Staff member patting down inmates at Miami-Dade Regional Juvenile Detention Center - Photo by Richard Ross ____________ “Disturbingly high rates of ACEs” were found in 64,329 juvenile offenders in Florida — 27% of...
[Photo by Ellen Webber] NPR reporter Patty Neighmond does a great eight-minute feature on how 11-year-old Noah Cummings and his parents, Heather (an anxious parent) and Dave, used cognitive behavioral therapy to help Noah overcome his anxiety. One study shows that therapy for children AND their parents (and no drugs) helps prevent children from becoming anxious. The first step for Noah was to help him understand how anxiety made his stomach ache. Lyons often draws cartoons to show...
It seems as if this article could be written in almost any country, and the causes of boys and girls joining gangs are the same. In this case, Shawn Swingler reports from South Africa's Daily Maverick: [ Major General Jeremy Vearey, Provincial Commander of Operation Combat] argues that a combination of drugs, lack of safe common spaces, and the intergenerational transmission of violence lead to the creation of teen gangsters. He also argues that children often look to emulate their...
[Photo by Larry Beckner.] Eric Dietrich wrote this profile of Wendy Bremner, a Bureau of Indian Affairs victim specialist who understands ACEs. She points out a study that showed students at a middle school had an average of 14 adverse childhood experiences. As is the case with other reservations in Montana, the Blackfeet reservation’s crime rates are well above those of the state’s other communities — “to the tune of two or three times higher,” in the...
Lawyers with a history of being treated for mental illness could find it easier to practice in Connecticut after what some say was an overdue change in questions posed to applicants to the bar. The Connecticut Bar Examining Committee recently decided...
The time is NOW- Please add your voice to end the use of seclusion and restraint in mental health care in Ohio. Call your elected leaders and state administrators and tell them the children of Ohio have waited long enough- it is time to ACT. Once...
The principal sponsor of the Vermont ACEs bill, Dr. George Till, has an ALE (not a typo) score of at least one. He describes losing six of seven sections of the ACEs legislation as an “Adverse Legislative Experience (ALE)”. But if...
This is an excerpt from AAP SmartBrief, May 23, 2014: Traumatic childhood experiences may have lasting effect on blood vessels U.S. researchers followed 221 healthy teens and young adults and found that those who experienced at least two adverse...
Dr. Bruce Perry, MD, National Council, Washington, May 4: I had to transcribe a few quotes that really hit me hard from his speech, to provoke you to watch his whole video: “Born for Love: “Why Empathy is Essential – and...
Illustration credit: Matthew Woodson, New York Times Bessel van der Kolk sat cross-legged on an oversize pillow in the center of a smallish room overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Big Sur. He wore khaki pants, a blue fleece zip-up and square...
Photo credit: Tatiana Vdb, Flickr Maternal depression is more common at four years following childbirth than at any other time in the first 12 months after childbirth, and there needs to be a greater focus on maternal mental health,...
If a friend or a co-worker takes us aside and confides that he has been diagnosed with cancer, we give him a shoulder to lean on. We ask what we can do. But most of all, we care. We understand. But if that same individual tells us he has been...
Screening for suicide risk in adolescent, adult, and senior patients in the absence of definite risk factors has no proven benefit in the primary care setting, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) said. In an update to a 2004...
"The Critical Role of Parenting in Human Development" by Marianna S. Klebanov and Adam D. Travis, published by Routledge (Francis & Taylor Group) will be released August 2014. It is available for presale: Critical Role of Parenting
Illustration by Gary Locke, MarketWatch Roughly 23 million Americans are addicted to alcohol or drugs, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a federal agency. And while SAMHSA says only 2.5 million...