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Medicaid covers mental health, behavioral health, and substance use disorder services, including therapy, so if you’re a Medicaid beneficiary, take note of this benefit. Since the start of the pandemic, Medicaid enrollments have been steadily increasing, and now 82.8 million Americans are enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). If you’re a new or returning Medicaid member, you’ll want to understand which mental health services are covered. We offer a breakdown below....

What Is Dopamine? Dopamine is a neurotransmitter (a chemical released by nerve cells) that plays an important and diverse role in how your brain functions. Often called “the feel-good hormone,” dopamine is involved in reward, motivation, and addiction. This chemical messenger is also involved in the coordination of body movements. The Role of Dopamine Dopamine transmits chemical messages between neurons (brain and nerve cells) by binding to dopamine receptors. The action is similar to a key slipping into a lock....

Individuals are considered to be transgender if their gender identity does not align with the gender associated with the sex they were assigned at birth. Many transgender individuals choose to socially and/or medically transition so that their gender presentation aligns with their gender identity. Socially transitioning usually involves dressing and presenting in a way that fits with the person’s gender identity. Medically transitioning can involve taking hormones, surgery, or both....

There are many ways that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can affect your sex life. If you live with ADHD, you might notice that you are hypersensitive to sensory stimulation, making sensual touch feel irritating and even annoying. Or perhaps your level of sexual desire changes drastically from one day to the next. On the flip side, some people with ADHD have such a high sex drive and need for stimulation and novelty, such as pornography, that it causes problems in a partnership....

Follow Now: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Google Podcasts Every Monday on The Verywell Mind Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Amy Morin, LCSW, interviews experts, authors, entrepreneurs, athletes, musicians, and other inspirational people about the strategies that help them think, feel, and do their best in life. Meet Ally Love Ally Love has had several prominent careers. She’s performed as a dancer for the New York Knicks. She’s toured with contemporary ballet companies, and she’s modeled in ads for Under Armour, Health, Self, and Victoria’s Secret....

Not everyone is able to effectively manage and cope with their anxiety at work. Many people struggle with excessive worry about a variety of everyday problems related to work or their personal lives while trying to get their job done. This type of anxiety typically disproportionate to the situation and can be debilitating. It often also results in physical symptoms like fatigue and muscle tension that can cause problems in your professional and personal life....

Subscribe Now: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Google Podcasts Every Monday on The Verywell Mind Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Amy Morin, LCSW, interviews authors, experts, entrepreneurs, athletes, musicians, and other inspirational people about the strategies that help them think, feel, and do their best in life. Meet Amy Chan Amy Chan has been writing about relationships and dating for over a decade. In her book, Breakup Bootcamp, she explains the science-backed approaches to heal from past, rewire subconscious patterns, and create healthy love....

Many people think depression is just a deep sadness that doesn’t go away for a while. That’s not the whole story, however. Depression is more complicated than that. That’s why many people who have depression don’t recognize it as such. And it’s why people often show disbelief when they learn someone has depression. But just because you don’t feel sad or someone says, “But you don’t seem depressed,” doesn’t mean you aren’t....

Every fall, hordes of new college students step onto college campuses for the first time in their lives. It’s a season of new beginnings: new classes, new books, and new everything. While it is an exciting time filled with endless possibilities, it’s also a little overwhelming. In fact, college life can seem a bit daunting those first few months. From getting acclimated on campus, to adjusting to new roommates and absorbing college-level material, there is a lot to take in....

When your children are young, it’s easy to spoil them with toys or other offerings. But as your child matures, spoiling them can have some major consequences and blowback. Truly, no one likes a spoiled and entitled teenager, and a spoiled and entitled adult is even worse. And it’s not just popularity that’s impacted when you spoil your older child. By spoiling your child, you could be making things worse for your child in the long run....

Prenatal bonding is how you relate to your baby during the pregnancy. For the vast majority of women and their families, it is a process rather than a single moment. Here are some ways to help with prenatal bonding. Read to Your Baby Consider choosing some of your favorite children’s books and begin reading to your baby. You can do this from the very beginning of pregnancy, but it is particularly good in the second half of pregnancy....

Can you be vegan and carry a healthy pregnancy? Are there risks to a vegan pregnancy? And could veganism impact your fertility? The answers are yes, yes, and yes. You can keep a vegan diet and have a healthy pregnancy. However, a vegan diet does put you at risk for some nutrient deficiencies, which may harm your baby if left unchecked, and could impact your fertility when trying to conceive....

Developmental care is a strategy used in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) to help reduce the amount of stress that a premature infant is exposed to. Since NICU units can be loud, bright places where alarms and blood draws make it hard for babies to rest, grow, and get better, developmental care helps NICUs be more “baby friendly.” Basic Strategies for Developmental Care There are many specific strategies that are part of developmental care....

Calf compression sleeves may improve performance during exercise and promote post-exercise recovery by increasing the elimination of waste metabolites from muscle tissue. Compression sleeves can reduce pain, inflammation, soreness, and fatigue related to exercise by increasing blood flow. “During exercise—especially more strenuous activities, like running, heavy lifting, and HIIT classes—your muscles are put through the wringer,” says Natasha Trentacosta, MD, sports medicine specialist and orthopedic surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles....

Have you ever noticed that some people seem to be able to maintain a relatively positive attitude regardless of what’s happening around them? Like everyone, they can appreciate the good times, but they also seem to be able to focus on the positive in the face of some pretty negative events. They see the good in difficult people, they see the opportunity in a challenging situation, and they appreciate what they have, even in the face of loss....

Therapy dogs are pets that improve your health by giving emotional support. You can train your dog to be a therapy dog to provide support to yourself and to others. Therapy dogs live in people’s homes. They can also visit a variety of settings, including retirement or nursing homes, schools, hospice homes, and hospitals. They are trained to be gentle and friendly and to accept strangers hugging them or petting them....

Multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease (where the immune system attacks spine and brain nerve cells), is commonly linked to brain fog. Brain fog (which is not a medical condition on its own; it’s a symptom of other issues) refers to a feeling of mental sluggishness or haziness. Those experiencing it may lack the ability to concentrate or experience clarity of thought. Brain Fog and Multiple Sclerosis According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, over 50% of people living with MS struggle with cognition-related issues....

The DTaP vaccine is a vaccine given to children age 6 and under. It protects against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis—bacterial infections that can cause severe disease. Older children and adults don’t receive DTaP vaccines; instead, they receive a different version of the vaccine called Tdap. Similar to other immunizations, the DTaP vaccine works by exposing your child to a very small dose of the bacteria, thereby prompting your child to develop immunity and protecting them from future infections....

While many states have lifted the mask mandate for vaccinated individuals, mask wearing is still very much a part of many people’s lives. Trying to communicate with others through a mask can present many challenges. When speaking with others through masks, what you’re seeing and hearing is not in alignment and you may find it difficult to follow the conversation in the same way you would without masks—you might even misinterpret what is being shared....

When it comes to ADHD, stimming is a common and often misunderstood behavior. But what is stimming, and why do people with ADHD do it? For people with ADHD, stimming can serve as a way to focus their attention and control their impulses. It can also help them calm down when they’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed out. Stimming Stimming is essentially a self-stimulatory behavior that helps people focus or cope with stress or anxiety....