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Consumer Perspectives: Substance Use Treatment and Mental Health
This article is part of a quarterly series giving voice to the perspectives of individuals with lived experiences as they share their opinions on a particular topic. The authors are served by Services for the UnderServed (S:US), a New York City-based nonprofit that is committed to giving every New...
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Just Another Day
What does mental illness feel like? It feels like drowning, alone and helpless, surrounded by nothing but inky black water, and deafening silence. As an icy chill creeps down your spine, a paralyzing numbness begins to set in. Breathing is very difficult now as you feel a sudden scalding hot...
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Outcome of Schizophrenia in Later Life: Conceptual Changes and Implications for Treatment and Policy
In tandem with the greying of the general population, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of older adults with schizophrenia (OAS). Since 2000, there has been a doubling of persons aged 55 and over with schizophrenia and they now comprise about one-fourth of all persons with...
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Consumer Perspectives: Overcoming Mental Health Challenges
This article is part of a quarterly series giving voice to the perspectives of individuals with lived experiences as they share their opinions on a particular topic. The authors are served by Services for the UnderServed (S:US), a New York City-based nonprofit that is committed to giving every New...
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Simple Self-Care Methods to Reduce Anxiety, Stress, and Depression
Anxiety is generally characterized as feelings of tension, worried thoughts, increased blood pressure, sweating, trembling, dizziness, and a rapid heartbeat. Anxiety disorders include recurring intrusive thoughts and fears about unspecified threats. While some degree of anxiety is common, it’s...
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From Crisis to Recovery: The Role of Peer Support Specialists at NYC Well
In her foreword to Intimations, written on May 31, 2020, novelist Zadie Smith states that as a result of reading Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, she discovered “two invaluable intimations. Talking to yourself can be useful. And writing means being overheard.” That she...
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Ketamine for Mental Health Treatment: How Promising Is It?
For centuries, we have sought cures for depression. Some discoveries, such as psychotherapy and medication treatment, are now widely accepted. But they don’t work for everyone. More recently, an unorthodox drug has garnered attention as a new, possible intervention: ketamine. Classified as...
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An Overview of Seasonal Affective Disorder
Many people go through short periods of time where they feel sad or not like their usual selves. Sometimes, these mood changes begin and end when the seasons change. People may start to feel “down” when the days get shorter in the fall and winter (also called “winter blues”) and begin to...
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Families and Suicide: How to Engage Your Child in Conversation
As parents, we must balance our feelings of anxiety and uncertainty, on top of our own emotions with those of our children. There are many aspects to the relationship between suicide and families, especially having conversations to find out if children are thinking about suicide. Many parents are...
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Using the Partnership to End Addiction’s Online Risk Assessment Tool to Assess and Combat Children’s Risk of Developing Addiction
As a society, we’re well versed in the factors that can increase our risk for diseases like cancer and diabetes. But what about risk factors for addiction? Addiction, like diabetes and cancer, is a disease. And as a disease, it is caused by a combination of many different factors:...
