#mental-health

#mental-health

You'll find a plethora of articles on how it affects the individual subscriber, citing the effects of excessively high standards for oneself on one's long-term motivation, self-esteem, and passion for one's work. Those articles consistently relate this form of perfectionism back to oneself. The problem, however, is that the preoccupation with self continues with a further preoccupation with self. "How does this affect me?" is the perfectionist's seminal question.

The latest chapter in this story is the rise of AI companions, or digital confidants that promise empathy, conversation, and companionship at any hour. From Replika and Snap's My AI to ChatGPT's persona-driven companions, these chatbots are marketed as accessible, nonjudgmental partners in a world where genuine human connection often feels out of reach. Yet our recent research reveals a striking paradox: The very tools people adopt to feel less lonely may, over time, deepen their sense of disconnection.

Rob had long been an unreliable narrator, and his latest story had been a doozy about owing back rent and borrowing thousands of dollars from a shady loan shark who had threatened him with bodily harm if he was late with his payments. There was always a germ of truth in Rob's stories, and this one involved even more disturbing details, but I was going through some of my own stuff at the time, mainly looking for a new job,

In early 2020, on the eve of lockdown, Phil Neville, then head coach of England, dropped Mary Earps from the squad. For the first time ever, I began to feel something unimaginable; I felt disillusioned with football and unsure what I was doing in life, chasing this dream that was constantly in reach but never fully within my grasp. And then, abruptly, lockdown hit. And the world changed, at either the best possible time for me or the very worst.

In my 20 years as a college mental health counselor, I was surprised by the amount of pain that was caused by the lack of time management skills and the number of students who sought help to address it. In an earlier era, time management was thought of as the purview of the study center; however, more and more studies show the connection between time management and mental health.

Research submitted to the UK Parliament has revealed explicit threats to life and the deaths of family members and colleagues directly linked to the Ministry of Defence's 2022 Afghan relocation scheme data breach. Led by charity Refugee Legal Support and assisted by academics from Lancaster and York universities, of the 231 individuals affected by what may be one of the UK's most damaging data protection failures, 49 of them said family or colleagues had been killed in Afghanistan.

In an announcement first reported by Wired, the Sam Altman-led company estimated that, in any given week, around 0.07 percent of active ChatGPT users show "possible signs of mental health emergencies related to psychosis and mania." Grimly, an even larger contingent, 0.15 percent, "have conversations that include explicit indicators of potential suicide planning or intent."

I spent three years on dating apps and came away with carpal tunnel, trust issues, and the emotional intelligence of a goldfish. Sound familiar? Here's what nobody wants to admit: dating apps haven't democratized love-they've weaponized loneliness. While 50% of engaged couples now meet online, 70% of new relationships fail within the first year.We've created the most sexually frustrated, emotionally disconnected generation in American history. The only thing standing between us and complete romantic collapse?Couples therapy podcasts that actually understand what we're dealing with.

Recently, people around the world marked World Mental Health Day, a time to reflect on how we care for our minds and bodies. Yet one dimension of mental health remains virtually absent from the conversation, one that sits in plain sight, on our heads. For women, Black women, and girls, in particular, hair isn't just a style; it is a crucial part of mental health and well-being.

Before anyone received an official alert about the Eaton fire, a message lit up a pickleball group chat. "Everyone look up, there's a vegetation fire on Canyon Close," the message read. "If you're anywhere near Eaton Canyon, I'd evacuate." Over the next several days, the chat of about 50 people who met regularly at the Altadena Country Club pinged with updates about where the fire was headed, pleas to evacuate, offerings of safe-havens and status updates on what was lost.

An analysis of numerous studies shows that grade-centric approaches are not always beneficial for young people's mental health and do not yield the expected benefits. Understanding, encouragement, and support, rather than asserting too much pressure, become the cornerstone of healthy youth development. A child with their parents' support is more likely to grow into a resilient, confident, motivated, and secure adult. On the contrary, emotionally unsupported children are likely to remain mentally fragile and underachieving.

But for how casually and frequently we reference the gut, few of us know exactly how it works, why it sometimes doesn't or much about its intimate relationship with the brain. Even medical experts have only recently come to appreciate the microbiome's connection to mood, anxiety and neurodegenerative disease. That's because the microbiome is a complex community comprised of trillions of microbes - and every single gut is unique to the specific person. It's an ecosystem as mysterious to us as the deep ocean, or outer space or the brain...which it evidently shares a "communication highway" with.

I knew there could be as many bad outcomes as good outcomes, says Christine. Certain things will be picked up and stories might come out, including ones that aren't true. But I'd been trying for four years to understand what happened and I still had so many questions. I'd come to a brick wall so I went ahead. She pauses for a moment before adding: And whatever happens next, I always say that no one can do anything worse to me now.

My mother made it clear from the start, she wanted my sister to get help,

On 14 October 2025, the CEO of OpenAI made an extraordinary announcement. We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive, it says, to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues. As a psychiatrist who studies emerging psychosis in adolescents and young adults, this was news to me. Researchers have identified 16 cases in the media this year of individuals developing symptoms of psychosis losing touch with reality in the context of ChatGPT use.

Instead of being applauded, many people might face the silent wrath of those who resent their success, undermine them, or make them feel socially excluded. This phenomenon is known as the tall poppy syndrome, where those who "grow taller" than others are cut down to size. It's more than casual jealousy. Tall poppy syndrome penalizes those who stand out and stems from the desire to punish their success. The tall poppy is not rewarded, and they stay small.

OpenAI revealed that a small but significant portion of ChatGPT users, more than a million weekly, discuss mental health struggles, including suicidal thoughts, psychosis, or mania, with the AI. The company says it has improved ChatGPT's responses by consulting more than 170 mental health experts to handle such conversations more appropriately than earlier versions. OpenAI reportedly working on AI that create music from text and audio

[My grief] was coming out in ways that made me think, I need to take this away,

If a post didn't get a like within two minutes, I'd delete it and try again, often asking friends to like it and comment just to keep up with appearances. When I lost a follower, I'd look at an app to see who it was. I was constantly refreshing, hoping to get more than 100 likes in an hour. I drove myself crazy.

Working out is an integral part of my mental health and I truly think it helps me be a more patient mom who's able to handle the squabbles, irrational demands, and complaints that arise when my little boys are home. My husband has an erratic work schedule and we don't have family around to help watch the kids, so I rely on my affordable gym membership ($49 a month) to help me work out three-plus times a week.

When I was cast on the TV show "Survivor" in 2023 (yes, that show is still on), I thought I knew what anxiety felt like. I had spent years helping clients understand it, name it, and care for it. I had been in active therapy for around a decade. But living through it in front of millions of people is something no training could have prepared me for.

"You get to that mountaintop that you've always dreamt of," Allen said. "But no one has ever dreamt of what happens after getting to the top."

They often opened their home to extended-stay guests. A friend would be going through a divorce and needed a place for a few weeks while looking for an apartment, or a meditation teacher would be in town from India, bringing us tiny clay buddhas and new dishes at the dinner table. One year, my parents hosted a violinist who was performing at the local symphony for about a month. I remember watching her play violin at the top of our entryway stairs.