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The Civil Discourse Society meets every Tuesday evening at 7p.m. Started last year by a few undergraduates at Central Michigan University who just wanted a place on campus for open, respectful conversations about politics, the club feels more relevant than ever. And each week, a few more students trickle through the door. “We need to make it more of a point to get people to talk,” said Jackie Smith, the organization’s president. Students at the college, which is located in the center of the...

Under pressure from the governor, advocates and a federal court, lawmakers are moving at breakneck speed to address the state’s failing child welfare system. But in doing so, they may be rushing into a privatization scheme that could plunge Child Protective Services (CPS) into crisis again. In 2016, more than 200 children died of abuse and neglect in Texas. On any given day, there are hundreds of kids who are in imminent danger, yet go unseen by a caseworker with CPS, the troubled state...

It’s estimated that one in nine women will deal with postpartum depression, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . Chrissy Teigen is not the only star to have learned she had the condition: it can really happen to anyone—famous women included. While postpartum depression is a highly-personal experience and not everyone is comfortable speaking out about it, these strong mamas chose to share their stories—and we can all learn something from them. [For more of this story,...

One day inside probably won’t hugely affect your health—but it’s not great to constantly stay cooped up from morning until dark. The biggest issue is that entering hibernation mode means you don’t get any exposure to natural light. Sunlight tends to improve your mood, and it helps your body produce vitamin D , which has been shown to help regulate the immune system , reduce inflammation in the body, and more. Sunlight also helps keep your internal body clock on schedule; your circadian...

If you work in the world of juvenile corrections, you’ve read the stories: reports of a staff member sexually abusing or harassing a youth in confinement. It has become clearer that this is not a problem limited to just male staff — in fact there is a well-documented trend of young teenage boys being victimized by female staff. In addition, youth are at risk of being sexually abused or harassed by other youth. Overall, nearly 1 in 10 adjudicated youth report being sexually victimized while...

Children with certain mental or behavioral disorders are at increased risk of abuse or neglect, a new study suggests. The findings add to evidence that children with disabilities face higher abuse risks. But they also suggest those risks vary depending on the type of disorder a child has. "We've known for years that children with disabilities have an increased risk of abuse," said Dr. Vincent Palusci, a pediatrician at NYU Langone Medical Center, in New York City. But the new study "took a...

So why the outrage? This is how my career unfolded. To a casual observer, the narrative of modern psychiatry is that it has undergone a remarkable evolution in the past 30 years. We have shuttered most of our large mental hospitals and the common wisdom is that this was due to the powerful and effective drugs psychiatrists prescribe. These drugs have helped not only those who, in another era, might have been institutionalized but also those who were functioning — in some cases quite well —...

Child abuse causes PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). In its simplest terms, healing from PTSD is all about finding a healthy way to manage “overwhelm.” Trauma is anything that impairs your ability to cope. Trauma manifests as an instant feeling of overwhelm. What happened to you or what was done to you or what was said to you when you were an abused child overwhelmed you, destroyed your sense of safety, and shifted your natural fight/flight/freeze response into high gear. The problem...

"Recently, there was a news story claiming there’s no evidence that flossing actually does anything. I fell on the ground weeping with joy. Yes, complete exoneration! Take that, you dentists and dental hygienists, with your judgy eyes above your mouth covers. Now, I just need to find a study that says exercise is completely useless, and I can keep lounging on the couch, watching Veep and gnawing on an ear of corn and not feel any guilt. (What, like your Saturday nights are sooooo much more...

The lawyers convene behind closed conference-room doors at the back of the University of Mississippi’s Grisham Law Library . A long table has been removed, leaving only wooden chairs, a dozen of which are arranged in a semi-circle in the middle of the open floor. At one end, Charles Luskin leans forward in his seat, bony right elbow propped on bony right knee, bearded chin resting in his palm. He listens intently, periodically reaching down to sip from a Coca-Cola can on the floor between...

After 18 days on a bus to the Mexican city of Reynosa, five days walking through the desert to Texas and two months living in Long Island, the fate of 18-year-old Axel Caballero of Honduras rested in the hands of an immigration judge who hovered above him inside a federal immigration courtroom in downtown Manhattan. He sat in silence on the morning of Feb. 23 as the judge read the details of his case in a language he had only begun to learn. A lawyer for U.S. Customs and Immigration...

In early December, Joann Lee and her family were crossing the street in front of The Los Angeles County Museum of Art. A white van was stopped at the light. Out of nowhere, Lee says, the driver of the van, a white woman, said to Lee's 7-year-old daughter, "You are the most disgusting girl in the whole world. Your family killed my family so you could enjoy a day at the museum." Lee was shocked. Her daughter Terin was confused. "It wasn't overtly racist, but there were overtones. ... We were...