This page contains links to some news articles that may be of interest to DBSA group members and their families or friends.
These links are purely informational – DBSA Westchester NY does not endorse suggestions or advice that may be provided in the articles. Please use your personal judgment in consultation with medical professionals if you wish to follow up on anything you read in the articles linked here.
Note that some of the articles may require a subscription to the publication in which the article appears.
Askew – a moving evocation of a mother’s grief at the loss of her daughter by suicide.
Bellevue Literary Review (Esther K. Willison), Spring, 2016 Go to article
Psychiatric advance directives allow patients with serious mental illness to specify the treatment they want if they become too sick to say so.
New York Times (Pam Belluck), December 3, 2018 Go to article
Can we really inherit trauma?
Some researchers believe that trauma can be passed from one generation to the next via epigenetic means.
New York Times (Benedict Carey), December 10, 2018 Go to article
Most Inmates With Mental Illness Still Wait For Decent Care
National Public Radio (Christine Herman), February 3, 2019 Go to article
If You’re Often Angry Or Irritable, You May Be Depressed
National Public Radio (Nell Greenfieldboyce), February 4, 2019 Go to article
When Algorithms Think You Want to Die
How social media’s recommendation algorithms can amplify a suicidal state of mind.
Wired (Ysabel Girrard and Tarleton Gillespie), February 21, 2019 Go to article
Spending just 20 minutes in a park can make you happier.
Some research even suggests that green space is associated with a lower risk of developing psychiatric disorders.
Time Magazine (Jamie Ducharme), February 28, 2019 Go to article
Fast-Acting Depression Drug, Newly Approved, Could Help Millions
A nasal spray version of the drug ketamine has shown promise as an antidepressant, even if its properties still aren’t well understood.
New York Times (Benedict Carey), March 5, 2019 Go to article
Capturing the Highs and Lows of Bipolar Disorder Through Photography
Photographer Matthieu Zellweger aims to capture the experiences of people with bipolar disorder. One of his subject/collaborators is the poet and singer/songwriter Emily Maguire, whose song “Over the Waterfall” explores the tension between the manic and depressive states in the life of a creative artist.
New York Times (Text: David Gonzalez), March 13, 2019 Go to article
Mental Illness Isn’t All in Your Head
A “formulation” gathers the biological, psychological and social factors that lead to a mental illness — and offers clues to the way out of suffering.
New York Times (Lisa Pryor), March 15, 2019 Go to article
Reach Out: Ways To Help A Loved One At Risk Of Suicide
An article on how to help someone you know who may be at risk of suicide, with links to other helpful web sites on this topic.
NPR News/WFUV.org (Rhitu Chatterjee), April 20, 2019 Go to article
How to Disclose a Disability to Your Employer (and Whether You Should)
An article on whether and how to disclose a disability to one’s employer, with personal stories and links to government resources.
New York Times (Lizz Schumer), July 10, 2019 Go to article
How to Give Your Therapist Feedback
A psychologist and a psychoanalyst discuss how to give your therapist feedback if you’re uncomfortable with the therapy or you find it ineffective.
New York Times (Julie Fraga and Hilary Jacobs Hendel), August 1, 2019 Go to article
Changing Your Diet Can Help Tamp Down Depression, Boost Mood
There’s fresh evidence that eating a healthy diet, one that includes plenty of fruits and vegetables and limits highly processed foods, can help reduce symptoms of depression.
NPR (Allison Aubrey, Rhitu Chatterjee), October 9, 2019 Go to article
Psilocybin treatment for depression being developed by a British startup company.
A startup company that produces synthetic psilocybin (“magic mushrooms”) for use in treating depression is running a 216-patient Phase 2B clinical trial—typically the second-to-last stage before a drug gets FDA approval.
Bloomberg Businessweek (Adam Piore), January 7, 2020 Go to article
Also see “Can Magic Mushrooms Heal Us?”, an article on an initiative in Portland, Oregon investigating the therapeutic use of psilocybin.
New York Times (Ezra Klein), March 18, 2021 Go to article
Using brain wave patterns to help choose a treatment for depression.
A study in Nature Biotechnology reports on using Machine Learning (A.I.) to analyze brain wave patterns to help predict which treatment will be effective for an individual with depression.
NPR News (Jon Hamilton), February 10, 2020 Go to article
Apps, videogames, and other media are filling gaps in mental healthcare.
An article on computer apps and video games intended to help people with mental illness as a complement to visits to a therapist (featuring a former member of our DBSA group who helped in the development of one of the apps).
Weill Cornell Medicine (Amy Crawford, Stephanie Dalton Cowan, John Abbott), Winter 2020 Go to article
Tips on living in isolation from a retired NASA astronaut.
Scott Kelly, a retired NASA astronaut who spent nearly a year on the International Space Station, gives practical suggestions for living in isolation during the coronavirus pandemic.
New York Times (Scott Kelly), March 21, 2020 Go to article
CDC report on mental health, substance use, and suicidal ideation during the COVID-19 pandemic — United States, June 24–30, 2020.
This report from the U.S. CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has statistics on mental health, substance use, and suicidal ideation during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, June 24–30, 2020. In particular, the report notes that 25.5% of survey respondents aged of 18 – 24 years reported having seriously considered suicide in the 30 days prior to completing the survey.
United States CDC (Mark É. Czeisler, et. al.), August 14, 2020 Go to article
Pandemic Ponderings
Pandemic Ponderings is a short “zine” by artist Marilyn Mitchell on some of the cognitive distortions that may control our thinking during times of stress, especially in times of external stressors such as the 2020 pandemic.
Marilyn Mitchell, August, 2020 Go to the “zine”
Can Zapping Our Brains Really Cure Depression?
This New York Times article discusses experimental research on using personally tailored electrical stimulation of the brain to treat obsessive-compulsive behavior and depression.
New York Times (Kim Tingley), February 24, 2021 Go to article
Lives Restored
Short videos from a New York Times series profiling people who are functioning normally despite severe mental illness and have chosen to speak out about their struggles.
Bendict Carey (Reporter), Damon Winter (Audio-visual), Thomas Gamble (Music), Archived Go to article
Therapy on Aisle 7: Retailers Are Entering the Mental Health Market
Stores such as CVS, Rite-Aid, Walgreens, and Walmart are among “a growing number of retailers who are recognizing the unmet need for mental health providers and hoping to fill the gap” by offering in-store and online therapy.
New York Times (Christina Caron), May 7, 2021 Go to article
A ‘Pacemaker for the Brain’
A New York Times article on experimental treatment with individualized deep-brain electrical stimulation for treatment-resistent depression. The implanted device detects the neural activity pattern that occurs when the patient is becoming depressed. It then delivers pulses of electrical stimulation to stave off depression.
New York Times (Pam Belluck), October 4/5, 2021 Go to article
Famous Females Who Are Crushing the Stigma of Bipolar Disorder
By opening up about their diagnosis, these well-known and respected women help put a face to bipolar and improve public understanding of the commonly misunderstood condition.
BP Magazine (Jade Zora Scibilia), January 28, 2022 Go to article
Psychiatrists add “Prolonged Grief Disorder” as an official diagnosis to the DSM-5.
Psychiatrists have added a new diagnosis, Prolonged Grief Disorder, to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). This article discusses the reasons for the decision and the controversy surrounding the decision.
New York Times (Ellen Barry), March 18, 2022 Go to article
Why So Many Doctors Treat Their Mental Health in Secret
A discussion of stigma in the medical community against doctors seeking mental health care.
New York Times (Dr. Seema Jilani), March 30, 2022 Go to article
Review of “THE MIND AND THE MOON: My Brother’s Story, the Science of Our Brains, and the Search for Our Psyches.
The New York Times reviews Daniel Bergner’s new book, “THE MIND AND THE MOON: My Brother’s Story, the Science of Our Brains, and the Search for Our Psyches”.
New York Times (Christine Kenneally), March 9, 2022 Go to article