Mental Health Campaigns Can Do More Harm Than Good
A year ago, I questioned whether we were overdoing Mental health awareness. Since then, the evidence has only strengthened: The answer is yes. To be clear, conversations about Mental health remain vital in the right context. The danger lies in how broadcast and social networks amplify this messaging in ways that frequently cause more harm […]
How to Improve Stress Resilience Through Metabolic Health
You’ve probably heard the advice: If you’re stressed, go for a walk. If you’re still stressed, go for another walk. While physical activity is often recommended to relieve stress, recent research highlights a fascinating connection: Your metabolic health, especially how well your mitochondria work, plays a key role in how your mind and body respond […]
Why Behavioral Health Is the Hidden Foundation of Your Relationship
There is a moment, familiar to almost anyone who has loved someone long enough, when you hear yourself say something and think: that wasn’t me. The sharpness in your voice. The sarcasm that landed harder than you intended. You weren’t angry at your partner, not really — you were tired, or flooded with something older […]
A Different Way to Rein in Health Care Costs
In debates about the soaring costs of American health care, attention typically turns to insurance reform, pharmaceutical pricing, hospital consolidation, or corporate profiteering. These are important concerns. But they all address the visible structures of the system—the branches, not the roots. I propose a long-range strategy that begins upstream. If we are serious about controlling […]
Evolution, Schedules, and the Quiet Cost to Mental Health
For much of our existence, clocks and calendars did not exist to mark time. Instead, we lived according to the cycle of day and night. Weather, hunger, or seasons dictated when we ate, slept, and moved season to season continuing to survive. As humans, we have always lived spontaneously, in tune with natural rhythms, not […]
Can Teaching Self-Compassion Improve Teen Mental Health?
Suicide. It’s not something we like to talk about—especially when we’re talking about our kids. Yet it’s a painful reality in our world today. Unfortunately, most of us know someone in our community whose child has died by suicide. There’s good news and bad news on teen suicide rates. Let’s have the good news first. […]
We’re Missing the Good News About Youth Mental Health
Let’s play a word-association game. If I say “youth Mental health,” what’s the next word that comes to mind? It’s probably “crisis.” For over a decade, researchers, policymakers, teachers, parents, and the media have been raising the alarm about the rising prevalence of anxiety, depression, and emotional distress among young people. Most alarmingly, the suicide […]
Mental Health After Hurricane Melissa
As a daughter of Black River, Jamaica, the four weeks after Hurricane Melissa made landfall on October 28, 2025 have been so so hard. I went to Black River Primary School and my cousin was the principal during much of that time. My dad worked at the courthouse and my mom worked at the only […]
Why Baby Sleep Books Can Harm Maternal Mental Health
When I was seven months pregnant, someone handed me a copy of Twelve Hours by Twelve Weeks, a bestselling baby sleep manual. I devoured it like scripture. Everyone had warned me that the sleep deprivation would be brutal. This book promised salvation, if I just followed the rules: stretch feedings, track ounces, ignore midnight cries. […]
How Immigration Policies Are Harming Mental Health
By Srishti Katuri, MA, and Cynthia J. Najdowski, PhD, University at Albany. On March 15, 2025, President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act—historically employed only during wartime—so that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could immediately remove Venezuelan citizens alleged to be terrorists from the United States. That same day, ICE deported Kilmar […]