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The Overlapping Roots of Mental Health Disparities: Poverty, Racism, and Trauma as Social Determinants
Mental health cannot be fully understood — or effectively addressed — without considering the powerful forces that shape people’s everyday lives. Poverty, racism, and trauma are more than just challenges individuals face; they are deeply embedded social determinants of mental health that...
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Beyond the Chemical Imbalance: Rethinking Depression and Anxiety
For decades, much of the mental health field has operated under the assumption that certain individuals simply do not produce “enough” of a particular neurotransmitter, and that the most effective way to address this imbalance is through medication, supplemented by therapy focused on...
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Cultivating a Trauma-Informed Behavioral Health Workforce
Creating a trauma-informed behavioral health workforce is both a moral imperative and a practical necessity in today’s demanding care landscape. Understanding the concept requires recognizing its foundation: a workforce committed to safety, trust, empowerment, collaboration, peer support, and...
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Trauma-Informed Treatment of Anxiety: Empowerment Through Education
Abuse and neglect are experiences of profound invalidation, of both one’s physical and emotional needs. Physical, sexual or emotional abuse or neglect thrusts one into survival mode. There is rarely space for feelings. The body goes into “fight, flight, or freeze” response, there may be...
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The Impact of Childhood Separation: Parallels Between Children of Parents with Mental Illness and Children of Incarcerated Parents
Family separation is a traumatic experience for children, regardless of the cause. When separation occurs due to parental mental illness or incarceration, children face unique psychological and systemic challenges that are often overlooked. Both groups experience disenfranchised grief, attachment...
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The Impact of Leisure Activities on Mental Well-Being in Children and Adolescents with Prader-Willi Syndrome and Trauma
Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) is a rare, complex genetic syndrome estimated to impact one in 10,000 to 30,000 individuals worldwide (National Library of Medicine [NLM], 2020). PWS is generated by a genetic mutation on Chromosome 15, causing a wide range of cognitive and physical disabilities (NLM,...
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Embracing Healing: The Transformative Power of Trauma-Informed Care for Families
In recent years, the field of child welfare has witnessed a significant shift towards trauma-informed care (TIC), recognizing the profound impact of adverse experiences on children and families. This approach is revolutionizing how we support families in healing and thriving after facing adversity....
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Understanding Trauma-Informed Care for Young Children and Families in the Shelter
Services for the UnderServed (S:US) is one of the premier and largest community-based social services agencies in New York State. Its mission is to “drive scalable solutions to transform the lives of people with disabilities, people in poverty, and people facing homelessness: solutions that...
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From Harm to Healing: How Family Dynamics Shape Hazing Recovery
When a family member experiences hazing, the recovery process often reverberates beyond the individual, particularly affecting parents. Parents frequently struggle with guilt, feelings of failure, and shame. This can shape family dynamics, influencing how they provide support—or fail to do so....
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Understanding and Addressing Childhood Trauma
Everyone experiences scary or difficult events in their lives. For some children, these events can be so frightening or dangerous that they can have a lasting impact on their well-being. Trauma refers to the physical, cognitive, and emotional responses to an event (or events) that is physically or...
