Women in fertility treatment often feel they can't catch a break; the issues keep stacking up, cycle after cycle, complication after complication, diagnosis after diagnosis. It can feel like jumping through one hoop only to find three more waiting. Living in a state of fight or flight becomes the norm. What makes it even harder is that this pressure builds quietly over time.
My son was not outside. He lay in bed, in a darkened room, unable to tolerate the noise, the light, the movement of his own body. The celebration happening just beyond our walls might as well have been on another planet. So often, over the years since my children developed neuroimmune conditions, I felt hollow. There was a hole inside me that nothing could fill.
Many people assume mental health clinicians are immune to mental health concerns. In reality, therapists experience stressors and emotional struggles just like anyone else. Some of the most effective healers are those who take the time to do inner work on their own trauma history. "But you're a therapist, so you probably won't understand," she said with a sideways glance in my direction. "You probably have everything together." I still laugh when I remember that moment.
Her voice trembled in a way that tightened the air around us, as if the memory itself were still present in the room. She stared at the floor while describing how he threatened her into silence and how she froze, hoping someone would come, even though she already knew no one would. The next morning, she told her mother because she believed love meant protection, but instead her mother slapped her and accused her of lying.
When you stop to consider all that parents are juggling, it actually isn't so surprising anymore. There are kids' weekend and after-school schedules, spirit weeks (yet again) at their school, homework to manage, sports practices, dance events, band lessons, in addition to trying to also somewhat manage an adult life that also likely consists of work, responsibilities, relationships, plus physical health, and parental mental health needs.
Sadmir and his board game companions are just some of the 300 patients at the gaming disorder clinic, Australia's only publicly-run institution of its type, helping patients wean themselves off excessive online gaming habits. The room where they meet is a simple space in a faceless hospital but in the corner, there's a pile of boardgames on a chair. Jenga, Uno and Sushi Go are also popular choices at the informal group which is attended by both patients and clinicians.
Jenna Kluwe remembers all the beautiful moments she saw in a converted dental clinic in east Portland. For six months, she managed the Journey Service Center, a psilocybin service center where adults 21 and older take supervised mushroom trips. She watched elderly clients with terminal illnesses able to enjoy life again. She saw one individual with obsessive compulsive disorder so severe they spent hours washing their hands who could casually eat food that fell on the floor.
Each year Americans make an estimated 500 million visits to primary care doctors. In fact, the CDC found just over 85% of Americans had a visit with a doctor or health professional in the past year. Whether for annual checkups, illnesses, ailments, or other physical concerns, these visits are relatively routine and somewhat expected. Contrast that with the American Medical Association's finding that less than half of the 43 million adults identified with a mental illness receive treatment.
Before you can set limits with others, you first need to understand your own. But just like the rules of the road, your limits might not be clear at first. Think of limits like traffic laws: stop signs, red lights, green lights, and turn signals. You weren't born knowing when to stop or go-you had to learn the rules. Eventually, you earned your driver's license, which meant you understood the rules well enough to navigate safely.
"What makes it harder or easier to get a good night's sleep at school?" "What are your creative solutions for finding food that feels nourishing on campus?" (for non-athletes) "What were your favorite ways to get movement into your busy schedule?" (for athletes) "What was the best part of being on the team? How do you feel it impacted your physical health?"
Kaiser declined several requests for an interview, but said in a statement that AI tools don't make medical decisions or replace human care. Rather, they hold "significant potential to benefit health care by supporting better diagnostics, enhancing patient-clinician relationships, optimizing clinicians' time, and ensuring fairness in care experiences and health outcomes by addressing individual needs."
When I ask why, I often find the real reason they are saying this is fear: fear that the therapist will manipulate them, fear that the therapist's questions will embarrass them or trigger anxiety, fear that they will be criticized or expected to become a different person, fear that they will be blamed for their own problems, fear that the therapist can read their private emotions and inner thoughts, or fear that they will not "get" therapy and fail as a patient.
Is It Trauma or ADHD? When a child can't sit still, follow directions, or pay attention, ADHD may seem like the obvious explanation. We often run quickly to give stimulants first. But for a traumatized child, whose nervous system has been shaped by fear, unpredictability, or loss, those same symptoms may be the echoes of survival, not signs of a neurodevelopmental disorder.
"It is a beautiful feeling that allows you to discover new things, but it also makes you feel very unhappy and lonely." This paradoxical description comes from a research participant in Türkiye in our multi-country investigation of social connection. In Türkiye-a culture synonymous with çay (tea) shared among friends and legendary hospitality- loneliness wears an unexpected face. Türkiye reports high loneliness rates despite cultural traditions emphasizing warmth and connection.
They survived some of the Afghanistan War's most grueling and treacherous missions, regularly battling the Taliban in nighttime raids and urban gun battles. But once evacuated to the U.S., many Afghan fighters who served in "Zero Units" led by the CIA found themselves spiraling into despair because of what they saw as bureaucratic neglect and abandonment by the U.S. government, a former CIA operative and a former Afghan fighter involved in the units told NPR.
This loneliness epidemic isn't another headline we can shrug off - it's a direct threat to our fundamental need to belong, which is hardwired into us for survival. For nearly 300,000 years, the human species survived in tight-knit tribes - small groups where people had each other's backs. Being cast out wasn't awkward; it was a death sentence. Those exact same associations remain in our brains today: Disconnection = danger. Belonging = safety. So, when we lose meaningful connection, our bodies respond as if something is terribly wrong. Stress rises, well-being declines, and both mental and physical health suffer.
Every few months, she tries out a different diet or fad to try to Emma never parades her new diets around or tries to shame anyone about what they're eating, but she'll usually explain why she's not partaking in team lunches, office snacks, and so on. It's never meant as anything but idle small talk, but it tends to spark long conversations
So, on the foundation of anxiety and depression, fear of the unknown, need for control and stability, avoidant tendencies, competitiveness, perfectionism (i.e., needing to know everything to feel secure), and the obsession with discovering root causes (or essences), gifted children are often fixated on life's deeper questions.
I was 38, and the role - which oversaw standards, best practices, and technology for Amazon's 200+ site merchandisers - was the biggest of my life by far, one I'd been thrust into just three months after my arrival in Seattle and at Amazon. I was thrilled (and a bit terrified) by the size of the opportunity, and threw myself into it.
The increase in reported mental health problems and neurodevelopmental diagnoses, and services not keeping pace, reflect what many clinicians see every day people are in more distress and unable to access support. The suffering is not fake, nor is it a case of gen Z malingering. Patients are struggling with what were once ordinary demands of life: school, work, relationships and family, complicated by the aftermath of Covid, with blurred boundaries between home and work, and life lived increasingly on screens.
