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Years after leaving her hometown of Santo Domingo to study art and design in the United States, Indhira Rojas was diagnosed with complex PTSD and generalized anxiety disorder. The California-based Dominican’s mental illnesses are rooted in a childhood marked by traumatic abuse. Rojas is not alone. Nearly half of American adults develop a mental illness in their lifetime; depression affects approximately 350 million people worldwide. The struggle to be well, however, is still a shameful...

Kiersten Hawes has been promoted to task force liaison and education coordinator at the Memphis-based ACE Awareness Foundation, which works to inform the community about the negative impact of adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs. Hawes will also continue to serve as a therapist at Universal Parenting Place’s Knowledge Quest location. As the task force liaison, Hawes will engage the foundation board and task force in ongoing dialogue to build awareness around ACEs. Operating in a dual role...

You wouldn’t judge someone for taking medication for a heart condition. So why, asks Amanda Seyfried, would you shame someone with a mental health condition for doing the same thing? The “Ted 2” actress recently opened up to Allure magazine, where she slammed the negative perceptions surrounding psychiatric medication. “ What are you fighting against? Just the stigma of using a tool?” she said. “A mental illness is a thing that people cast in a different category [from other illnesses], but...

There are three discoveries in the last 20 years that, together, point us toward hope for the next generation. First, in the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACEs), conducted by Dr. Vincent Felitti in 1996, we found that the impact of childhood trauma on the biological development of the brain is the most significant determinant of nearly every negative health outcome — behaviorally, mentally, socially, emotionally and physically. In that same study, and many confirming studies, we also...

Racist hiring practices hurt everyone involved. Victimized applicants, obviously, suffer because they are denied jobs based on an attribute unrelated to professional skill. But employers who judge applicants by the color of their skin suffer too. By narrowing the pool of potential hires by race, prejudiced employers are excluding viable applicants, and thus limiting the potential of their business’ strength. A new study from Harvard University, the first of its kind, shows just how much :...

According to a new study, the physical roots of depression are tied to increased functional connectivity between a brain region that is associated with not receiving rewards and punishing events (the lateral orbitofrontal cortex) and an area of the brain involved in someone’s sense of self (the precuneus). This cutting-edge discovery was published today in the journal Brain. For this study, 909 people (421 patients with major depressive disorder and 488 control subjects) had their brains...

Is depression caused by an inflamed brain ? A review of studies looking at inflammation and depression has found that a class of anti-inflammatory drugs can ease the condition’s symptoms. Golam Khandaker at the University of Cambridge and his colleagues analysed 20 clinical studies assessing the effects of anti-cytokine drugs in people with chronic inflammatory conditions. These drugs block the effects of cytokines – proteins that control the actions of the immune system. Anti-cytokines can...

Mental Health America just released its annual assessment of Americans with mental illness, the treatment they receive and the resources available to them — and the conclusions are sobering: Twenty percent of adults (43.7 million people) have a mental health condition, and more than half of them do not receive treatment. Among youth, the rates of depression are rising, but 80 percent of children and adolescents get either insufficient treatment or none at all. [ Obamacare promised better...

For years, this town has withstood a torrent of opioid-related deaths , and now claims one of the highest rates of opioid overdoses in the country. But the battle against opioids in Española is being fought with a paltry force: In a community of roughly 10,000, only three physicians are certified to treat patients with opioid use disorders. The scarcity of doctors trained to deal with addiction may be particularly acute in Española, but the issue resonates in cities and towns across the...

Kate Pickett is professor of epidemiology in the department of health sciences at the University of York. She is co-author, with Richard Wilkinson, of the bestselling The Spirit Level, winner of the 2012 publication of the year from the Political Studies Association and translated into 24 languages. Pickett is also a co-founder and Trustee of the Equality Trust. David Edmonds : There are huge inequalities in the United States between rich and poor. Some claim that this is one of the secrets...

'The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places." —E. Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms. 4 Essential Goals that could help create and foster a safe, nurturing environment during one's childhood. https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/essentials_for_childhood_framework.pdf

Love from California The Adverse Childhood Experiences Conference got underway tonight in San Francisco with many of the 450 participants attending a meet-and-greet at the Park Central Hotel. The conference focuses on moving from “Awareness to Action”, and includes representatives from education, early childhood, juvenile justice, child welfare, pediatrics, and many other dedicated professionals committed to the ACEs movement. (Left to Right) Michelle Allen; Vanessa Jackson (Parents...