Mental Health News
Students Weigh in on Idea of Taking ‘Mental Health Days’ from School
Since 2019, 12 states have passed legislation to allow students to take excused days off from school for their mental health. A few, such as New York and Maryland, have bills pending. Reporters for Youthcast Media interviewed their peers and professionals for their views on the idea.
Keep readingGuest Essay
Spare the child: Spanking harms both children and caregivers
More Black millennial parents are rethinking corporal punishment. Research shows spanking is far from harmless. It increases aggression, rage and hostility in children and may contribute to violence in later life.
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Depression Too Often Gets Deemed ‘Hard to Treat’ When Medication Falls Short
Three in four people who take antidepressants drugs don’t get complete relief – and then are often categorized as having “treatment-resistant depression.” Many patients are demoralized by the notion that their depression is “incurable.” But what if they’re trying the wrong treatment?
Keep readingResearch
A Friend Who’s More Boss than BFF May Be Harmful for Teens’ Mental Health
Friendships are extremely important relationships for teens, but are they always a positive influence? To investigate, we surveyed 388 adolescents at U.S. high schools to learn about their close friends’ dominating behaviors
Investigations
How I Passed a Test to Be a Grief Therapist Without Really Trying
As an investigative reporter, I wanted to see how hard it would be to game the system and pass the test without taking the course. It turned out to be ridiculously easy.
Keep readingArts & Culture
Prince Harry and His Decade of Magical Thinking
The memoir Spare explores the young prince’s prolonged grief over the loss of his mother and his fervent belief that she was still alive.
Solutions Lab
Therapy as Reparations: Working for Free Mental Health Access for Black Americans
Black Americans are descendants of people who have experienced unprecedented trauma for generations. Dr. Brian Dixon is calling for free psychotherapy as reparations.
Keep readingMental Health News
Teens at Cook County juvenile jail face force, isolation and other abuses, watchdog finds
A review of practices inside Cook County’s temporary juvenile detention center found dangerous forms of restraint and isolation, failure to keep adequate records, and “inhumane” treatment of incarcerated teenagers. Many of them struggle with learning disabilities and mental health conditions.
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Older people are often invisible in mental health settings. Here are some tips to get care
The feeling of being ignored or dismissed in medical and mental health settings is common, but it is particularly prevalent among older adults. Some older people are infantilized by mental health providers. And real issues may be downplayed.
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Immigrants in New York Cope with Grief after Deadly Border Crossings
In the 2022 fiscal year, more than 800 people died attempting to cross the southern border, making it the deadliest year on record for border crossings. Surviving family members now living in the U.S., must cope with the grief and loss.
The Unspoken Toll Migration Has on Mental Health
Since last spring, more than 30,000 migrants have been processed at NYC shelters. Many are grappling with serious mental health problems, stemming from their migration, language barriers and housing insecurity.
Solutions Lab
Pets Rx: How Furry Companions Can Help Protect Kids Against Stress
Research suggests that pets can promote mental health and resilience in children.
Keep readingMindSite News Interview
A Healed Black Man Works to Heal Others
During his six decades on the planet, Douglas Reed has worn many uniforms. He spent two decades in Army fatigues, then did a tour in federal prisons as a corrections officer. Nowadays he tours the U.S. talking about his mental health journey. MindSite News Reporter Josh McGhee spoke with him about his path.
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State of Play: Companies and Clinical Trials in Psychedelic Research
Developments are happening rapidly in the world of psychedelic research and commercial development. We spoke with Josh Hardman, founder of the consultancy firm Psychedelic Alpha, and Dick Simon, co-founder and CEO of Sensorium Therapeutics, to unpack it all.
Keep readingPolicy Tracker
Congress Passes End-of-Year Package, Including Major Mental Health Funding
The annual dance in Congress over passing a bill to avert a government shutdown carries extra importance for mental health advocates this year. The proposed package would complete a historic year of funding and policy-making in mental health.
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Arts & Culture
In “Stutz,”Actor Jonah Hill Shares His Therapist With the World
The young star suffered from anxiety, depression and panic attacks. Therapy and “The Tools” helped him find relief.
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In the Limelight, Selena Gomez Grapples With Bipolar Disorder
Actor and singing superstar Selena Gomez chronicles her mental health struggles in the unsparing documentary “My Mind and Me.”
Keep readingBook review
The Myth of Normal
Gabor Maté’s book explores childhood trauma’s devastating impact on people and our society – and what we can do to reverse the damage.
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Lonely in America
Loneliness is natural, “designed to alert its host to a need, just like sensations of hunger or thirst or exhaustion.”
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News
As Ketamine Clinics Expand, Concerns Grow About Staffing, Protocols and Take-it-at-Home Models
As companies rush to open or buy ketamine clinics to treat mental health conditions, concern is growing about protocols, staffing levels and the safety of the newest approach: take-home ketamine.
Keep readingPeer Hub
Can Peers Power the Mental Health Workforce of the Future?
As communities across the country set up new ways to respond to mental health emergencies and the federal government increases funding for mental health programs, the shortage of clinicians looms as a major barrier. One potential solution: training and hiring large numbers of peer support providers.
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Guest Essay
The Hole Ruined Me
In 2019, more than 55,000 incarcerated Americans had spent the past 15 days in solitary confinement. Jeffrey McKee was one, and he writes about the impact it had on his psyche.
The Confess Project: Barbers Help Black Men Talk About Mental Health
The barbershop is the cornerstone of the Black male community. What better place to offer mental health counseling?
Keep readingDiagnosis: Injustice
‘I didn’t want something bad to happen’
In New York, a man was shot by police during a mental health crisis after his father called 311. And earlier this month, Spotlight PA took a deep dive into the competency review process in Pennsylvania after learning about a woman trapped in the incompetent system.
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A friend who’s more boss than BFF may undermine your teen
Domineering friends can harm your child’s self-esteem. Teens call for mental health days at school. Why Daniel Tiger has lessons for us all. And more.
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An explosion of kids landing in hospitals for self-harm
The number of youth landing in the hospital for self-harm or suicidal behavior jumped by 163 percent in one decade. A possible association between high anxiety and dementia. The NBA’s Andre Drummond goes off the social media grid for his mental health. And more.
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Suicides: Up in US, Down in Europe
U.S. and European suicide rates are moving in opposite directions. A trans lawmaker in Minnesota seeks to make her state a safe place. A skeptical writer finds transformation and solace at a mystical center in the desert. And a practical kind of therapy may help people with depression function better.
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A comeback for Dr. Freud
A Freudian revival is enticing creatives into psychoanalysis. Insurance disparities explain a lot about shortcomings in Minnesota’s mental health system. And a mental health startup bites the dust.
Keep readingMr. Lasso goes to Washington to talk mental health
The cast of Ted Lasso, the hit Apple TV+ show about a fictional British soccer team, came to the White House to meet with President Biden and talk about mental health. Read more…
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Awards
MindSite News Wins Two Awards from San Francisco Press Club
MindSite News contributors won two awards from the San Francisco Press Club including the top prize in the Series/Continuing Coverage category for our compelling stories on the changing views of mental illness in films, streaming series, novels and television.
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Featured Stories
‘I Can’t Have a Child In This Climate’
The Supreme Court’s ruling on abortion greenlights the criminalization of pregnancy.
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“Hiding in Plain Sight” Takes Us Inside the Youth Mental Health Crisis
This documentary looks at the youth mental health crisis through the eyes of more than 20 young Americans who have struggled with mental illness.
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What’s Behind the Protests Against Schools Trying to Boost Kids’ Mental Health?
A close look at protests over mental health programs at school suggest that the powerful forces driving them are anything but grassroots.
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Librarians’ Mental Health Threatened By Book Bans, Abuse And Harassment
Some librarians used to make jokes about Fahrenheit 451 as they pushed back on threats of censorship. But now it hits too close to home.
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TikTok’s Narcissism Obsession, and What It Says About Us
Narcissism as a topic is breaking out on TikTok with billions of page views. The NarcTok community is teeming with therapists and “healers” of all kinds, along with self-identified survivors.
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We Interrupt This Program to Bring You #BlackJoy
We Black people—Black Americans in this case—know hard times, but our lives also sparkle with joy. Black joy, and not just Black trauma, is our inheritance.
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When Positivity Becomes Toxic
We are in the #GoodVibesOnly age, and it’s kind of a bummer. The book Toxic Positivity points the way toward authenticity.
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What to Do When the World Is Ending
I am part of a generation that feels, constantly, and even in the most mundane moments, that the world is ending. Almost every article I read these days begins with the same preamble listing all of the overlapping crises, topped off by the…
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Solutions Lab
Can the Right Kind of Tech Help Address the Mental Health Crisis Among LGBTQ+ Youth?
Increased visibility of LGBTQ+ people and progress in policy change has allowed young people to define themselves and feel more confident expressing their identity. But here’s the downside: Most LGBTQ+…
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Investigations
Professional certification boards are rigorous but draw relatively few students
It is hard for professional certification boards to compete against commercial counseling courses that may cost as little as $10.
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Peer Hub
Combating veteran suicides with peers, therapy, housing – and a little horse sense
Since 1974, Swords to Plowshares has helped veterans with PTSD or other problems find jobs, benefits and a place to live.
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Arts & Culture
Mr. Lasso goes to Washington to talk mental health
The cast of Ted Lasso, the hit Apple TV+ show about a fictional British soccer team, came to the White House to meet with President Biden and talk about mental health, a major theme of the show. They also made a brief appearance in the White House press briefing room. MindSite News culture writer Sarah…
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Policy Tracker
The 988 Crisis Hotline is Coming. Will States Answer the Call?
With the deadline for launching the 988 line just 7 months away, only a few states have enacted legislation to create and fund call centers and other services.
Keep readingResearch Roundup
Diagnosis by TikTok?
A new paper investigates the accuracy and uptake of TikTok videos about ADHD. Spoiler alert: accuracy is low, uptake is, well, viral. We also look at AI-based linguistic tools to measure thought disorder and – who knew? – the relationship of birth spacing to oppositional defiant disorder (ODD).
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News
LA is Locking up More Mentally Ill People, Despite Diversion Efforts
In 2015, Los Angeles County launched an effort to keep people with mental and physical health needs out of the county’s jails. Officials trumpeted it as a new era for justice in the most populated county in the U.S. Instead, the number of mentally ill has exploded, even as the overall jail census has fallen.…
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Essays & Interviews
Good Grief: How to Mourn in a Healthy Way
The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed over one million American lives, casting a blanket of grief over the country. Despite its challenges, the pandemic has given us an opportunity to address the topic of grief and how best to cope with this unavoidable part of being human.
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