shelling out for luxury baby gear and doting on their ‘reborns’ as if they were human children When I told a dollmaker that I’ve never … Read More
July 24, 2025
(The Atlantic) – Very few ChatGPT queries are likely to lead so easily to such calls for ritualistic self-harm. OpenAI’s own policy states that ChatGPT “must not encourage or enable self-harm.” When I explicitly asked ChatGPT for instructions on how … Read More
July 23, 2025
(Wired) – Summer. For teens not at work, it’s hot, it’s boring, and it’s an ideal time to close the door and spend about every waking moment watching, playing, texting, streaming—anything but talking—on the phone. With almost half of teenagers … Read More
July 22, 2025
(New York Times) – Clinical trials had found that the drug, zuranolone, marketed as Zurzuvae and taken daily for 14 days, can ease symptoms for some women in as little as three days, while general antidepressants can take weeks. For … Read More
July 22, 2025
(New York Times) – She was the last of four identical sisters who were a national sensation even before they began performing onstage. Offstage, they endured abuse and schizophrenia. Sarah Morlok Cotton, the last surviving member of a set of … Read More
July 21, 2025
(Wall Street Journal) – OpenAI’s chatbot self-reported it blurred line between fantasy and reality with man on autism spectrum. ‘Stakes are higher’ for vulnerable people, firm says. Irwin was hospitalized twice in May for manic episodes. His mother dove into … Read More
July 21, 2025
(Plough) – Living with a chronic illness, I’ve traveled between the kingdom of health and the kingdom of sickness. It was in Suleika Jaouad’s searing account of her battle with leukemia that I first encountered Susan Sontag’s words on health … Read More
July 18, 2025
(Cloverdeal Reporter) – Tamara Jansen, MP for Cloverdale-Langley City, has brought forth a private member’s bill regarding Medical Assistance in Dying and mental illness. She introduced Bill C-218 in Parliament June 20. The legislation seeks to block the Liberal Government’s … Read More
July 18, 2025
(New York Times) – Tech companies have found a way to market digital goods to lonely people, promising relief through connection, but this kind of connection isn’t the solution; it’s the problem. Calling loneliness an epidemic transforms a feeling into … Read More
July 17, 2025
(STAT News) – After a decade-long rise in suicide rates among young Americans — and with depression diagnoses soaring in this age group during the pandemic — the U.S. surgeon general issued a report in 2021 warning about the “devastating” … Read More
July 16, 2025
(New York Times) – When it comes to mental health, most treatments for conditions like depression or anxiety come with caveats. Medications work for some symptoms, but can exacerbate others. Cognitive behavioral therapy is effective for many patients, but not … Read More
July 16, 2025
(Forbes) – Some professionals have warned against the excessive use of YouTube Shorts. For example, ChoosingTherapy.com, an outline site for mental health articles, released a report in 2023 describing how the compulsive urge to watch videos on YouTube can lead … Read More
July 16, 2025
BMC Medical Ethics has new articles available online. Articles include:
July 15, 2025
(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
(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
Hastings Center Report (vol. 55, Issue 3, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
July 11, 2025
(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
