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Some of the most shocking and disturbing criminal cases involve children. But in these cases, the child is not the victim; the child is the individual accused of committing a crime. When a youngster or even a teenager commits a serious crime, it leaves many stunned and struggling to make sense of the major dichotomy. Society regards children as innocent, kind and vulnerable, but criminal acts stand in direct contrast to those social perceptions, resulting in a reality that's difficult to...

Throughout most of my adult life, I've been aware of what I later learnt to be ACEs. Those experiences in childhood and early adult life that leave traces in later habits, patterns, feelings and perceptions. I was fortunate. My mom was there, and being very inspiring, knowledgeable and intelligent, she always extended her own faith in humanity, arts, life, love and me to me, encircling me in love and faith in the future, amidst a sea of uncertainty. So did competent teachers, good friends...

I have been bringing the ACE's Questionnaire to my client families. It is an incredible moment to see their minds click when they see the patterns that pass from one generation to the next. I have been coupling this information with parallel narratives to facilitate Ah ha moments and healing.

Good nutrition has long been viewed as a cornerstone of physical health, but research is increasingly showing diet's effect on mental health, as well. A special section in Clinical Psychological Science highlights the different approaches that psychology researchers are taking to understand the many ways in which nutrition and mental health intersect. Clinical Psychological Science is a journal of the Association for Psychological Science . Decades of research have shown the importance of...

In this interview, a practicing therapist weighs our contemporary understanding of “schizophrenia” and explores alternative models beyond the “medicate your brain disease” approach. I, the interviewer Matt Stevenson , am a psychiatric survivor who first encountered Paris Williams while searching years ago for hopeful alternative conceptualizations of “schizophrenia.” At that time Paris responded kindly to my requests for reassurance that extreme states could be healed. Today I'm following in...

Breast cancer patients with a history of depression are less likely to receive recommended care for their disease, a new study finds. The study included more than 45,000 Danish women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer between 1998 and 2011. Of those, 13 percent had been treated with antidepressants and 2 percent had previously visited a hospital for depression. Compared with those who never took antidepressants, patients who used antidepressants were much less likely to receive...

NHS bodies are spending as little as £2.01 per child on mental health care for young people, despite the big spike in anxiety, depression and other serious problems among under-18s. Psychiatrists claim the small sums being spent by GP-led clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in England constitute a national scandal at a time when youth self-harm and suicide are rising. [For more of this story, written by Denis Campbell, go to ...

A new article, published in The Arts in Psychotherapy, describes the ways art therapy and mindfulness have benefitted refugees and asylum seekers in Hong Kong. The article describes how the program, Inhabited Studio, which provides workshops on art making and mindfulness meditation, has supported individuals in moving forward after traumatic experiences. “The combination of art therapy and mindfulness helped participants cope day to day and allowed participants to begin to get a sense of not...

A history of childhood adversity was associated with blood pressure dysfunction from childhood into adulthood, researchers reported at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2016 . 1 “Adverse environments in early life have been consistently associated with the increased risk of hypertension in later life,” Shaoyong Su, PhD, lead author and associate professor of pediatrics at Augusta University Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, stated in a press release. 2 “We found that...

The idea of brain science in child welfare is hardly new but a pair of recent efforts highlight a growing push in the child welfare field to move an influx of findings drawn from the worlds of neuroscience and child development into practice. According to leaders in the field, child welfare policies and practices can see immediate and substantive benefits from the successful translation of this emerging brain science, but several challenges remain. A recently released brief from the Center...

Illuminated faces loom large in storefronts and street corners along lower Georgia Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. Some are backgrounded by humming cars, others by chain link fences, or patterned wallpaper. They blink, smile, or turn slightly as wind musses their hair. Through November 20, close-up videos of local residents are being projected into the windows as part of the SEE/CHANGE project , part of the “Crossing the Street” creative placemaking initiative , backed by the D.C. office of...

When she was 12, Gabby Falzone and her family became homeless in New York. At 15, she ran away. She moved between squats and stints with her family, but said she suffered too much abuse from them to stay for long. At 17, she moved to Boston, where she said she survived by exchanging sex for rent. At 19, she got into a friend’s car and drove to San Francisco. Within a month, she said, she was shooting heroin. “I kept thinking that if I escaped where I had just been, it would get better, not...