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Meeting the Moment: Addressing the Challenges to Advance Solutions for Mental Health Clinical Trial Recruitment
Mental health has become one of the most urgent and complex public health challenges of our era. Today, more than 1 billion people globally live with some form of a mental health disorder.1 Among young people, the situation is equally concerning: 1 in 7 adolescents experience a mental health...
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Relapse Is Part of Recovery, Shame Shouldn’t Be: What I Wish More Families Understood
When someone returns to treatment after a relapse, it’s often with a heavy heart. They walk through our doors carrying the weight of shame, disappointment, and fear of judgment, not just from others, but from themselves. Families often ask, “what went wrong,” and wonder why their loved one...
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What It’s Really Like Living with Bipolar Disorder
As of 2019, 0.53% of people in the world are bipolar, according to a study from the World Health Organization. I am one of them. Living with bipolar disorder isn’t easy. Scholarly journals document the symptoms and struggles that come with this disorder, but they’re far from accurate. Common...
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Using Virtual Reality to Address Loneliness and Increase Social Connectedness in a Personalized Recovery-Oriented Services (PROS) Program for Older Adults
Social isolation refers to the lack of meaningful friendships, connections, and relationships in one's life, whereas loneliness is the perception of the feelings associated with isolation (Wu, 2020). Wu (2020) reported that one-quarter of older people living in-community report feelings of...
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The Silent Barrier: How Fear of Judgment from Healthcare Providers Keeps People from Seeking Help
What if the person meant to help you was the one you feared most? Imagine sitting in an exam room, fidgeting with your cell phone, scrolling through apps, and trying to distract yourself from the anxiety building inside. You are aware of the antiseptic smell lingering in the air, but it’s drowned...
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Collaborating for Change: Building a Stronger System of Maternal Mental Health Support in New York
Effectively addressing maternal mental health requires a comprehensive public health solution that targets risk and protective factors. These include social determinants of health, clinical care, community support, culturally responsive interventions, and policy changes. This is why the New York...
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Voices of Hope and Healing: Parental Mental Health Peer Support Program for New York Families
Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, including postpartum depression (PMADs), are the most frequent complication related to childbearing and a leading cause of maternal mortality in New York State.1 PMADs affect up to 20% of birthing persons and new mothers. Also, up to 13% of fathers may...
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The Silent Struggles of Fertility: Understanding the Emotional Toll
When a woman embarks on the journey of fertility care, she enters a world filled with hope, uncertainty, and an emotional burden not always perceptible to others. The medical procedures and clinical visits are only part of the experience—behind closed doors, many face silent struggles that take a...
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Supporting Maternal Mental Health and Reducing Stigma: A Clinical Perspective
Becoming a mother is a beautiful and rewarding experience, but it comes with a set of challenges that often go unrecognized. Maternal mental health is a critical dimension of perinatal care that is often overlooked amid the focus on the physical aspect of pregnancy. During the perinatal period,...
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Addressing the Stigma of Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders
When I had my son in 2024, I had more than a few medical professionals warn me that due to my anxiety pre-pregnancy, I was at greater risk for developing a perinatal mood disorder (PMD), specifically postpartum anxiety (PPA) and/or postpartum depression (PPD). I was warned to contact someone if I...
