APA Blogs
24 Results
Addressing the Public Mental Health Challenge of Climate Change
- By Katherine Catalano, Elizabeth Haase, M.D.
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.
New Report Calls for Research on 988 Crisis Line Effectiveness, Caller Demographics, and More
It has been nearly six months since the launch of 988—the nationwide suicide prevention and mental health crisis line. While available evidence suggests that crisis lines may help to reduce immediate crisis, substantial gaps remain in understanding how crisis lines work, according to a report in the December issue of JAMA Psychiatry.
Decriminalizing Mental Illness and Promoting Mental Health Equity
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.
Intersectionality and Crisis Intervention
Officer for Crisis Text Line. “We are losing children of color at rates that are epidemic,” says Shairi Turner, M.D., M.P.H., an internist and pediatrician with a background in trauma. She is Chief Health Officer for Crisis Text Line, a national non-profit providing 24/7 crisis counseling via text in both English and Spanish.
Service Dogs Can Be Invaluable in Helping People with PTSD
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects an estimated one in seven adults at some time in their lives and it affects a large proportion of military members and veterans. In addition to the variety of effective treatments available, people often also use complementary interventions, such as the use of trained PTSD service dogs. These service dogs perform specific tasks that help address PTSD symptoms, such as applying pressure to alleviate anxiety and nudging to interrupt flashbacks