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“We treat people’s solutions as problems.” Vincent Felitti MD, the eminent author of the original ACE’s (Adverse Childhood Experiences) study, often makes this point when discussing how we focus on eliminating people’s desperate means of coping, without recognizing their adaptive functions. When addressing substance abuse (the most common method of tolerating overwhelming fear and pain) do we commit the same error of attempting to control the “solution” while largely ignoring the underlying...

The goal is a lofty one — to transform the city of Philadelphia. Organizers of Greater Philadelphia Trauma Training Conference are going about it one professional at a time. The event, which wraps up Friday at Thomas Jefferson University, is intended to help those in different professional fields become more aware of how to work with children who've experienced trauma. The 450 or professionals who attended Thursday's session represented the juvenile justice world, health care and education,...

A very interesting study was recently published in JAMAPsychiatry stating that brain inflammation in those with obsessive-compulsive disorder is significantly elevated (by more than 30 percent) compared to those without the disorder. [For more of this story, written by Janet Singer, go to https://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2017/07/20/brain-inflammation-and-ocd/]

Editor’s note: This is part one of a two-part series on college athletes struggling with mental health issues. Part two is here . Our earlier two-part series on the mental health crisis on U.S. college campuses is here. Victoria Garrick’s smiling Instagram photos of herself and friends at parties didn’t show what the University of Southern California junior was truly feeling: depression. “When it comes to college athletes, there’s a fear of admitting a weakness because you don’t want to be...

Peering into the open casket, I saw the lifeless body of my childhood friend. Although, some would argue he had been lifeless long before his death. Tommy was a drug addict for many years and had spent much time in-and-out of treatment centers and jails before his life came to a halt due to an unintentional overdose. As I stared at his now peaceful remains, I found myself highly perplexed at how this moment had transpired. Like Tommy, I too am a drug addict. I may have been into it harder...

Half of all pupils expelled from school are suffering from a recognised mental health problem, according to a study. Those who are permanently excluded find themselves at a significant disadvantage, with only one in a hundred going on to attain five good GCSEs, which are often used as a benchmark of academic success. The majority will end up in prison, says the study by the Institute for Public Policy Research, which estimates that of the 86,000-strong prison population, more then 54,000...

Clyde Boyce has been hospitalized 14 times in the past four years. Boyce, 61, survived two strokes and five operations to unblock arteries around his heart, including three procedures in which doctors propped open his blood vessels with stents. He takes 18 pills a day and gets injections every two weeks with a powerful drug to lower cholesterol. Yet the disease that came closest to taking Boyce’s life wasn’t a heart condition. It was depression, which led him to attempt suicide twice in the...

When Mercer Medical Center in Trenton, New Jersey, planned to close its doors more than 10 years ago, many in the community were alarmed by the likely impact on health services available to the city’s large, low-income population. Encouraged by Mayor Douglas Palmer and the State Department of Health, two hospitals, a federally-qualified health center, and the city health department came together to consider how best to meet the needs of Trenton residents. At the time, many of these providers...

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you may remember I wrote a blog post a few weeks ago about the 7 steps most child abuse survivors must take in order to heal. I received a wonderful response to it from several of you. Thanks! If you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, here’s the link: LINK In this blog post, I’d like to discuss the second of these 7 steps: Develop Courage. As you know, we don’t start out on our healing journey feeling courageous. In the beginning, courage is...

When you look inside a classroom, there are some things you cannot see . . .

Pregnancy is often welcomed with joy and hope however, many challenges and distress may still occur during a mother’s pregnancy. Any concerns simple or complex may impact the wellness of the mother, her baby and cause stress on her multiple relationships. Oftentimes, mothers have to face planned or unplanned life changing events.

A groundbreaking new play about trauma, TRIGGER, was most recently featured at part of the training and inspiration provided to community members participating in the 4CA Policymaker Education Day on July 11, 2017 in Sacramento at the state Capitol.