This implication that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance may by gospel in the popular zeitgeist, but it’s not really true. In more recent years, we’ve started to move away from minimizing depression to a single chemical imbalance cause, acknowledging mental health is much more complex. Yet the chemical imbalance theory of depression still lingers, enough that it’s worth revisiting. Read more ›
For many of us, the holiday season can bring an increased sense of family responsibility and, along with it, additional feelings of stress. Advertisements about the joys of the season can seem lost on us as we scurry around trying to do even more than usual. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Read more ›
The amount of time children and teens spend using their devices has become an issue of growing concern, but experts say there is still little evidence as to whether spending time on screens is harmful in itself.
The experts behind the latest study said they wanted to look beyond the time young people were spending on smartphones and instead explore the type of relationship they had with such devices. Read more ›
Self-injury, particularly among adolescent girls, has become so prevalent so quickly that scientists and therapists are struggling to catch up. About 1 in 5 adolescents report having harmed themselves to soothe emotional pain at least once, according to a review of three dozen surveys in nearly a dozen countries, including the United States, Canada and Britain. Habitual self harm, over time, is a predictor for higher suicide risk in many individuals, studies suggest. Read more ›
The number of students struggling with anxiety, suicidal ideation, and mental health issues is on the rise. A report released on December 2, 2019, by YouthTruth underscores that programs and services, as well as strong relationships with adults in school, matter to students’ emotional and mental health, and especially to vulnerable populations. Read more ›
More college students are turning to their schools for help with anxiety, depression and other mental health problems, and many must wait weeks for treatment or find help elsewhere as campus clinics struggle to meet demand, an Associated Press review of more than three dozen public universities found. Read more ›
Eleven years after Congress passed a law mandating that insurers provide equal access for mental and physical health care, Americans are actually finding it harder to obtain affordable treatment for mental illness and substance abuse issues. The barriers to parity continue despite a bipartisan consensus that more must be done to confront the nation’s devastating opioid epidemic, rising suicide rates and surging rates of teen depression and anxiety. Read more ›
When nonteachers ask me with genuine curiosity, “What’s new with teens?” I usually tell them that every school year, it seems like more of them end up in the hospital. Read more ›
The use of science to inform learning and development can have profound results for children, particularly those in their first few years of life.
So say the experts—among them Randa Grob-Zakhary, a resident of Switzerland who holds doctoral degrees in neuroscience and medicine from Johns Hopkins University. Read more ›
More millennials in the U.S. are suffering from chronic health problems, potentially restraining the lifetime economic potential of a generation of young adults. Read more ›
