February 2016

After being physically and sexually abused from infancy into her teenage years, Mary doesn't want a doctor to touch her unless it's absolutely necessary. So going to appointments, where male nurses or physical exams are often emotional triggers, can be difficult. "It's very rare to come across a health care provider that is informed in trauma at all, or that is aware in how to deal with patients that have gone through trauma," said Mary, a 36-year-old Neenah woman who is using a false name...

When humans experience trauma, they feel as if their life is threatened; there may be an element of horror and shock, helplessness ensues. After the event or circumstance, a victim needs to recover from feeling vulnerable and out of control of the environment. One way we do this is to engage in self-blame: “it was my fault”.

As one who has been advocating for change in addressing childhood trauma for many years now, I have learned that change is extremely difficult for most people. There needs to be a reason for it. When Dr. Felitti was in Juneau last week, his planned testimony before the House Health & Social Services Committee was cancelled. The Legislative leadership mandated no hearings could be held unless they dealt with the state budget deficit. It was odd because what Dr. Felitti has to say is of...

This morning, the Duchess of Cambridge is taking on a new high profile role as a guest editor of Huffington Post UK, transforming one of Kensington Palaces rooms into a makeshift newsroom. We know there is no shame in a young child struggling with their emotions or suffering from a mental illness," the Duchess wrote as she called for the end of the "taboo" surrounding mental illness. Duchess Kate Champions Mental Health in New PSA Duchess Kate Celebrates 34th Birthday Prince William , 33,...

[Photo by Jake Bellucci ] The militarys health program falls significantly short in providing mental health care to active service members, according to a RAND Corp. study published Thursday. The study focuses on post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, the two most common mental health conditions experienced in the armed services. It finds some good news: The Military Health Services which is operated by the U.S. Department of Defense and provides care to active soldiers is effective...

The medical student was depressed and nearly 1,500 miles from home. Feeling homesick is a common sentiment for students, but as she settled into her new life at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, the student said, she felt especially alone. She had long suffered from depression, and now, in an unfamiliar terrain, she could feel the familiar symptoms of the condition creeping in. While she attempted to balance the stress and responsibilities of medical school -- what she...

Adolphe Quetelet was born in Belgium in 1796. At age 23 he received the first doctorate in mathematics ever awarded by the University of Ghent. Smart and hungry for recognition, he wanted to make a name for himself like one of his heroes, Sir Isaac Newton. Quetelet marveled at the way Newton uncovered hidden laws governing the operation of the universe, extracting orderly principles out of the chaos of matter and time. Quetelet felt that his best chance for a similar achievement was in...

A painful truth about homelessness in New York City is that our population of homeless children is the same size as the entire city of Trenton, N.J. and growing. In a case where common sense and scientific inquiry neatly overlap, the Institute for Children, Poverty and Homelessness reported last year that when it comes to education, homeless students as a group have the worst outcomes on almost every measure, including performance on standardized tests, absenteeism and school drop-out. The...

First, there was a shocking report last spring revealing that homelessness in Santa Clara County cost in excess of a billion dollars every two years. Now, the same firm that calculated those staggering figures has developed a computer model that will identify the most desperate and costly homeless individuals and prescribe cost-saving fixes -- including immediate housing. And because the algorithm, introduced today by a local support group for the homeless, can be employed by any...

According to renowned psychiatrist Peter Kramer, happiness isnt the opposite of depression. Resilience is. Ive always loved that reminder because the word happiness makes me uneasy. Its not that I want to be unhappy, or I dont want to be happy. Its that every time I make happiness my goal, I become very unhappy . Like that famous study about suppressing thoughts of white polar bears. When everyone was instructed to think about anything but a white polar bear, they all thought about a white...

Since the riots that broke out there last spring, Baltimores reputation has been defined, in many corners, by its impoverished communities and the roles police have played in dealing with the people who live in them. So it was with a great deal of relief that the mistrial declared in December in the case of Baltimore police officer William Porter, whod been charged for his role in Freddie Grays death , did not end in the kind of rioting seen during the Baltimore Uprising . But of course the...

This story is the third in a series on changing suburbs in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota. Read Part 1 and Part 2 . Given his oft-repeated opinion that housing and schooling patterns in many parts of the U.S. reflect racial discrimination, and his urging that wealthy, predominantly white suburbs should house more poor people and people of color, its not surprising that the Twin Cities-based academic Myron Orfield has fierce critics. Whats surprising is who they are. Theyre not just...