#mental health

#mental health

The families of two people who died in San Diego jails last year have filed separate civil rights lawsuits in federal court both accusing the Sheriff's Office and its private medical contractors of systemic failures they say took the lives of Callen Lines and Corey Dean. Lines died from drug withdrawal in the Las Colinas women's jail in May, a day after her arrest. Dean, who suffered from schizophrenia, died two months later in the Vista jail after weeks in solitary confinement. Both lawsuits, filed last week by attorneys Grace Jun and Danielle Pena, allege staff ignored repeated pleas for help from both.

Evidence shows that, for many of us, AI has become a core part of our everyday lives. Not just our work lives, but our personal lives, too. Indeed, more and more people are turning to AI companions-designed specifically to provide emotional support and a sense of connection. A recent report found that 72 percent of teens in the United States have interacted with an AI companion at least once, with more than half (52 percent) describing themselves as regular users.

A co-worker, "Erin," has been allowed to work from home since the COVID-19 pandemic, while the rest of us came back to the office. We function alongside each other much like a small family. We have no drama, no office politics and an overall great atmosphere. Erin's absence has caused a strain on our team and has fueled resentment. Many feel it's unfair, although these feelings have not been shared with Erin.

When I experienced it, I burst out crying,

Annie Ernaux, winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature, begins her memoir, The Other Girl, written in the form of a letter, with a description of a photograph of an infant in an embroidered dress. The description ends with these startling words: "When I was little, I believe-I must have been told-that the baby was me. It isn't me, it's you." (Italics mine.) 1

I don't look at it as too far different from any other kind of extreme challenge where conventional wisdom will tell you that this doesn't make a whole lot of sense," Siddiqi said. "The process of actually achieving it I think can have significant physical and mental impact and can reshape your view of yourself or your view of your capabilities or your understanding of your body and its limitations," he added.

As much as friends have problem-solved with me, empathized with me, and tried to figure things out with me, one of the most helpful things they've done is keep me company-sitting beside me, containing, not fixing. It's not a glamorous way to support someone. And it's certainly not a very strenuous way to support someone. But for me, often, it's all I need.

"If a new vaping product or soft drink hits the market and 1 in 20 consumers report suicidal thoughts, public outrage would be swift. Investigations would follow, regulations would tighten, and headlines would be flooded with concern for public health. But when political stress yields similar numbers, the reaction is far more muted; politics doesn't seem to register in the same way," says Smith.

There is much anxiety these days about the dangers of human-AI relationships. Reports of suicide and self-harm attributable to interactions with chatbots have understandably made headlines. The phrase AI psychosis has been used to describe the plight of people experiencing delusions, paranoia or dissociation after talking to large language models (LLMs). Our collective anxiety has been compounded by studies showing that young people are increasingly embracing the idea of AI relationships; half of teens chat with an AI companion at least a few times

"While they're very good at solving problems in a rational way, they can be less well practised at processing feelings. And due to the nature of their jobs, there are a lot of intense and difficult situations they'll be dealing with every day. Using the art therapy method helps people to communicate with colleagues in a very different way and to share feelings that might otherwise be difficult to express."