Blog

For many Missouri health advocates, an increase in the state's tobacco tax is long overdue. But onlookers might be surprised to hear that tobacco companies are spending a fortune this election year to get one or another increase in that tax passed, while health groups are urging a no vote. At 17 cents for a pack of cigarettes, Missouri's tax is the lowest in the country — a fraction of what you'd pay in many states. New York's tax is the highest at $4.35 a pack, for example, and Florida...

In conjunction with the Office of the First Lady of the United States, Center for Deployment Psychology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS), and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). The goal of Joining Forces Wellness Week is to increase awareness about the health needs of the nation's veterans, service members, and their families. Our friends at the Center for Deployment Psychology are hosting a series of five free webinars during Joining...

At last week's Pathways to Resilience: Dispelling the Baggage of ACEs, Dr. Cheryl Grills explored the multi-generational trauma experienced by enslaved African Americans and the enduring effects that are felt by their descendants today.

It's hard for Zachary Lane to wake up in time for school every day. "I have four alarms set and it still takes me a long time to wake me up," says Lane, a 17-year-old high school junior in Zionsville, Ind. He says he regularly gets detention for being tardy. "I get to school and I'm talked to like I'm attempting to skip school — like I'm attempting to be truant," he says. "I feel terrible. It's awful." And when Lane does make it to class on time, he has a hard time focusing. "I feel kind of...

Mothers in therapy for drug and alcohol use recover faster if their children take part in their treatment sessions, according to a first-of-its-kind study. Researchers found that women who were in family therapy – which included their 8- to 16-year-old children – showed a quicker decline in alcohol, marijuana and cocaine use over 18 months compared to mothers who were in individual therapy. This is the first study to examine the effectiveness of family therapy for mothers who are substance...

In the 2015-2016 school year — one year after implementation — student arrests fell to 569. Only 13 percent of those students have messed up their second chance and been arrested. Compare that to recidivism rates among youth who spend time in placement, “which varies from 37 to 67 percent.”

It seems to me that if we want to reduce adverse childhood experiences we must work to improve the quality of parenting in communities. Visit advancingparenting.org to learn about a small nonprofit organization pioneering passive/public parenting education.

To hear pediatrician and activist Nadine Burke-Harris tell it, the movement to address the epidemic of childhood trauma has come a long way in the past two years. “When I first started talked about this eight years ago, I would get into a room of a thousand people and I would ask how many folks had heard of adverse childhood experiences and toxic stress,” Burke-Harris said at a conference last week organized by her organization, the San Francisco-based Center for Youth Wellness (CYW). “Three...

Armed conflict and violence disrupt social support structures and exposes civilian populations to high levels of stress. The 2015 Global Burden of Disease study found a positive association between conflict and depression and anxiety disorders. While most of those exposed to emergencies suffer some form of psychological distress, accumulated evidence shows that 15-20% of crisis-affected populations develop mild-to moderate mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic...

One young woman, who is delusional, frequently ends up in Cook County Jail for trespassing. Another man often is arrested when he becomes agitated at home, throwing and breaking things. They're among a number of people with mental health issues who too often end up in jail when they should receive appropriate care elsewhere, said Dr. Kenya Key, chief of psychology at Cermak Health Services, a division of the Cook County Health and Hospitals System that provides health care at the jail. A new...

NASTAD ( National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors ) is excited to announce the launch of a new online training platform, HisHealth.org , to help doctors, nurses, and medical professionals identify and unlearn racial biases that create barriers to good care and elevate the quality of healthcare for Black gay men and other Black men who have sex with men. The barriers for Black gay men in search of medical care are high. Even though most medical providers want to give good...

Older men raised in caring families might have more secure marriages in late life, researchers say. "Our study shows that the influences of childhood experiences can be demonstrated even when people reach their 80s, predicting how happy and secure they are in their marriages as octogenarians," said Robert Waldinger, of Harvard Medical School in Boston. Waldinger and his colleagues looked at data on 81 men in the United States who took part in a long-term study, beginning when they were...