mental health

From "Shell Shock" to PTSD, Veterans Have a Long Walk to Health

by Charles Glass

Iraq War veteran Will Robinson brought himself out of a mental health crisis by hiking more than 11,000 miles of trail from the Pacific Crest to the Appalachian, following the century-old prescription of British military doctor Arthur Brock. 

Eric Adams's Involuntary Commitment Plan for Mentally Ill has a Long, Cruel History (and Won't Help)

by Jeremy Peschard

The history of involuntary hospitalization is one of the removal of the most marginalized and vulnerable people from society, in increasingly cruel and inhumane conditions, with treatment and reintegration to society an afterthought. It's unclear the New York mayor's plans will be different. 

Does Sen. Fetterman's Depression Disclosure Signal Change in Mental Health Acceptance?

by Jonathan Sadowsky

51 years ago the Democratic vice presidential candidate, Senator Thomas Eagleton, was dropped from the ticket when it was revealed he had received treatment for depression. A historian of mental health says it's too simple to declare progress without acknowledging ongoing stigma. 

NY Mayor's Proposal to Lock Up Mentally Ill Has Long History

by Elliott Young

The impulse to heal the mentally ill has long battled the impulse to lock them up as a threat to the society. Eric Adams is trying to do the latter while claiming to do the former. 

Beyond Yale and Stanford, Colleges are Dropping the Ball on Student Mental Health

by David M. Perry

If two high profile incidents are any indication, many colleges seek to move students with mental health concerns off campus as quickly and quietly as possible, putting their own liability and reputation ahead of the needs of students for supportive community. 

Professor Discusses the use of Asylum Scenes in "Stranger Things"

Troy Rondinone's expertise on cultural portrayals of mental health facilities connects with two key plotlines in the latest season of the Netflix horror series. 

What if Mental Illness Isn't All In Your Head?

by Marco Ramos

A historian of mental health reviews two new books and concludes that pharmaceutical and neurological approaches to mental health have failed and it's time to turn the lens onto society.

Moral Injury and the Forever Wars

by Kelly Denton-Borhaug

"Andy’s story clarifies a reality Americans badly need to grasp: the destruction of war goes far beyond its intended targets. In the end, its violence is impossible to control."

The U.S. has Never Tried a Comprehensive Approach to Mental Health Care

by Hannah Zeavin

"The United States has never redressed a massive shortage of mental health-care providers, and no unified national infrastructure is in place to assist the most vulnerable would-be patients with navigating the difficult process of finding competent care and paying for it."

Can Historians Be Traumatized by History? (Content Warning)

by James Robins

"If the historian—the very person supposed to process the past on behalf of everyone else—struggles with trauma, then it is little surprise that societies as a whole struggle to face the violence of how they were formed and how they prevailed."

African Americans At St. Elizabeth’s — A Review Of Madness In The City Of Magnificent Expectations

Martin Summers' book on Washington's Saint Elizabeth's Hospital shows how early mental health institutions differentiated the Black and White psyches in diagnosis and care, exposing the role of psychiatry in maintaining and institutionalizing racial inequality, writes reviewer Debra Kram-Fernandez.

Confronting the History of a Southern Asylum: An Interview With Mab Segrest

Dr. Segrest's new book uncovers the harrowing story of the Georgia State Lunatic, Idiot, and Epileptic Asylum.

How America Has Racialized Medicine During Epidemics

Mab Segrest explores the history of blaming black people for bad health outcomes in her new book, “Administrations of Lunacy: Racism and the Haunting of American Psychiatry at the Milledgeville Asylum.”

Career Diversity and the Crisis of Grad Student Mental Health

by Erin Leigh Inama, Sarah Stoller, and James Vernon

The myth of the academy as a meritocracy that rewards the smartest and most talented often generates anxiety and depression.

We need to stop focusing on the mental health of mass shooters

by Deborah Doroshow

Mentally ill Americans are already stigmatized — and wrongly so.

The Troubling History of Psychiatry

Challenges to the legitimacy of the profession have forced it to examine itself, including the fundamental question of what constitutes a mental disorder.

How to Make Graduate School More Humane

by David M. Perry

There's a mental-health crisis among graduate students, and it bears particularly hard on those with disabilities. Fixing it requires specific mental-health supports—and broad cultural change.

Stand Up to the Biggest Bully in the Room: Mental Illness

by Jonathan Zimmerman

Mental illness is the far more likely culprit than bullying in suicides and school shootings.

How Depression Went Mainstream: Interview with Dr. Edward Shorter

by Robin Lindley

Psychiatrists are very interested in the historical perspectives because they can see the obvious power that an understanding of history brings to appreciating the current situation. Historians haven’t been so interested. Psychiatrists are centered on diagnosis and treatment, and those are the two aspects that are central to the practice of medicine.

Is Colorado's Institution for the Homeless Willowbrook Redux?

by Alison Bateman-House

Colorado could benefit from a history lesson. With Governor John Hickenlooper having just repurposed Fort Lyon, a former Veterans’ Administration hospital most recently used as a prison, for a homeless rehabilitation program, Coloradans should recall the experience of the Willowbrook State School, the institution famously described by Senator Robert Kennedy as a “snake pit.” At first glance, there is not much in common between Fort Lyon and Willowbrook. In an effort to address homelessness, particularly among veterans, Fort Lyon will house up to three hundred chronically homeless individuals, providing them with vocational training and supportive services for substance abuse and mental illness. After at least one year of residency at Fort Lyon, participants will be eligible to receive a Section 8 housing voucher.