Best Mental Health Articles

Jun 4

Writing and mental health

You don't have to be mad to work here.

I have slowly come to understand that my main job is staying sane. I have been a professional writer since 1992. I haven’t had another job since then. In the thirteen years after I left college, I did…

Nick Hornby ∙ 402 LIKES

Eleanor Anstruther

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Jun 5

I long ago realised that everything I write is in some way intended to get my parents to notice me. Sigh. (I'm 53, one of them is dead and the other is well on the way out the door) Hey ho and onward. There's no unpicking pre verbal hard wiring. I live with it (and sometimes find it funny.)

Richard Flohil

•

Jun 5

I'm more of a typist (with shitty keyboard skills) than a "writer," but I've been typing for a living since I got my first job on a newspaper when I was 16. In the years since I've edited magazines, written thousands of record reviews, been a publicist, freelanced, and now I'm almost 90 I write a Substack and cobble together the occasional press release or artist's bio. Your post was so inspiring and true... Gave up smoking years ago, stopped drinking alcohol a year and a half back, and I'm too old to have (much) sex. Thank God for coffee and music.. . and I wish I could pay for all the Substacks I read, including yours. But, as John Lee Hooker famously said when he was 88, "It's too late to quit now!"

The Newsletter of Dr. Bandy X. Lee

Jun 11

Post Pre-Sentencing Interview

Mental Health Should Matter—A Lot

Donald Trump completed his legally-mandated pre-sentencing interview with a New York City probation officer yesterday. They met over video as a first step in the sentencing process, in which an officer assesses the convicted individual’s living situation, finances, mental health, substance use, and criminal record. The officer then generates a report,…

Bandy X. Lee ∙ 73 LIKES

Ken

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Dr. Lee, where in this pre-probation interview process is that comprehensive mental health evaluation that you have rightly and urgently advocated for years be performed on Trump? Is it possible that the probation officer could recommend that one still be done prior to his scheduled July 11 sentencing by Judge Merchan?

Suzanne Shaps

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Morning Joe was talking about the media's failure to discuss Trump's mental unfitness. I posted on X, tagging you, that they reach out to you for their show. I hope they do.

Design Better

Jun 9

AMA: Leslie Witt, Headspace and designing for mental health

Quick update here: we’ve updated the date for Leslie’s AMA, and it will be happening on July 22nd. Join us for an AMA with Leslie Witt, Chief Product and Design Officer at Headspace, as she dives into the world of design leadership and the nuances of designing for mental health and wellbeing. Discover how empathy and innovation drive the creation of eff…

The Curiosity Department ∙ 11 LIKES

After Babel

Jun 10

The Great Deterioration of Local Community Was A Major Driver of The Loss of The Play-Based Childhood

Why kids growing up in close-knit communities are more protected from the harms of the phone-based childhood.

Intro from Jon Haidt: When I was writing The Anxious Generation, I thought of it as a tragedy in two acts: In Act I, we took away the play-based childhood (1990-2010), and in Act II, we gave kids the phone-based childhood (2010-2015). Teen mental health plunged in the middle of Act II.

Zach Rausch ∙ 243 LIKES

Russell Gold

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I agree with Seth Kaplan; the lifestyle was a major attraction to Orthodox Judaism for me, and a reason that we moved into an Orthodox community. My kids did regularly walk to one another's homes as they were growing up, because they could. Before we moved, they couldn't; their friends lived too far away. Because of the restrictions on driving on the Shabbos, Orthodox families have to live within walking distances of their synagogues - which means that they live in walking distances of each other.

But when I grew up non-religious in the '60s, we had much the same thing. We used to play in the streets, and run when the occasional car came by, driving very slowly. It's led me to suspect a cause that you don't mention: the change in the way we build our neighborhoods. When I was little, my family had one car. My Mom drove my Dad to the train which he took to go to work. But over the time period you mention, we tore down most of the train routes and people in the suburbs tended to drive everywhere, which made it easier to build neighborhoods where the only way to get to your friends' homes was to have your parents drive you.

Can those factors be separated? Is it possible that kids in older (pre-WW II) neighborhoods have different experiences than in the car-dependent suburbs?

Roman S Shapoval

•

Let's face it - deep down inside, every kid has more fun playing with sticks in the dirt than they do video games. We all crave dopamine, but the only type that lasts is through human connection, not a like button.

Sentinel Leach

Jun 4

Ottawa CMH Board greenlights funding for Momentum Center, but future contract in doubt

The Momentum Center has received funding through the end of the 2024 fiscal year after multiple attempts by the Ottawa Impact majority on the Community Mental Health Board of Directors.

OTTAWA COUNTY — The Momentum Center in Ottawa County has now received funding through the end of the 2024 fiscal year after multiple attempts by the Ottawa Impact majority on the Community Mental Health Board of Directors to cut off public monies for the organization.

Sarah Leach ∙ 11 LIKES

Ann W

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Jun 4

These anti-Momentum Center folks live in the land of stereotypes and misconceptions. I'm really tired of their rhetoric.

Your Crypto Community

Jun 1

Crypto, mental health, and retirement

Chasing an early retirement with crypto may not be what you are looking for.

Most people join crypto thanks to a fantasy. It’s usually a mix between wanting to become rich and hitting that special number. You’re so determined to quit that 9 to 5 job, that you’d do anything for it. Sounds great on paper. But there is a catch.

Duo Nine⚡YCC ∙ 19 LIKES

Jay Savala

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Jun 3

Create your own story!!!!

My first bull run was the 2020 - 2021. I was soooo early that I thought every thing was easy. My portfolio went as high as 400k - which is an insane amount for me. Unfortunately, I gave my gains all back to the market. Luckily I had about 30% btc n eth, otherwise I'd have nothing today. I'm now sitting at about 120k and it's 85% btc n eth. Although I was depressed during the bear market, I learned my lesson. A heavy BTC portfolio save you!

Radically Genuine

Jun 6

Lost Souls: The Spiritual Gap in Mental Health Conversations

The removal of God and rise in transhumanism

Not long ago, I received a text message from my cousin, a Navy SEAL contemplating his next career after military service. He is considering becoming a psychologist, driven by a passionate interest in understanding human potential and helping people through their struggles.

Dr. Roger McFillin ∙ 21 LIKES

JFly

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Fourteen months ago, I suffered a tragic loss that resulted in profound grief. Most extended family members were not very supportive. They were grieving as well but they would say things to me like, "you should go talk to someone, I don't know how to help you but you need help." It was really hurtful. It made me feel like a freak. After 3 months of doing practically nothing, I decided I wanted to live. I joined a gym and attended fitness and yoga classes to restore my fitness but also as a way to pass the time with distractions (and with strangers who know nothing about me). Anyway, getting to the point in relation to your article, in the yoga classes I was doing there were periods of meditation. These were difficult at first because I thought I would just start to cry with all distraction suspended for those moments. Also, I didn't really relate to the "me centered" meditation. So I just started to pray. I prayed for myself sometimes but I also would focus on my closest loved ones. Just asking for comfort and wisdom and courage and so on and also expressing gratitude for them. And I've been praying ever since. I still get sad every day but I'm slowly recovering and along with the support of a few loved ones, the prayer is key. And now I focus on expanding my prayer beyond my grief and toward others who are facing difficulty. A good friend is having heart surgery today. Multiple jabs yet he seems clueless. I pray for his survival and recovery. I pray for his family.

Carnivore Mama

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Totally agree. Thank you to you and your cousin. I am a counsellor working in a body centred and transpersonal way. I recall, during my training in integrative counselling, that I was the only one in our cohort that was comfortable in the realm of the soul and spirit. Everyone else expressed fear of exploring the transpersonal with their future clients. Often, during our sessions, I would feel called to challenge the narratives being propogated by the tutors. It was educational, to say the least. I now witness first hand the harmful consequences of mainstream psychiatric meds (I support the bereaved) and doctors dishing out SSRIs like sweets... people on depression meds for 20 or even 30 years. They tend to be completely disconnected from their emotions, numbed and often suicidal (one of the known serious side effects). Now there is a group of critical psychiatrists whom are challenging their 'profession' like Joanna Moncrieff and Sami Timimi. More needs to be done.

Generation Tech

May 29

Parent drug overdoses: The true cause of the adolescent mental health crisis?

Probably not. Here’s why.

Within a few days at the beginning of May, two papers published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) came to the same grim conclusion: More American children are losing their parents to drug overdoses. The first, by Benjamin-Samuel Schluter and colleagues, estimated that 759,000 children in the U.S. lost a parent to a drug overdose between 1999 and 2020. The

Jean M. Twenge ∙ 9 LIKES

Mike Males

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May 30

I appreciate Dr. Twenge engaging this crucial issue, but her analysis suffers from omission of key data, orange-apples comparisons of survey and vital statistics, flawed geographical comparisons, and other serious problems. Essentially, she is arguing that 800,000 overdose deaths, 12 million overdose-related hospital emergencies, 10+ million drunken and drug offenses, etc. among ages 30-59 (the parents, parents’ partners, relatives, teachers, coaches, etc.) – all soaring during the 2010-2022 period, when teens' depression was rising – would not be a major cause of teenagers’ poor mental health. (In 2022, SAMHSA reported some 4 million drug-related ER treatments in the 26-64 age group in the US, a pattern of rising adult drug abuse occurring across the Western world.) I don’t want to bog down this comments section, but if interested in my response, see: https://mikemales.substack.com/p/how-jean-twenge-et-al-get-the-middle

GIRLS

Jun 4

Our New Religion Isn't Enough

Who is God?

These days it seems like everything is described as a new religion. Social justice is a new religion. So is climate activism. Trumpism, too. I saw a funny tweet recently about how girlboss feminism has now reinvented the Sabbath, with the shocking news that we might benefit from “one lazy day” a week. Even AI seems to be…

Freya India ∙ 1653 LIKES

Peter James

•

Jun 4

I loved this. It reminds me of a David Foster Wallace quote - “There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive.”

Justine 💙💙

•

Jun 4

Wow Freya. Thank you for this. You have a gift. These sentiments are exactly why I gave myself to Christ.

To anyone else reading this, I pray that you allow God to deliver you from whatever you’re seeking. Return to Him. The way has already been laid out. You don’t have to go searching. Just give yourself to God and He will show you. 🙏🏽

2 Corinthians 9:10 “For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat…”

If God can provide the seed, what can He not do?

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭139‬:‭13‬ ‭“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”

You were thoughtfully created, every fiber of your being intricately designed. Everything you seek is within God’s hand, just as you were created in God’s hand.

All you have to do is surrender into His palm. God is here for you. God loves you. ❤️

Back to Balance

May 30

hormones and mental health

the connection, how we can support both, and a pasta salad recipe :)

Hi my friends!! First off, I wanted to apologize- I had scheduled my past few newsletters and turns out they never sent, so I am on the quest to make it up to you guys with so many fun new recipes soon! As it’s the end of May, which is Mental Health Awareness month, I wanted to chat about the connection between out mental and physical health- so let’s …

Paige Lindgren ∙ 3 LIKES

Ciara

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May 30

Love this! Do you have a favorite adrenal/adaptogenic supplement for stress/cortisol?

The Eternally Radical Idea

May 21

The mental health consequences of social justice fundamentalism

Data shows that the farther left you lean, the more anxious, depressed, and unhappy you are

In their 2015 article and 2018 book, “The Coddling of the American Mind,” Greg and Jonathan Haidt argue that cognitive distortions (practices like catastrophizing, black and white thinking, overgeneralizing, discounting positives, and emotional reasoning) and overprotecting children results in an external

Greg Lukianoff and Andrea Lan ∙ 254 LIKES

Zander Keig

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May 21

As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, I have seen firsthand the shift you describe. That's why in the summer of 2020, I moved away from providing individual psychotherapy sessions to conducting psychoeducation webinars. Now I teach large groups of people how to regulate their emotions, tolerate distress, mitigate conflict, manage stress, avoid burnout, get a good night's sleep, and many other necessary strategies and tools. It is rewarding work and I thoroughly enjoy doing it.

John K. Wilson

•

May 21

One potential problem with this analysis: What if liberals are not more likely than conservatives to suffer from mental health problems, but are more likely to report them? If conservatives are more repressed than liberals, they might suffer from depression but be less likely to admit it and seek help. Or they might seek treatments (such as turning to religion) that allow them to deal with problems without admitting to them.

Another potential problem with this analysis: What if this correlation, if real, is causation in the other direction? In other words, what if liberalism does not cause mental illness, but people with mental illness are more likely to be liberal because their own problems cause them to have more empathy for the suffering of others?

Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance

Jun 10

The Week Ahead

June 9, 2024

Thirteen Senate Republicans have vowed that, in “retaliation” for the conviction of Donald Trump, they will not confirm any more federal judges or Biden appointees. The idea that a jury’s decision to convict a defendant in a state prosecution merits “retaliation” by Senate Republicans is nuts. Like every other defendant in a criminal case who gets convi…

Joyce Vance ∙ 2176 LIKES

Christopher L Groesbeck

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I wish our Democratic and independent leaders in both Congress and the Senate start bare knuckle fighting. The placement of Jackson and Perry on the intelligence committee is an outrage. They are there to pass information to Trump who will pass it to Putin. The threat of blocking judges has got to be responded to in kind, the bullshit stops here. Democratic need to go on a “no huddle offense” and they must start doing it now!

Dale of Green Gables

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The closing narration from “He's Alive,” the fourth season episode of The Twilight Zone. It tells the story of the rise and fall of Peter Vollmer, “a bush-league Führer,” who traffics in hate and prejudice in pursuit of his own affirmation and power, and who is visited by the ghost of Hitler. The story, I think, has particular relevance today.

"Where will he go next, this phantom from another time, this resurrected ghost of a previous nightmare — Chicago; Los Angeles; Miami, Florida; Vincennes, Indiana; Syracuse, New York? Anyplace, everyplace, where there's hate, where there's prejudice, where there's bigotry. He's alive. He's alive so long as these evils exist. Remember that when he comes to your town. Remember it when you hear his voice speaking out through others. Remember it when you hear a name called, a minority attacked, any blind, unreasoning assault on a people or any human being. He's alive because through these things we keep him alive."

Generation Tech

May 22

Is the adolescent mental health crisis real, or just an illusion?

What the New York Times got (spectacularly) wrong – and why the time for denial is over

The last few years have engendered a great deal of discussion about a mental health crisis among adolescents and young adults. Anxiety, depression, self-harm, and suicide have all increased in these age groups since 2010. But what if that’s all an illusion, simply a product of changes in screening practices and medical records? Maybe there isn’t an adolescent mental health crisis after all. That’s the case made by David Wallace-Wells in a recent

Jean M. Twenge ∙ 34 LIKES

Adrian Gaty

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May 22

Of course you’re correct, but may I make an argument why the New York Times might have unwittingly stumbled into being right, too?

This is the key:

“ Wallace-Wells begins by pointing out that in 2011 there were “a new set of guidelines that recommended that teenage girls should be screened annually for depression by their primary care physicians and … required that insurance providers cover such screenings in full.””

What if depression increased not, as Wallace-Wells argues, because screening found more of it… but because *screening itself causes depression*??

My case for that is here:

https://gaty.substack.com/p/how-we-make-children-miserable-and

In brief: doctors and teachers are “checking in” far far more than ever before on kids’ sad feelings, and just like the trans social contagion, you get what you measure.

So the times guy may be right, only not in the way he thinks…

David Myers

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May 22

Excellent (cogent, incisive) analysis, Jean . . . I've been hoping you or Jon/Zach would respond to that NYT essay. Keep on . . .

Letters from an American

Jun 11

June 10, 2024

Former president Trump met with a New York City probation officer today for a pre-sentencing interview. They met over video for a first step in the sentencing process, in which an officer assesses the convicted criminal’s living situation, finances, mental health, addiction, and criminal record. Trump was expected to have his lawyer, Todd Blanche, with …

Heather Cox Richardson ∙ 3073 LIKES

Julie B-R

•

Ooohhhh boy! That crazy “speech” from

the other day in Nevada was the nuttiest one yet. And, I noticed that all of those people standing behind him were, basically, expressionless the whole time.

I feel like we are living in the upside down much of the time…

Thank goodness for the beautiful D-Day celebration that POTUS & FLOTUS attended in France. It was solemn and reverent, as it should be. Biden’s speeches were excellent, and his genuine concern and respect for others shines through. 💙🇺🇸💙

Ian

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“He doesn’t care.”

That should settle it.

🌻 A Year of Mental Health

May 20

Who Should Read “A Year of Mental Health”?

The “About You” page for my ideal readers, who often feel misunderstood yet also long to live meaningfully.

In a business book I wrote a while back, I outlined the concept of describing an ideal customer. Simply put, you need to understand who you’re trying to serve. “Everyone” is not a target market. So how about for this yearlong project—who is the ideal reader?

Chris Guillebeau ∙ 52 LIKES

Melissa Sandfort

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May 20

In Internal Family Systems (IFS), the key to lasting, long-term transformation is healing our exiles — the parts of us that carry our deepest traumas.

Making surface-level changes softens up our personalities so that there is more space to address the deeper underlying wounds we carry. Which is why EVERY tiny shift we can make, from eating a can of non-dairy whipped cream versus a can of dairy whipped cream (if dairy phlegms us up) is worth it. (Shout out to my excellent harm-reduction strategy last night!)

In my opinion, NO tiny change goes unnoticed by our overall system. Every effort is worth it. AND the more strength we gather to address the deep, core wounds we carry (IFS calls them ‘burdens’), the more lasting change we will accomplish.

It takes a village of strategies to do this work. One, two, or ten techniques is not going to cut it. Whatever we can do to till the soil, loosen up the clods of gnarly old patterns and make our consciousness fertile, creative and generative — that’s what’s worth doing. And then if deeper work is needed, digging deeper to do that work. It sucks sometimes. If it takes a can of whipped cream for dinner, so be it. But whatever we start with, wherever we start, at least starting.

My goal for this week is to just keep digging. Glad to be digging with you!

Kezia Calvert

•

May 20

Hey Chris & others,

I've been here for awhile mostly in a passive capacity during a particularly tumultuous and sad time for my family. I finally feel ready to start engaging, and I look forward to learning a few things along the way :)

1. In what ways have you felt misunderstood? Living with undiagnosed ADHD my whole life caused me to often feel misunderstood. For example, I regularly heard things like "you have so much potential but..." and "you can go far in life if only you apply yourself/focus..." I internalized these words and they became beliefs that I'm just now dismantling in sobriety.

2. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I would love for my completion rate for new projects be somewhat more in line with my drive to start new projects (I get super excited about a lot of things but the excitement sometimes tapers off - Hello ADHD!)

3. Something you’re curious about. I'm curious about how other folks prioritize tasks and set long-term goals.

4. Your #1 goal for the week. To write for one hour (minimum) per day.

The Free Press

Jun 11

A Doctor Told the Truth. The Feds Showed Up at His Door.

A young surgeon revealed how his hospital was secretly transitioning gender-distressed children. He is now facing federal charges.

Eithan Haim, 34, is at the beginning of his career as a surgeon. He and his wife are expecting their first child in the fall. And now he is facing a four-count federal felony indictment for blowing the whistle on T…

Emily Yoffe ∙ 474 LIKES

Pemulis_DMZ

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Whether the target is a parent at a school board meeting or the leading candidate for President, Leftists have no qualms weaponizing our judicial systems and Federal agencies to hold onto power and squash dissent. It's almost like they know they can't win the battle of ideas in a society with free and open access to all the facts. It's almost like they're authoritarian.

Yuri Bezmenov

•

Pray for Dr. Haim. He is a brave man. The real criminals are the doctors who castrated children, the healthcare administrators who covered it up, and the Biden regime’s Gestapo prosecutors going after whistleblowers like him.

Will they be held to account? Whatever happened to do no harm? We need to name, shame, and punish all doctors who have mutilated children: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/how-to-do-no-harm-part-2

The Morning Grumble by Grumble Farm

May 20

Goodbye Forever, Sweet Cabin

...a mental health story ❤️‍🩹

Welcome to The Morning Grumble by Grumble Farm, a community-supported newsletter that chronicles the journey of my life with pugs, dogs, and other animals through stories of hope & healing that are inspired by nature & the transformative and immortal power of unconditional love

Brandy (Grumble Farm) ∙ 47 LIKES

Karen DeYager

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May 20

Jesse helped save you from the green dumpsters and now you’ll help save him from going through his procedure alone. You’re there for each other during the worst times of your lives to help support and lift each other up.

Down deep in your soul, you knew you deserved more in this life, even in your darkest hours, and your fierce intelligence and sense of self wouldn’t tolerate it. The cabin came along just when you needed it. The little farmhouse came along just when you needed it. The universe provides, even if she is a nasty bitch… and after the car issues, I’m like, seriously?!?! Love you guys and here to support you however we can. 🩷

Can’t not mention all the wonderful Jonie photos!!! 💙💙💙 seeing all his puppy photos brought all the feels!! He was a little Puggy savior for you when you needed him most. 💙💙

Samantha Brazeau-Wilson

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May 21

And also… I am sad too. The cabin is and was a dream that you’re so blessed to have had as a part of in your life! I will miss the sunrises you shared and of course the birds. The wildlife and the snow content (always the snow content). Bye, beautiful little cabin in the woods. I loved you too, even if from a distance. 🌲👋

What the Health?!

May 28

#51 🍩 What the Health - Dr Karl Deepfakes, Longevity is where the money is mate & Mental Health ain't great

Your health tech & innovation TL;DR roundup

Hola amigos, Sorry it’s been a second. We (actually just me, Emily) got bitten by the COVID bug and dropped balls. But, we’re back! Thanks to the help of our epic team. TLDR on fun activities you missed… 💜🦁🌴 WTH in the wild We had some epic founders’ dinners in Sydney & Melbourne ft. our friends

5 LIKES

Burned Haystack Dating Method

Jun 12

Your Dating App Profile is Fine

It's the Way You're Managing Your Apps That's Working Against You

Like many single women searching for long-term partners, I had set up carefully-curated Hinge and Bumble profiles, and I had doggedly scrolled and swiped, messaged and liked, all of it adding up to absolutely nothing except lost time and compromised mental health.

Jennie Young ∙ 29 LIKES

Lara Starr

•

17h

I had been low-key dating like this since I started, but having the academic research and analysis has been so helpful to put words to what I felt instinctively.

My calling out one of the so-called dating experts you describe is what got me kicked out of a Facebook community that really meant a lot to me that was *supposed* to be feminist.

I'd do it again.

The "expert" told us to Always Be Flirting, and she defined flirting as showing interest whether you had any or not.

Um, yeah. That's called lying, and it's rude, unkind, and potentially dangerous.

She also said she flirted with a man at a bar, who turned out to be married, but he introduced her to a single friend of his, so yay!

The real kicker was she claimed that her clients were happy to go on bad dates because it was good practice.

It bums me out so hard that people are making money off from women who believe their BS (although I have to question how many of them are actually making money...)

It's not you, it's them. You are fine. More than fine, you are amazing!

Ani Castillo

•

12h

You know? Your method has been helping me A LOT, not only with dating, but with all my relationships.

I have become a very close observer of peoples words, rhythms and silences.

They all have a meaning!!

What made me a bit upset is to realize that if I had known about you and your work, I would not have dated, probably 95% of the men I've ever dated throughout my life. Maybe I would have found a sweet and loving needle by now!

But, better late than never, and I'm very very grateful for all your efforts. You have transformed my perception of this part of my life, which has so much impact on the rest of it!

I hope you can turn this into a self-sustaining project so you can keep helping many many people around the world!! Thank you so much Jennie ❤️️❤️️❤️️

The Edinburgh Minute

Jun 12

The Edinburgh Minute ⏰ Wednesday 12 June 2024

Taylor Swift donates money to local foodbanks, Fringe boss defends Baillie Gifford sponsorship, questions over Leith Links housing + Victoria Swing Bridge reopens

🌤️ Good morning Edinburgh. It’s Fringe festival programme announcement day. All the details will be in today’s Culture Minute for subscribers. And if you’re not a subscriber, this week you can get 20% off. Here’s Wednesday’s Edinburgh Minute. 🎭 This year’s

Michael MacLeod ∙ 16 LIKES

Michael MacLeod

•

Gosh that feels really short today. If I've missed anything please do share!

Home Base with Jeff Warren

Jun 9

Little Good Things

Slow down. Pause. Sink in.

“Discovering real goodness comes from appreciating very simple experiences.” - Chogyam Trungpa Sun of my face today. Pause. Just a few beats. God that feels good. Little good things. Sometimes it’s all you can manage. These two minutes, right here. On my back next to a park bench. Feeling the sponginess of the …

Jeff Warren ∙ 73 LIKES

Elizabeth David-Zoerhof

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"Sometimes that's all you can manage". Thank you for affirming that sometimes noticing one little good thing is good enough.

John Hardman

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I am reminded of Vicktor Frankl’s philosophy of “If one has a ‘why’ they can suffer most any ‘how’. Frankl endured years of Nazi concentration camps by asserting his belief in the goodness of mankind despite being mired in the horrors of the Holocaust. Carving out the moments in life to focus on and be mindful of the beauty beneath the chaos of modern life does not happen passively but may require dedication and practice to achieve. Frankl called it “the will to live” and recognized it is a choice.

Sensible Medicine

Jun 9

When residents call out "fake sick"

After all, "it is just a job"

Recently I heard the story about a residency program where it is a cultural norm to call out “fake sick.” In other words, if a resident has a particularly long or rough day, if they feel they need some rest— even in the absence of fever, chills, drenching night-sweats and propulsive vomiting— they will call out “sick”. Covering residents remark how in…

Vinay Prasad ∙ 225 LIKES

Steve Cheung

•

I actually think it is just a job (as opposed to a “calling” as we sometimes perceive of a different/older gen) (I finished subspecialty in 2002). At the end of the day, QoL matters.

But…but…(to borrow from JMM)…

You still gotta do the bleeping job you signed up for (and if you didn’t know the amount of work your program was going to expect of you, you’re a moron who will be an idiotic doc). Also, any horsebleep day you take off is another one your colleagues have to suck up and cover for your sorry butt.

If there are true legit medical issues (including actual mental health concerns), then by all means, take all the time you need. I would have no problem covering for a colleague with a legit health issue. But taking days cuz “work’s hard” or “you’re tired”….give me a freakin break. Just another example of the coddling the younger gen has become reliant upon. Grow up already, welcome to adulthood, time to start behaving like a professional.

TiredFellow

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I am treated like shit by a hospital corporation and attendings that don’t care about me or my patients and pays me the equivalent of $14.32 an hour whilst 300K in debt of course it’s a fucking job! Artificially protracted training to utilize is a cheap labor. Just because you were abused as a resident doesn’t give you the permission to abuse future residents, think about making the future better for all of those in medicine, even if you were hurt. Lost some respect for you Vinay.

The Dybbuk Diaries

May 28

you people can't do anything

Miserable teens, fascist nostalgia, and wellbeing as a weapon in the culture war: what is behind the rightward swing in mental health and disability discourse?

Have you heard? No one wants to hear about your mental health anymore, if they ever did. It’s passé. It’s cringe. It’s a sign of a cultural decay which you, the individual, are responsible for upholding. We can all un-diagnose ourselves and breathe a sigh of relief that the powers that be have decided it’s over.

millie ∙ 215 LIKES

D.J. Liberty

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May 31

thank you for writing this!! I’ve had such a similar piece in my drafts for months and have felt so weird about the lack of pushback FI has been getting. It’s all so insidious and unsettling…

lala thaddeus

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May 31

So well written. I’m really disturbed by Freya India’s writing because at face value it’s almost innocuous. Like it’s framed so similarly to the girlhood essays we see on here yet her work panders moral panic and individual failure. Thank you for putting to words what I’ve been struggling with for months.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Jun 4

12 Jurors Unanimously Find Trump Guilty & NCAA Finally to Pay Athletes Who Earn Them Billions

Smartphones Benefit Teens More Than Harm Them, Trump Claims Bigly Crowd but Photo Shows Otherwise, The Boston Tea Partygoers Would Hate Today's GOP, John Denver Sings “Poems, Prayers & Promises”

What I’m Discussing Today: Kareem’s Daily Quote: Our need to love pets says a lot more about human needs than it does about animals. Guilty: Trump becomes first former US president convicted of felony crimes:

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ∙ 334 LIKES

Olddiva

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Jun 4

Kareem, an excellent “Take” on Trump’s conviction, although I disagree that those of us gleeful about that conviction are his “enemies.” For this horrible, criminal person, who had gamed the system for years, who had uprooted people’s lives with emotional and physical threats of violence, who had debased the country with every cruelty imaginable, we wanted justice, and were excited, that the rule of law was actionable (for HIM) and remained intact.

Bruce Raben

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Jun 4

When I saw the number $2.8 B my jaws dropped. Collegiate sports have obviously been a plantation system farm team for professional sports and completely exploitative of the student athletes who mostly don’t get a real education.

A top college president makes $1million +. A coach $10 million????? Outrageous

buttonslives

Jun 11

New Study: Most German Youth Outgrow Gender Identity Diagnoses

A groundbreaking new study on insurance data suggests that the majority of German youth do not persist in their transgender identity after five years.

A new long-term study from Germany suggests that the majority of young people diagnosed with gender identity disorders do not continue to identify as such over time. The study examined insurance data over five years, revealing that more than half of young people aged 5-24 across every age subgroup diagnosed with "gender identity disorder" no longer had …

Christina Buttons ∙ 111 LIKES

Michael Hart

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It seems this is confirming what is known, which is not unimportant. But, more importantly it begs the question of the degree to which who desists or not is predictable. If it isn't, as the testimony of formerly dysphoric grownups who are very glad that gender affirmers weren't around in their youth confirms, it is malpractice to medicalize transition or even to encourage social transition because it's a path to irreversible medicalization.

I suspect Hilary Cass's advice to youth to "Keep your options open" will soon be a catch-phrase.

Brian Fish

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For the same reason we all don’t grow up to be police, firefighters and doctors.

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