In a week when two celebrities, first the designer Kate Spade and then the chef and television host Anthony Bourdain , took their own lives, new federal data was released showing that suicide rates have been increasing for years in almost every state and across demographic lines. The escalating crisis has affected nearly every group and place , but the study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that some parts of the country have been hit especially hard. Here’s a...

Last evening I posted a video of a June 5 congressional briefing that I attended on trauma and the opioid crisis with a plan to write a post about the event today. In the comfort of my living room, I played the beginning of the video, hoping to find a good screen shot to use with the article, but instead was surprisingly moved by the second listening of the words of U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) about why the issue of trauma is so important her: She says it gives her hope.

Suicide rates rose steadily in nearly every state from 1999 to 2016 , increasing 25 percent nationally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday. In 2016, there were more than twice as many suicides as homicides. The figures were released two days after the death of celebrity designer Kate Spade . The New York City medical examiner’s office has ruled her death a suicide . The new analysis found that nearly 45,000 Americans aged 10 or older died by their own hand in...

Why Equity Matters In a Culture of Health , everyone has the opportunity to live a healthier life, no matter who we are, where we live, or how much money we make. Personal responsibility plays a key role in health, but the choices we make depend on the choices we have available to us. We must work together to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to make healthy choices, and to achieve better health for all. Across the nation, gaps in health are large, persistent and increasing. Health...