Decriminalizing Mental Illness and Promoting Mental Health Equity 

• Diverse populations, Serious mental illness, Teens and young adults, Trauma

A poll commissioned by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) found that only 1 in 5 Americans believe that those in jails and prisons are getting the mental health care they need while 75% believe mental health support should be provided for incarcerated people. 

Mental Health Equity on a Global Scale: An Interview with Dr. Pamela Collins

• Diversity News and Updates

There are more universals in the global fight to achieve mental health equity than there are differences, according to Dr. Pamela Collins, the Director of the Consortium for Global Mental Health at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Addressing the Public Mental Health Challenge of Climate Change

• Patients and Families, Public awareness, Trauma

For most Americans, the face of climate change is extreme weather and natural disasters. More than 40% of Americans live in a county impacted by a major natural disaster in the last year. In the last seven years, natural disasters cost the United States more than a trillion dollars in damage and more than 5,000 lives were lost.

Personal Perspectives on Family Engagement and Support

Ken Duckworth, M.D., chief medical officer, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) leads a deep discussion with individuals who reflect on their years of lived experience with serious mental illness (SMI) and the critical role family members played in their journeys.

Let’s Talk about the Impacts of the Current Mental Health Crisis

Today, on World Mental Health Day, the American Psychiatric Association Foundation (APAF) is launching a new monthly podcast to engage the public in conversations about the current mental health crisis. Each episode of Mentally Healthy Nation will be centered around an aspect of mental health that impacts the community, where people live, learn, work and worship.

APA Offers Tips for Understanding Prolonged Grief Disorder

Americans are currently facing several ongoing disasters that have caused death and suffering, such as COVID-19, the wind-down in Afghanistan, floods, fires, hurricanes and gun violence. While many Americans are mourning, some may experience prolonged grief disorder, which is characterized by incapacitating feelings of grief.

Microaggressions: Subtle, Pervasive, Harmful

• Patients and Families

As rapper and songwriter Kanye West stated in “Never Let Me Down:” “racism’s still alive, they just be concealin’ it.” The subtle, yet insidious, nature of “concealed” forms of discrimination has garnered increasing attention in popular media. Recent films and television shows such as “Get Out” and “Dear White People,” have showcased the occurrence and effects of microaggressions. Despite intermittent attention in news outlets, this pervasive form of discrimination is often misunderstood and cri

Body Dysmorphic Disorder and a Culture of Perfection

• Eating Disorders, OCD, Patients and Families, Women

Body dysmorphic disorder is an obsessive-compulsive related disorder that has garnered some media attention recently. Contrary to the offhand way it sometimes referred to in the media, body dysmorphic disorder is a serious mental health condition with potentially severe consequences. Individuals with body dysmorphic disorder are preoccupied with what they see as flaws in their physical appearance. They believe they look ugly or abnormal. These flaws are not noticeable to others or only seem to

Overtraining and Under Eating: Athletes at Risk of RED-S Syndrome

• Eating Disorders, Patients and Families

Regular exercise typically improves mood, promotes better sleep, and prevents health problems such as high blood pressure. However, if people exercise too much, as Katie Kirk did, they can experience a wide range of negative health effects.

Twelve-Step-Based Programs Effective for Substance Use Problems

• Addiction, Patients and Families

Spiritual or religious based programs, such as those based on the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous, are effective for treating people with substance use disorders, according to the first systematic review of such programs. In the U.S., more than 20 million people 12 years and older (about 7.4%) have a substance use disorder and among 18-to-25-year-olds, 15% have a substance use disorder, according to the 2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

Mental Health Education for Youth: Focus on Mental Wellness

• Patients and Families

Despite frequent media coverage, public understanding of health and mental health issues is still lacking, according to recent study in the Journal of Mental Health. Overall, they concluded that people are “equally and relatively poorly informed” about relatively common mental and physical health conditions. A new study finds that education efforts for teens that specifically focus on mental health and well-being, rather than mental illness, can help.

Study Finds Sharp Increase in the Number of Adults with Autism Receiving Disability Benefits

The number of adults with autism receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits has risen steadily in recent years, according to a recent new study published in Psychiatric Services. The study found that between 2005 and 2015, the number of adults with autism receiving SSI increased by nearly three-fold, significantly greater than the increase in SSI recipients with intellectual disability and other mental disorders.