Author: admin
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The Conflicting Science of Social Media and Mental Health
Austin Perlmutter M.D. As of 2023, the United States has almost 250 million social media users. That number climbs to nearly 5 billion people worldwide and is expected to reach 6 billion by 2027. The average person spends an astonishing two and half hours of their time on social media each day. To put that into perspective,…
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August 31st is International Overdose Awareness Day
Center for Disease Control August 31 marks International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD), the world’s largest annual campaign to end overdose. It’s a day to: We wanted to spread awareness Hashtags: #IOAD2023 #EndOverdose You can inform others of what can be done to end overdose by sharing these IOAD resources with your friends, family, and colleagues. Examples of…
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You Are Not Your Diagnosis
CooperRiis Healing Community By: Kimberly Nelson, MA with Courtney Kelly Receiving a diagnosis is a significant milestone on the road to recovery. It clarifies courses of treatment, supplies precedent, and gives rhyme and reason to symptoms that may otherwise be confusing or even scary. “Identifying a set of experiences with a name can often be…
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Silent Remembering: The Meaning of Unspoken Grief
Mary C. Lamia Ph.D. The poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote of sheltering his soul “among remote lost objects, in some dark and silent place” (Rilke, 1907/1995). Those who grieve the loss of a loved one, a relationship, or something that was valued may do the same. Grievers often maintain a silence around their losses. So…
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Brain Under Fire: The Consequences of Excess Heat Exposure
Austin Perlmutter M.D. The 2023 summer saw record-breaking heat, with one of the hottest months in recorded history occurring in July. It’s well known that excess heat leads to health problems like heat exhaustion, dehydration, and heat stroke. But higher temperatures may also pose significant risks to our brain health—including higher chances of mental health…
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Who Cares?
Sandra Parker Ph.D. Climate disasters, power-hungry narcissists, fake news, identity theft, rising food prices … Has a sense of overwhelm begun to permeate as you scroll through your feed? Do you feel a certain weariness around caring? If so, you are not alone; compassion fatigue has worsened for many people post-pandemic, leading to sleep difficulty, irritability, and numbing. Many of…
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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Relapse Prevention
Rubin Khoddam Ph.D. Incidence of Concurrent Conditions A significant statistical connection exists between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and addiction. In the general population, approximately 3-7 percent of people grapple with a substance use disorder (SUD). However, when examining those with PTSD, the prevalence of SUD escalates to as high as 35 percent, while alcohol use disorder (AUD) stands at 52 percent.…
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Empowering Your Anxious Child’s Voice
Veronica Raggi Ph.D. Some children speak abundantly and easily at home but demonstrate minimal speech in social settings outside of the home. These kids are often chatty and have good communication with people they feel comfortable with but restrict their speech when anxious. They carve up the world into distinct boundaries for who, where, and…
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Could a 2,000-Year-Old Treatment Help With Addiction?
John Flynn M.D. Substance use disorders are a growing cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. In the United States, excessive alcohol use is responsible for 1 in 8 deaths in adults aged 20-64. [1] More than 106,000 people in the U.S. died from a drug-involved overdose in 2021, a fatality total that has risen steadily over the…
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“Back to School Blues” May Be Worse Than Just Blues
Peter Gray Ph.D. Schooling has a halo around it in society’s eyes, and halos tend to interfere with perception and judgment. Maybe that’s why nearly everyone, including journalists, whose job it should be to keep their eyes and minds open and report honestly to the public, continues to ignore the ever-growing evidence that school is…