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Even pre-pandemic, the United States had a growing children’s mental health crisis on its hands. A 2014-2018 study found that an estimated 16% of children had dealt with mental health conditions in the prior year. Early intervention has been found to be effective in reducing symptoms before some mental health conditions become too severe. During childhood years, the brain is still at its most malleable, so earlier treatment may help academic, social, and emotional development throughout a child’s life....

October is National Bullying Prevention Month, and spreading awareness of the issue is more vital than ever. Bullying is a global problem, affecting people of all ages, taking multiple forms. And rather than inspire kindness and understanding, the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have exacerbated the problem. Key Takeaways Mental health experts and anti-bullying advocates say they’ve witnessed an increase in bullying in recent years.The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people’s mood states may have contributed to the rise in bullying....

Subthreshold PTSD refers to the experiencing of some post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms after a traumatic event, but not quite enough to meet criteria for a PTSD diagnosis. Subthreshold PTSD can be associated with distress and impairment consistent with what is seen among people with a PTSD diagnosis. To officially have a diagnosis of PTSD, you need to have a certain number of re-experiencing, avoidance, and hyperarousal symptoms. PTSD Symptoms PTSD symptoms can begin up to three months after a traumatic event, but sometimes do not appear until years after the event....

Students and parents often have high expectations and hopes for a new school year. But without a plan, it’s easy for the school year to get ahead of you. Before you know it, your child may be struggling and you’re wondering why you didn’t pick up on the fact that he’s behind on homework or having challenges in math. One way to avoid these problems is to have a school contract in place at the beginning of the school year....

Eating disorders affect people of all ages, genders, ethnicities, and sexual orientations. However, they may disproportionately affect members of certain groups, such as members of a sexual minority. This article discusses how eating disorders affect lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people, including the prevalence of these conditions and some of the risk factors involved. It also explores how stigma and other disparities may contribute to the onset of eating disorders in members of these groups....

An Eagle Scout applicant must amass ​​21 or more badges, create and complete an Eagle project, write several essays, request five recommendation letters, compile an application binder, and undergo an Eagle board of review before their application is approved at the national level. The process typically takes several years, with the most intense and time-consuming aspects coming in the last three to six months. Here’s what your Scout and you need to do and when....

There’s no question that how to balance screen time continues to be a challenge for parents. A November 2022 meta-analysis published in JAMA found that kids’ use of screens increased by a whopping 52% since the pandemic began in March 2020. This may sound shocking, but most parents who hear this statistic will immediately nod their heads in agreement. In fact, despite our kids returning to school and adjusting to the “new normal,” many of us have observed that screen use in kids is still at sky-high levels....

The term clinical intervention refers to therapy techniques and therapeutic programs provided by mental health professionals that can offer help to troubled teens. Clinical intervention describes numerous professional methods designed to help a teen who is having problems they can’t or aren’t handling successfully on their own. When this happens, adults have to intervene and find a mental health specialist who can provide the much-needed help, which comes in a variety of different forms....

Autogenic training is a type of relaxation technique that can be used to help reduce anxiety, including that experienced as part of social anxiety disorder (SAD). It can be incorporated into regular treatment such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) or used on your own as a self-help strategy. What Is Autogenic Training? Autogenic training is a relaxation technique first introduced by German psychiatrist Johannes Heinrich Schultz in 1932. Schultz noticed that individuals undergoing hypnosis entered a relaxed state in which they experienced feelings of heaviness and warmth, and he sought to recreate that state in people to reduce tension and anxiety....

When Felix and Joshua Huang started a family, they were very clear on the fact that they did not want to raise their baby within a set of gender norms. They were uncomfortable with how people assign gender to babies, along with the expectations of performing that gender. Beyond that, the Huangs also did not want to put certain emotional expectations on their child. When baby Juno came into their lives, they decided to refer to them with ‘they’ and ‘them’ pronouns, and not prescribe a specific gender to them....

If you’re searching for a mythical name that holds both beauty and power, Iris is a great choice. A classic name, Iris comes directly from the Greek word Iris, which means “rainbow.” Iris was the name of the goddess of the rainbow, according to Greek Mythology, and was said to deliver messages to the Gods across a rainbow bridge. Paying homage to the name’s rainbow roots, Iris also refers to the colorful Iris flower, as well as the pigmented part of the eye....

While everyone feels down from time to time, depression is a serious mental health condition that can make it difficult to function normally. But depression can vary in intensity. How depression is experienced can vary from one person to the next, and the condition can also be classified as either mild, moderate, or severe. One survey found that among U.S. adults with depression, approximately 20% had mild symptoms, 50% had moderate symptoms, and 30% had severe symptoms....

The opioid epidemic in the United States has only worsened during the Covid-19 pandemic, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting a 30% increase in the rate of drug overdose deaths in 2020. Of the more than 93,000 people that died from drug overdoses last year—the highest number ever recorded in a 12-month period—69,000 of those deaths were related to opioids. Key Takeaways A systematic review found that contingency management can improve outcomes in opioid use disorder....

What Is Persuasion? Persuasion is a process in which one person or entity tries to influence another person or group of people to change their beliefs or behaviors. It is distinct from coercion, in that the people receiving the message have a choice about whether to act on it. (“Coercive persuasion” refers to indoctrination or brainwashing, such as may occur in a cult.) Persuasion can be a powerful force that affects the decisions and actions that people take....

Your body is going through lots of changes after giving birth. Aside from the fact that your breast milk is preparing to come in and your hormones are fluctuating, you may feel uncertain about that first bowel movement. Regardless of whether you had a vaginal birth or a c-section, being concerned about the discomfort of going to the bathroom may cause some stress and anxiety. If you had a vaginal birth, your concerns may have to do with the tenderness you feel in the perineum....

If you’re a parent, chances are you’ve been there—we all have. You have a baby that won’t sleep when expected, who then cries incessantly because they are overtired. The exhausted parent in turn also gets cranky and the cycle seems to be continuous and torturous. Sleep training may seem like the obvious answer but some parents worry the process will break the parent-child bond, and possibly damage the child’s mental health....

Pregnancy is a time of huge physical and emotional change, and can come with some pretty amazing perks—glowing skin and shiny hair, anyone? But side effects like preeclampsia aren’t so welcome. Preeclampsia is a serious pregnancy condition that can affect every internal organ, says the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). This potentially dangerous condition is classified as either mild or severe. Mild preeclampsia is characterized by high blood pressure and protein in the urine....

How many weeks? It’s one of the first questions people ask about twins and multiples. Prematurity is a risk that a majority of multiples face, and the consequences of an early birth vary from minuscule to life-threatening. The March of Dimes estimates that more than half of twins and nearly all triplets, quadruplets, and higher-order multiples are born preterm, or before the 37th week of pregnancy. The earlier the birth, the greater the risk of complications for the premature babies (sometimes called “preemies”)....

What Does Violet Mean? Violet is a lovely name that evokes the beauty, grace, and power of nature. It’s an English name of Latin origin that means purple. It also represents violet (and other purple) flowers. Violet is derived from “viola,” which means purple in Latin. Viola is also a name in its own right that is typically used as a girl name as well. Violet is a traditional name that had its heyday in the early 20th century but has regained popularity over the past few decades....

Vivitrol is the brand name for an FDA-approved drug named naltrexone. How Vivitrol Works Vivitrol is most often prescribed to treat alcohol and opioid addiction. It is administered in the form of an intramuscular injection—the standard dosage is 380 milligrams injected into the buttocks once a month. It is part of medication assisted treatment (MAT) programs for substance use disorder that combine medication along with other treatment modalities such as counseling and social support....