We go through life sometimes focusing on some goal, some prize, some future payoff. Maybe it’s a new job at a new company, or moving from an apartment to a condo or home. Maybe it’s not having to deal with a car that always seems to be in need of repair. Or finding a good […]

After spending the past decade at Magellan, one of the largest national behavioral health care companies, Barbara Leadholm comes back to the Department of Mental Health in Massachusetts to take over the reins.
She was assistant commissioner for policy and planning from 1990 to 1993 and then Metro South Area director until 1996. During that time, […]

Our U.S. government is a funny thing.
Without an experienced champion in Congress to walk a bill through the political process, causes die with the people who lead them. No better case in point is the effort to allow states to make prescription medications affordable to the poor. Notice how convoluted that sentence is — […]

According to the BBC, the rates of antidepressant prescriptions for children under the age of 16 has quadrupled over the past 10 years. The article also notes that this has not corresponded with an increase in psychological problems for people in that age group. Some politicians are not seeing this as a positive thing.
The drug […]

Research in the UK covered by the BBC has found that people suffering from bipolar disorder have a progressive loss of gray matter in their brains and are at risk for losing some functioning. The authors said they could not conclude whether the loss of tissue was the cause or a consequence of the disorder:
“It […]

We’re a bit behind the times on this issue, but it’s one that I think deserves a mention here. Twenty years ago, it was virtually unheard of to purchase water in a bottle, although there were some natural spring producers (few and far between). Now I go into my local convenience store and I can […]

Probably not surprising to anyone who’s ever grappled with weight issues is this week’s finding from the New England Journal of Medicine that obesity spreads through our social connections, especially those of close friends. The researchers note:

A person’s chances of becoming obese increased by 57% if he or she had a friend who became obese […]

According to a study out of the University of Georgia, there is a not-so-good side-effect of ads aimed at stopping kids from smoking: they may actually encourage smoking. It turns out that the campaigns may actually strike a chord a cross-section of youth, and provide a clear way that kids can rebel.
Paek said […]

A study covered by the CBC provides one of the ultimate “no-brainer” type research findings in recent memory: the drive to divorce has more to do with your family environment in childhood than your genetic makeup. Shocking to everyone reading this post I’m sure.
I think it is worth highlighting just how intensely people are […]

My colleague Russ Newman over at the American Psychological Association,
wrote this excellent op-ed piece for yesterday’s Boston Globe.
It’s an issue many, many people have been banging on for well over a decade (and some have been working on this issue far longer) — equal care and treatment for mental health issues as people receive for […]

We’re sorry to report, but Albert Ellis died today at age 93 of natural causes. Albert Ellis was the founder of the groundbreaking and sometimes controversial rational emotive behavior therapy approach, which thumbed its nose at traditional psychoanalysis for a more direct approach to changing one’s unwanted thoughts and feelings.
Albert Ellis could be called quite […]

Scotland’s Project Ability is calling for submissions to Mental Image: An International Open Art Exhibition Exploring Mental Health. Artists from all over the world may submit art in any medium “that reflects their ideas and feelings on mental health, either from a perspective of wellbeing or of illness.” Submissions will be accepted after July 30 […]