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“What are you hiding?” the elder asked Rose Domnick. It was a simple question in response to Domenic’s request for help overcoming her mysteriously growing, incapacitating fear. But Domenic was stunned by the query and involuntarily blurted out that she had been sexually abused repeatedly as a child. Now in her 50s, she had told no one except a visiting Catholic priest who’d come to her Yup’ik village church many years ago. “When I was 11 years old, I told this priest about the abuse...

The authorities have released pictures of men implicated in the Brussels bombings, one of brusswhom is thought to be still at large. But does the current media analysis mislead as to who is ultimately responsible? A new study, recently published by Sofia Pinero Kluch from the Gallup public opinion research company, based in Washington, DC, and Alan Vaux, a psychologist at Southern Illinois University, USA, has uncovered some novel and even shocking findings, in a survey of attitudes to...

Near the front door of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation hangs a quilt that tells the stories of several lives—stories of love, spirit, and joy—tragically cut short because of HIV/AIDS. Every six months for the past 14 years, we have had the privilege of displaying a different section of the AIDS Memorial Quilt at our headquarters, and the profound honor of getting to know these individuals through the moving patchworks created by their loved ones. Every time a new section arrives, I stop...

In my writings and videos I often write and speak about mindfulness. In talking about mindfulness I emphasize the present moment, yet I am aware of how our past and our future work together. The definition of mindfulness instructs us to live in the present moment, nonjudgmentally. “Nonjudgmentally” means we need not put a value judgment on the present moment. We are simply to experience the moment. The minute that we think this is a good moment or a bad moment, we have judged the moment. The...

A couple posts ago, I wrote about a neat and very effective new tactic I just learned for healing stress . Oddly, I learned about this technique, called “completing the cycle,” in a book called “ Come As You Are: the Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life ” by Dr. Emily Nagoski. As I’ve kept reading, I’ve kept learning more surprising new things. In fact, I just finished a section that describes how our ancient reptilian limbic brains prefer to deal with stress. I have...

Downtown, sprawling factories are constant reminders of this city’s past life. A few decades ago these massive buildings were owned by tobacco companies and bustling with blue-collar workers. After the tobacco business contracted in the second half of the 20th century, and factory jobs disappeared or were relocated, the buildings—and much of Durham’s downtown—were abandoned. Now, the city is in the midst of an ongoing, carefully orchestrated plan to boost the economy. These vast spaces are...

Last October, a video of School Resource Officer (SRO) Ben Fields ripping a young African-American student from her desk and slamming her to the ground went viral, fueling another round of intense outrage at excessive use of force by government agents against African-American civilians. In South Carolina, where the incident took place, there were protests and counter-protests . Most major media outlets covered the affair, showing the video from multiple angles and debating whether to blame...

…And this 'sneak preview' is for ACEsConnection members only! So if you have friends, family or co-workers who want to see Resilience , a documentary that looks at the birth of the CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study and how it spawned a movement across the world , please ask them to join our network by going to ACEsConnection.com and clicking on Join Now! Or, you can invite them to join -- here’s how . The event is set for 6 p.m. PDT (3 p.m. HAST, 5 p.m. AKDT, 7...

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a new policy statement , “Poverty and Child Health in the United States,” on March 9 th that recommends pediatricians screen for poverty at all well-child visits. These screenings include asking about basic needs, such as food and housing, and making appropriate referrals when needed. AAP also recommends pediatricians help patients and their families build resilience to the negative effects of poverty by identifying and supporting protective...

In Senegal, thousands of children are exploited by their teachers in the name of Koranic education. Called talibes, the Arabic word for students, some 50,000 boys are forced into child labor, according to Human Rights Watch . Photographer Sebastian Gil Miranda spent two months last year traveling around the country to document the conditions of these youths . “Families do not have money to pay for the religious education of their children,” Miranda said, “so for them it is logical that the...

Our kids get just as stressed out as we do. While they don’t have bills, a demanding boss or a continuously-increasing workload, they do have homework, classmates, teachers, bullies and big emotions. So it helps to have a variety of tools they can use to manage their stressors and regulate their emotions — tools they can take into adolescence and adulthood. Because stress and emotions are part of everyone’s daily life. And because everyone benefits from having healthy coping strategies.

Just like anyone in the general population, when individuals with severe mental illness try to quit smoking, they tend to gain weight. However, since this already vulnerable group tends to have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, do the benefits of quitting smoking outweigh the cardiovascular risks associated with weight gain? Yes, at least in the first year, say researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). But if the weight gain continues, the risk goes back up. People with...