Explore
Search results
Enduring stigma and the lack of trained professionals loom as acute barriers to mental health treatment, especially in developing nations. But tangible progress is being made through the use of community health workers, peer advisors, and interactive screening programs that provide a safe and confidential way to access mental health services before crises emerge. By elevat...
Young people have it rough. From 2007 to 2019, the number of adolescents who reported having a depressive episode jumped 60 percent. And that increase was before the pandemic, which forced most into Zoom school and social isolation. While adults have been studying the effects of social media on mental health, many in Gen Z are forging ahead using the platforms for good: to...
Can a Broadway musical actually help destigmatize and further the mental health conversation in our culture? The Tony Award-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen has proven that the answer is yes – doing just that through sensitive storytelling on stage and the cast and crew's work with mental health not-for-profits off stage. In this panel, Dr. Harold Koplewicz, president and...
The trauma associated with natural disasters, refugee flight, teenage bullying, or gun violence can endure for a lifetime if appropriate mental health services are not provided. Just as we don’t wait for a wound to become infected before providing treatment, so too we must act quickly to curb emotional damage before it festers. Models of mental health first aid training sh...
Aspen Ideas: Health Goes Engaging Local Issues Series: Colorado’s first responders are three times more likely to die by suicide than injuries incurred on duty. With a higher than average suicide rate, natural disasters, and back-country fatalities, the idyllic landscape we call home sometimes masks treachery that takes a toll on the mental health of emergency responders....
Over the past 20 years, almost 200,000 children under age 18 have been shot. Nearly as many attend schools where a shooting has taken place. Mass casualty events receive much of the attention — 60 percent of high school students say they are concerned that a shooting will occur in their school or community — but these actually represent just a fraction of the damage caused...
With offices (sensibly) closing to stymie the spread of COVID-19, the privilege of working from home might seem sublime at first. But for people unaccustomed, the isolation, disrupted routines, and unfamiliar work style may take their toll. Check out four tips for mental self-care to employ should you find yourself working from a virtual office, cancelling plans, and pract...
In America, millions of people struggle with mental health including depression, anxiety, and more — all further exacerbated by living through a pandemic. The National Alliance on Mental Illness reports that one in five adults experience mental illness each year, but despite how common it is, mental health is still surrounded by stigma and shame. Our experts are candid abo...
Rick Doblin wants to be a legally licensed psychedelic therapist. Learn about his work using MDMA, or ecstasy, to help people suffering from PTSD.
How can colleges better address students' mental health issues?
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy recently released an advisory stating that social media can pose a risk of profound harm to children’s and adolescents' mental health and well-being. Those who agree claim that excessive social media usage can make children experience low self-esteem and negative body image, while cyberbullying and online harassment can contribute to incre...
One of the most pressing conversations in mental healthcare right now is the negative impact that technology — including screen time and social media — may have on our minds. But technology also provides an unprecedented opportunity to expand access to high-quality, effective, and personalized mental healthcare. Digital tools can help people proactively make positive lifes...
Our children are in crisis. Globally, one in seven children, ages 10-19, has some kind of mental illness, notably depression, anxiety, or behavioral disorders. Horrifically, almost 19% of US high school students have given serious thought to suicide and an astonishing 9% have actually tried to kill themselves. To turn back that kind of despair, we need to listen to young p...
Rates of depression, disconnection, and suicide among today’s youth are alarming. Hear how leaders from the Aspen Forum for Community Solutions and a group of community partners — including donors and young people — are working together to help the rising generation thrive, along with insights and connections to other funding strategies and initiatives provided by the Aspe...
As the nation’s top doctor, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy helps to advance the health and well-being of all Americans. He has described the growing youth mental health crisis in America as the “defining public health crisis of our time” and warned that social media carries a “profound risk of harm to the mental health of children and adolescents.” Murthy has also highlig...
The Aspen Challenge presents three high school teams from Louisville and one team from Dallas who developed innovative solutions to issues that have chronically impacted their communities. See these young change-makers take to the stage to prove that entrepreneurial community solutions can be created at any age. Learn how Justin F. Kimball and Central High School Magnet Ca...
More than 14 million Americans live with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, yet the availability of urgently needed treatment is completely inadequate. In Healing: Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health, author Thomas Insel offers a pathway towards wellness built around what he calls the three Ps—people, place, and purpose. A psychi...
Today’s kids are facing a mental health crisis unlike any before them, with rates of severe loneliness, anxiety, and depressive episodes reaching new heights. It’s an urgent concern with far-reaching impacts, especially for those in historically marginalized communities who too often do not have access to the help they need. How can organizations leverage their scale to ma...
The Aspen Challenge presents teams of high school students from New Orleans and Miami who have developed innovative solutions to issues that have impacted their communities. See these young changemakers take to the stage to prove that entrepreneurial community solutions can be created at any age. Learn how Benjamin Franklin High School at the Katherine Johnson Campus is ta...
Lisa Damour is a clinical psychologist, author, and a senior advisor to the Schubert Center for Child Studies at Case Western Reserve University. We caught up with her about how psychologists understand mental health and solicited her advice on how parents can encourage healthy social media use for their teens.