Recent posts
How to help a stranger on the street in a mental health crisis
Los Angeles Times By Faith E. Pinho Jan. 19, 2022 You’re walking down the street, and you encounter someone crying. Or perhaps the person seems worked up in another way — screaming at the air or rocking back and forth in distress. A disquieting feeling follows. Do you attempt to say something? Call emergency services?... read more
The Promises and Perils of Psychedelic Health Care
The New York Times By Kat Eschner Jan. 7, 2022 Many recreational drugs known for mind-altering trips are being studied to treat depression, substance use and other disorders. Here’s what you need to know. Oregon is legalizing mushrooms. Ketamine can be delivered to your home. People are microdosing LSD to treat pandemic-related anxiety and Wall Street is pouring... read more
Why Are More Black Kids Suicidal? A Search for Answers.
The New York Times By Christina Caron Nov. 18, 2021 Mental health experts assumed that people of all races had the same risk factors for self-harm. Emergency evidence suggests that is not the case. Joe was 17 when he decided life wasn’t worth living. He was tired of the violence in his Boston neighborhood, where... read more
Darby Penney, Who Crusaded for Better Psychiatric Care, Dies at 68
The New York Times By Alex Vadukul Dec. 21, 2021 She shed light on marginalized people’s lives by examining the contents of suitcases left in the attic of a psychiatric hospital. She went on to become a prominent activist. In 1995, the old Willard Psychiatric Center in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York... read more
What Black and Latina women need to know about dementia
The Washington Post By Carly Stern December 9, 2021 “Can you look at that clock and tell me what time it is?” the neurologist asked. Aisha Adkins sat beside her mother as she peered at the clock hanging above the sink of the doctor’s office. As her mother stared, unable to determine the time, Adkins’s... read more
The New York Times By Melinda Wenner Moyer Nov. 19, 2021 A new study adds to a growing body of evidence that indicates prenatal marijuana use can impact children’s development and behavior. Children of women who use marijuana during or soon after pregnancy are twice as likely as other kids to become anxious, aggressive or... read more
House Passes Build Back Better Act to Invest in Mental Health, Substance Use Disorder Care
American Psychiatric Association Fri Nov 19, 2021 Today the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act, a $2 trillion spending package that includes significant investments in mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) care.APA applauds the inclusion of these provisions in the legislation: Enforcement of mental health parity laws: The 2008 federal parity law requires... read more
Los Angeles Times By Kevin Rector Nov. 18, 2021 When a 19-year-old tourist from Singapore was stabbed in the abdomen on Hollywood Boulevard last month, witnesses and the victim quickly pointed out the suspect to police. Police already knew the man, Grisha Alaverdyan, from prior encounters. Alaverdyan, 27, had been arrested and charged two weeks earlier with... read more
Behavioral Health Business By Kyle Coward October 29, 2021 After much haggling among Democrats in Congress, President Biden Thursday unveiled the latest framework of his reconciliation spending bill. The new version of the Build Back Better Act is a $1.75 trillion bill that, pricewise, is a scaled down version of the spending agenda Biden has sought... read more
A Judge Takes His Mental Health Struggles Public
California Healthline By Mark Kreidler November 8, 2021 In 1972, just 18 days after he was selected to run for vice president with Democratic Sen. George McGovern, Thomas Eagleton was forced off the ticket. The issue? Years earlier, Eagleton had been hospitalized and treated with electroshock therapy for depression. The disclosure of his mental health... read more