Blog

Antidepressants don’t work for everyone, but doctors may have found a good way to tell who will respond and who won't Antidepressants can be very effective in treating depression, but the drugs are often a hit or miss; of the 10% of Americans diagnosed with depression, the medications generally work in about half of cases. Even then, finding the right antidepressant can often take months of cycling through different drugs until one starts to alleviate the mood disorder. But in a study...

For 15-year-old Zion Agostini, the start of each school day is a new occasion to navigate a minefield of racial profiling. From an early age, walking home from elementary school with his older brother, Agostini took note of the differential treatment police gave to black people in his community: “I [saw] people get stopped … get harassed … get arrested for minor offenses.” Almost a decade later, Agostini said he now faces the same treatment as a sophomore at Nelson Mandela School for Social...

When she was growing up, Dina Gilio-Whitaker was constantly asked, "How much Indian blood do you have?" She could never figure out how to respond, which is not to say she didn't know who she was. "I knew that I was Native, I knew that I was Colville, I knew my family up there on the reservation," she said recently. "But what I grew up with was a process of not being seen and not being recognized as being Native, because I was completely out of context. [For more of this story, written by...

Paternity leave can make a big difference in a dad's long-term engagement with the child, doctors find. Paid family leave also fosters breastfeeding and reduces the incidence of maternal depression. As part of All Things Considered's series Stretched: Working Parents' Juggling Act , NPR talked with Dr. Benard Dreyer , a developmental and behavioral pediatrician at the New York University School of Medicine and president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, to get a better sense of what the...

My life has been shaped by trauma. My first contact with mental health services was at the age of 12 or 13. Although I didn’t have the words to explain what had happened to me, after years of silence, and of feeling that I didn’t have a voice, my story was pouring out. I was closed down with medication and changes of topic. I still do not have the words to tell my story. Twenty years earlier, my mum’s trauma had led her to sectioning, ECT and a lifetime of contact with mental health...

This article covers how perceived notions of skin tone influence levels of self-worth and self-efficacy. Proving that the over abundant portrayal of whiteness as the epitome of beauty and wealth has profound impacts on the psyche of people of color. Furthermore, research results indicate that interracial relationships are based on a foundational sense of financial security.

With special thanks to Ty Warren in the Walla Walla Valley (WA) ACEs Connection group who originally shared the Faciltiator's Guide for 'Resilience' produced by Prevent Child Abuse America and KPJR Films. This is a excellent tool to use as a discussion guide to accompany screenings of the documentary and is a rich resource for understanding ACEs science and resilience and their relationship to child maltreatment in general. GO HERE to download the guide. ...

One in five American adults will experience a mental health disorder in a given year. That makes it highly likely many of us know someone who is dealing with a psychological condition. But when it comes to understanding these disorders, we often fall flat. In honor of World Mental Health Day , we rounded up some of the most important mental health discoveries made this year. If anything, they’re proof that continued education and advocacy is critical when it comes to making life easier for...

Monkey ������ I was intrigued by these three monkeys as a small child but it has not been till recently that I understood why. It was while I was talking to someone about childhood experiences that the answer came to me. He told me that at the age of seven he bought those three monkeys at a zoo. His family asked why he bought them when there were so many other cute things to buy. Of course, at the age of seven we don't know why we do things. We just do it. It was during his reflection on his...

Here is a wonderful article that I read by Juli Fraga that shares how REACH Academy in Oakland, California turned to mindfulness and storytelling to help kids heal from trauma. Research has shown that traumatic experiences can affect brain development and impact a child’s ability to relax and concentrate. Therefore affecting their ability to learn. REACH Academy noticed that their students needed tools to help regulate emotion. It took time for the students to adopt this new life skill, but...

Excerpt from article: Amy Richards, a co-founder of the Third Wave Foundation, a group for young feminists, said that many sexual abuse victims who unburdened themselves after Mr. Trump’s video did not want his comments to be seen as anomalous. “Some of it was so that we automatically didn’t go to this place of having this one instance be an exception and therefore more excusable,” she said. “Yes, this is women speaking up, but it’s speaking up to all of the Donald Trumps in our lives.” Full...

Your husband might be depressed, and you might not know it. Or, maybe it’s your sister or your mother. Maybe it’s even you. Even though upwards of two million Americans age 65-plus experience depression, the majority of seniors—68 percent, according to a National Mental Health Association survey—know little about it. One big reason is that signs are easy to overlook , since they’re frequently confused with other ailments and changes that come naturally with aging. ”Often in older adults,...