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Jonathan Goodman can recall most of the lectures he’s attended at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He can recite detailed instructions given more than a year ago about how to conduct a physical. But at the end of his second year, the 27-year-old M.D.-Ph.D. student could not remember any class dedicated to addiction medicine. Then he recalled skipping class months earlier. Reviewing his syllabus, he realized he had missed the sole lecture dedicated to that topic. “I wasn’t tested...

When Chris Wills got out of prison, he could not find a job. He applied, but no one would hire him because of his record. And then he started using drugs again. In a moment of desperation, he went to talk with a friend who ran programs in the local jail. His friend didn't tell him to just get clean. He didn't tell him to just get a job. He gave him some advice that, in the moment, Wills thought was just weird. His friend told him to go meet with some community organizers from a group called...

This article from Johns Hopkins Public Health Magazine [ LINK HERE ] has an interesting take on the concept of resilience. I hear this phrase often, "resilience trumps ACE's." Here is what they say: "The good news is resilience—self-regulation of emotions, optimism and hope—can trump ACEs. (In fact, regardless of ACE status, children lacking resilience fare worse.) Children with ACEs who also have resilience had one-fifth the odds of having mental or emotional problems like ADHD or...

"A comprehensive model of building community capacity in Washington helped make dramatic reductions in rates of health issues and social problems ." We are on our way to creating a more resilient nation. Washington State demonstrates how influential it is to build up local community's self-sustaining resiliency programs! Read the article See the report See Executive summary

Abstract Objectives: The current study examined the association among family history of substance use problems, childhood maltreatment, and age of first drug use in a sample of men and women seeking treatment for methamphetamine dependence. Various forms of childhood maltreatment were considered as mediators of the association between family history of substance use problems and age of first drug use. Methods: Participants (N = 99, 40% women, mean age 33) who were under treatment for...

Changes that occur in teens' brains as they mature may help explain why the first signs of mental illness tend to appear during this time, researchers report. British researchers used MRI scans to compare the brain structures of nearly 300 participants who were aged 14 to 24. The scientists discovered that the brain's outer region (cortex) becomes thinner as teens get older. At the same time, they saw that levels of myelin increased within the cortex. That increase was seen in critical...

The creation of the juvenile court was a spectacular triumph of the progressive movement in the late 19th century. Advocating for a separate legal process was a bold statement about the developmental differences between adult and adolescents and, consequently, the mitigated culpability of youth who commit crimes. To sell this iconoclastic idea at the time, progressive reformers leaned heavily on the message that inadequate parenting was to blame for youthful indiscretion. While acknowledging...

August 4th, 2016 9:00AM - 3:30PM Mat-Su College (8295 College Drive Palmer, AK 99645) Click on the link to register for the event!

This article originally appeared on VICE US In 1998, Carol Redding's life was in a tailspin. She'd just gone through a breakup and was starting to lose control after what felt like a lifelong battle with nightmares, flashbacks, anxiety, depression, thyroid disease, and three bouts with cancer (leukemia, breast cancer, and lymphoma). A friend, who recognized symptoms of trauma, referred Redding to see Vincent Felliti, then head of Preventive Medicine at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego and a...

It’s all but impossible to dispute: Extreme wealth is growing in America. The top 1 percent accounted for less than 10 percent of total earned income in the 1970s. By the end of 2012, they held more than 20 percent, according to Emmanuel Saez, a professor at UC Berkeley. What’s more, between 1993 and 2012, the top 1 percent saw their incomes grow 86.1 percent, while the bottom 99 percent saw just 6.6 percent growth, according to Saez’s research . Wealth is not necessarily a bad thing. People...

Fewer students are using drugs and alcohol, but more feel harassed and bullied, a new health survey found. The California Healthy Kids Survey, done every two years since 1985, asked more than 36,000 middle and high school students across the state about campus safety, substance use, mental health and other issues. The California Department of Education and the California Department of Health Care Services coordinated the report, which takes a random sample of seventh-, ninth- and 11th-grade...

In an era when childhood trauma, toxic stress and grit are the leading buzzwords in children’s health circles, “resilience” is often trotted out as the answer to whatever horrible events people — young or old — have endured. Prevention is always king, the thinking goes, but when misery has already come to pass, building up resilience is our best bet for giving trauma victims a chance to move beyond their misfortune and live healthy, productive lives. Except that the knotty concept of...