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When I was ten years old my father, a lawyer, was incarcerated . He was what some people call a "white collar criminal" and spent two years in prison. Because I come from a loving family and because my family had other supports and privileges (i.e. we were white and middle class in a community that rewarded both), my siblings and I fared well despite of my father's incarceration. And so for a long time, decades, really, I didn't discuss my father's history. I didn't know anyone else who had...

A new study reports that veterans who fall just below the threshold for a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) respond to a psychotherapy regimen better than those with full PTSD. Investigators believe the study highlights the need to recognize veterans suffering from an overlooked condition called subclinical PTSD. Researchers from the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) discuss their findings in the Journal of...

There are many misconceptions about self-care. For instance, many of us assume that self-care means engaging in activities that are “good for us” (which we may or may not even enjoy). We assume self-care is going to the gym or lifting weights or running outside. It’s meditating for 30 minutes. It’s getting a massage. It’s practicing yoga every day. And so you do all these things. But you don’t enjoy them. In fact, you might even dread them. Which really means that these activities aren’t...

Police homicides are drastically underreported in the most-used statistical databases. Fortunately, there exists a better alternative, public-health researchers report today in theAmerican Journal of Public Health—a national system that's been in place since 2003, and that, as of last year, 32 states participate in. "Recent media attention to the killings of civilians by police has given rise to a national conversation on the use of lethal force by law enforcement: when it is justified and...

Thousands of Los Angeles residents who’ve been ensnared in gang life are about to receive millions of dollars in job training programs, and they can thank the late D.C. “ mayor for life ” Marion Barry for it. First, some background. The Los Angeles Police Department knew in 2012 that it was illegal to enforce a 10 p.m. curfew on people whom cops presumed were gang members. Police brass told its officers then to stop arresting people for this particular violation after the department was sued...

We already know that federal housing policies such as redlining , real estate practices like blockbusting , and the resulting “ white flight ” to suburbs in post-World War America caused cities to segregate, sealing generations of African Americans into poverty . But even if these discriminatory policies hadn’t existed, the fate of our cities may not have been all that different, a new working paper published in the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests. Economists Allison Shertzer...

A new report has charter-school advocates crying foul and their opponents cheering. In the process, the broader point that some schools have seriously questionable student-discipline practices is being lost in the crossfire. This isn’t exactly surprising. Nothing sparks an uproar in education like a charter-school debate, but it’s worth taking a step back to focus on what’s actually going on. The report , published by the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the University of California, Los...

This program is for licensed clinicians with at 5 years of experience and could be used to leverage efforts to improve health equity in communities across the country. Applicants can practice anywhere in the US and US territories and remain in their communities for the 3-year fellowship. Below is additional information about the program and upcoming webinars. Applications are due 4/19. Working to Build a Culture of Health Growing evidence reveals that many factors beyond health care—such as...

A post by Mark Walsh, 8 Ways Our Bodies Are Linked to Social Control highlights the many ways our society imposes control. It brought to my mind another recent post about specialized desks that have been installed in a Kentucky school. When I first read the item about the desks I thought it was a great idea and a recognition that some kids need to move more than others. That's one view. Another is that this is another way our institutions impose control on "disruptive" kids. Another view is...

A growing body of research shows that people who spend time outside in sunny, green and natural spaces tend to be happier and healthier than those who don’t.

Leaders of an indigenous community in rural Canada have appealed to national authorities for help after a wave of suicides and attempted suicides set off a public health crisis in their remote town and revived a painful conversation about the relationship between the government and its native communities. Six people have killed themselves in the past three months, and more than 140 more have attempted suicide or expressed a desire to kill themselves in the Cree Indian community of Cross...

Nobody dreams of falling into poverty in the future. But for too many, poverty is a doom-filled nightmare that all too often comes true. To help people who don't have a realistic sense of just how financially vulnerable they are, sociologists Thomas Hirschl and Mark Rank of Cornell and Washington University respectively, have come up with the poverty probability calculator . As the Washington Post reports , the calculator predicts the probability of falling into poverty based on age,...