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Pupils widen. The heart pounds. Stress hormones flood the body. Lungs expand, and every muscle sits on the verge of action. This describes the stress response, a normal reaction to a normal emotion. However, when a child experiences this response in a strong, frequent or prolonged way due to adversity, without the support of an adult, it can cause health consequences lasting into adulthood. This phenomenon is called toxic stress. As a pediatrician at UF Health, helping children grow and...

On a sweltering day in July of 2014, a van departed from the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women and headed toward the University of Virginia Medical Center in nearby Charlottesville. The van carried an inmate named Debbie Daley, who was midway through her three-year sentence. The sun bore down on the pavement, but Debbie, a blond-haired, blue-eyed 49-year-old, was feverishly cold. Her blood pressure had plummeted, her heart rate was spiking. As the prison van lumbered ahead, the tumor on...

The image of the hungry college student is a familiar one, with late-night ramen meals nearly as ubiquitous as the infamous all-nighter study session. But that scene is a comparatively benign one: Many of these students are unaware they have classmates who regularly skip meals because they lack the funds to buy food. The 2017 " Hungry and Homeless in College " report from the Wisconsin HOPE Lab indicates that up to two-thirds of college students aren't eating enough food. Though schools are...

About six weeks after she gave birth to her first son, Jaya, an immigrant from India to the United States, began to suffer feelings of inadequacy as a mother. She felt sad, helpless, useless to her newborn and husband. She imagined her death and described it to her mother over long-distance calls. "I told her that I felt reckless," she says. "I didn't feel the need to be careful about myself and my safety." Jaya (not her real name) began to cross busy intersections with less caution, hoping...

A patient manifests symptoms of loss of appetite, dramatic weight loss, body pains, and intense lethargy. Is it a severe infection? Is it cancer? Is it depression? Is there a difference? Medically, yes. But in the way that the general populace thinks of these three conditions, there shouldn’t be. They are all severe diseases that respectively affect millions of people worldwide. And if you believe that depression is “all in your head,” then it may be surprising to hear that the cost of...

Beginning this week, The Center for Family Justice plans to bring a safe, healthy and fun summer camp experience to approximately 40 local children who have been adversely impacted by the generational cycles of domestic and sexual violence and child abuse. Camp Hope Connecticut launched on June 26 as the first summer camp and mentoring program in New England for children who have experienced primary or secondary abuse and trauma. This groundbreaking camp, which offers a clinically-proven...

The military gains in the long battle against ISIL in Mosul may be masking a troubling and potentially tragic story. As The Nationalreported, Iraqi troops are close to fully liberating the city. But it is the long-term health and well-being of those affected by conflict, not just in Iraq, but in Yemen, Syria and Gaza, which is of increasing concern. An Unbearable Reality: the impact of war and displacement on children’s mental health in Iraq, a new report published by Save the Children,...

Gerson Garcia had been fighting. It happened during second-grade recess, and had to do with a ball on the playground. He was too angry to talk about it. One of his friends had seen him getting upset and alerted a teacher, who whisked him down the hallway at Enrico Fermi School 17, the skinny 8-year-old squirming in protest all the way. He ended up in the office of school sentry Miguel Rivera and — still not speaking — made a beeline for the trampoline. When Rivera started working in the...

The young women sat in a tight circle on purple mats, ready to start their weekly yoga session before lunch. A small centerpiece was set on the gym floor with flameless candles and inspirational stones that read “believe,” “courage” and “blessing.” “You’re in control of your body,” said instructor Rocsana Enriquez as she guided them through a series of classic poses: Cat. Warrior. Tree. Some of the girls were tired and hungry, others bubbly and energetic. One didn’t participate at first,...

Our faculty respond to the Child Abuse & Neglect article, Spanking and adult mental health impairment: The case for the designation of spanking as an adverse childhood experience. The link to the abstract they are responding to was posted on this page and can be found here. http://www.acesconnection.com/...y-spanking-is-an-ace Lacie Ketelhut, CHES, program coordinator, Center for Effective Discipline Most adults don't consider the potential life-long impact of spanking as a form of...

Bullying can come with a hefty hidden cost for U.S. schools, a new study finds. California loses about $276 million each year in attendance-based public school funding because bullied children are too afraid to go to school, researchers report. Data revealed that 10 percent of students missed at least one day of school in the previous month because they felt unsafe. That translates into an estimated 301,000 students missing school because they didn't feel safe, leading to hundreds of...

“If someone had just asked, things might have been different,” said Mateo, a closeted, gay, gang-involved teenager in juvenile detention for committing a hate crime against a gay person. Mateo (pseudonym used to protect confidentiality) had committed a robbery at gunpoint outside a gay bar while shouting homophobic slurs at his victim. The offense was the culmination of a pattern of escalating substance abuse and anger. Mateo had been self-medicating and acting out since coming out to his...