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In the days and weeks following the suicides of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain and handbag designer Kate Spade , a chorus of social media users urged people with depression to not be “afraid” to ask for help. But for most Americans, fear isn’t the thing that stands in the way of therapy. It’s having no one to turn to. This was the case for Sue, 57, who spent over 30 years trying to get effective treatment for bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety and a personality disorder. For years,...

The decline in life expectancy and health among less-educated white Americans is often attributed to “deaths of despair”—those from conditions like substance abuse and suicide. (Suicides, the CDC reported last week, are up nearly 30 percent since 1999.) The cause is often attributed to “cumulative distress,” as Princeton’s Anne Case and Angus Deaton have speculated . [For more of this story, written by Olga Khazan, go to ...

Many people who see reports of children separated from their parents might think that, because they’re not crying, that they’ve adjusted. Or, if they are crying, they’ll eventually stop and get over it. But, the reality is that those who participate in separating children from their parents and those who are caring for them in the detainment centers might as well be beating them with truncheons.

“It’s okay to tell me that you’re not okay.” Postpartum depression (PPD) and postpartum or perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) are the most common medical concerns for women after childbirth. Yet few medical and mental health professionals really know how prevalent and serious PPD and PMADs are. There is a great need for better screening to identify women struggling with postpartum disorders. Likewise, more therapists and mental health providers need to know about treatment...

I recently finished a haunting novel, Before We Were Yours , in which Lisa Wingate tells a fictionalized account of the true story of one of this country’s great scandals, the Tennessee Children’s Home Society and its director, Georgia Tann. From the 1920s through 1950, Tann and her organization facilitated the adoption of thousands of children across the country. Tann was a prominent member of society, held up as the “Mother of Modern Adoption,” and consulted by Eleanor Roosevelt on issues...

Excerpt from Washington Post article written by Rene Denfeld: Full article.

I love the idea of having a trauma-sensitive society. "Trauma-sensitive" is another one of those buzz phrases making its way into the mainstream.

“With Trauma-informed yoga therapy, we can tap into how our stresses are stored in the body, and find healing and relaxation,” Kelly Kreutz asserts. Kelly, a yoga instructor and an LICSW, will be teaching morning yoga and mindfulness classes at CRI’s Beyond Paper Tigers (BPT) conference later this month. Her interest in yoga developed alongside her work as a counselor specializing in trauma, grief, and anxiety. As she witnessed the benefits of yoga in her own life, she felt inspired to blend...

This is what happens inside children when they are forcibly separated from their parents. Their heart rate goes up. Their body releases a flood of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. Those stress hormones can start killing off dendrites — the little branches in brain cells that transmit mes­sages. In time, the stress can start killing off neurons and — especially in young children — wreaking dramatic and long-term damage, both psychologically and to the physical structure of the...

ProPublica - a remarkable nonprofit investigative journalism organization - has released audio of young children weeping and begging for their parents - being held in detention by US officials for seeking asylum here. After listening for perhaps 30 seconds I could not bear it - this is such a huge trauma trigger. However that doesn't mean I can't take action to fight for an end to the trauma being inflicted on these children. Everyone on this site understands the lasting harm being done to...

In our next edition of Anna, Age Eight , we might change Chapter Ten’s title Experience being courageous preferred, but not essential. A more accurate title is Courage required. In The Republic , Plato describes civic courage as a sort of perseverance. We agree. We don’t underestimate the bravery and fortitude it will take to prevent the epidemic of childhood trauma and ensure that a fatality like eight-year-old Anna never happens again. I offer a slightly modified excerpt from our final...

Garry Powers stands on Alameda Street near the North Vignes Street overpass, across from a smoke shop and a Vietnamese restaurant. He’s on the edge of Chinatown and a couple of miles north of Boyle Heights, a neighborhood once rife with gangs. The wall behind him is a glowing yellow-gold. Painted on it are outspread blue wings that nearly match the faded tattoo on his neck. He looks swathed in wings. A halo on the wall seems to hover above his head. Powers grew up in Baldwin Park outside Los...