Blog

By Kelly April Tyrrell, May 10, 2020, uwmadscience.news Adapted from original story by Brita Larson, Center for Healthy Minds: We can feel stress in the body through common sensations: sweaty palms, racing heart and shallow breathing. Some people cope with signs of stress in their lives by ignoring it. Some may not recognize these as signs of stress. What if the key to well-being during stressful periods in our lives involved syncing our physical and mental experiences of stress? For the...

By Matthew G. Biel, Michael H. Tang, Barry Zuckerman, JAMA Pediatrics, April 6, 2020 Pediatric mental health (MH) concerns, including depression, anxiety, loneliness and social isolation, and suicide, have increased markedly in the last decade and are critical factors associated with population health. While effective interventions for these conditions have been developed and pediatric health care professionals increasingly address MH concerns as a central component of clinical practice, our...

May 21, 2020, News and Announcements, 2020 MOM & AHRQ Washington, DC – In May, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality ( AHRQ ) announced that Joy Burkhard, MBA was selected to serve as an expert advisor for their Cross-Sectional Innovation to Improve Rural Postpartum Mental Health Challenge. The challenge aims to drive both proposal and narrative submissions, allowing the initiative to highlight success stories in rural postpartum mental health and encourage future innovative...

By Crystal McAuley, May 28, 2020, 2020 MOM. 2020 Mom is proud to support the ‘‘ Military Moms’ Mental Health Assessment Act ’’ (“The Act”) which was introduced last week by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Tim Kaine (D-VA). The Act will require the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct a study of prenatal and postpartum mental health conditions among members of the Armed Forces and their dependents. The Bill Recognizes: The bill cites 2018 birth stats within the Armed...

By Pooja Lakshmin, The New York Times, May 27, 2020 After going through a harrowing bout of postpartum depression with her first child, my patient, Emily, had done everything possible to prepare for the postpartum period with her second. She stayed in treatment with me, her perinatal psychiatrist, and together we made the decision for her to continue Zoloft during her pregnancy. With the combination of medication, psychotherapy and a significant amount of planning, she was feeling confident...

Every year, 25,000 teens give birth in California – and 70 percent of teen moms don’t graduate high school. About 1,300 of Learn4Life students are pregnant or parenting, so we are doing everything we can to keep these young mothers engaged in school and learning parenting skills – even during remote learning. Before COVID-19 forced remote learning, parenting teens could bring their babies to school while they studied and took tests. A separate child-friendly area ensured they didn’t disrupt...

When I was an adolescent and young adult, I struggled with depression. As I reflect back on that time, so much of what I was experiencing was deeply tied to coming to terms with my sexuality. Growing up in the 1980’s in a relatively conservative town, I was closeted (even to myself) until I was a young adult. The pain and fear of being different, of not belonging, of being judged or rejected for who I was more than my adolescent brain could wrap its conscious head around.

By ALEX MCOWEN & PETER BIELLO • MAY 7, 2020, NHPR.org Because of COVID-19, the New Hampshire Department of Corrections suspended all visits and volunteer services at the state’s prisons on March 16, more than 7 weeks ago. Nicole Belonga has been serving time at the New Hampshire State Prison for women in Concord for 11 years. She says these efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus have cut off almost all contact with the outside world, making stressful prison life even more so.

By Elissa Tosi, WBUR, May 14, 2020 As a psychotherapist, my work is all about connection. It’s about supporting my clients by cultivating an understanding of who they are and where they’ve been. But therapists are people, too, and we have our own issues. We fight with our partners, apologize to our kids for bad parenting moments, get sick, lose loved ones, the list goes on. We often have to put our stuff aside in order to focus on the client’s reality, and our ability to do that is a skill...

Joyce K. Edmonds PhD, MPH, RN , Shawn M. Kneipp PhD , Lisa Campbell DNP . First published: 12 April 2020. https://doi.org/10.1111/phn.12733 Public health nurses (PHNs) are on the frontline of the public health crisis the world now knows as the COVID‐19 pandemic. They serve on mobile strike teams investigating case‐contacts, deliver education on self‐isolation and quarantine through hotlines and home visits, and interpret the rapidly shifting guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and...

By Colleen Walsh, May 14, 2020, Staff Writer, The Harvard Gazette. Harvard researcher says many having nights full of bugs, masks, and natural disasters This is part of our Coronavirus Update series in which Harvard specialists in epidemiology, infectious disease, economics, politics, and other disciplines offer insights into what the latest developments in the COVID-19 outbreak may bring. Much of Deirdre Barrett’s work has involved the study of dreams, particularly the distressing dreams...

By Juli Fraga, May 8, 2020, The Lily. On March 18 — a day before California became the first state to issue a stay-at-home order — Courtney Pladsen, 34, a nurse practitioner who lives in Portland, Me., gave birth to her first child. Like many of the hundreds of thousands of U.S. women who have given birth during the coronavirus pandemic, Pladsen’s life was turned upside down. In preparation for parenthood, Pladsen and her husband had lined up support: a lactation consultant to help with...