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Warm Lines: Providing Help Before a Crisis Develops
A warm line is a confidential, free phone service offering mental health support. Unlike a crisis line or hotline, they are not intended for emergency situations. Warm lines are typically staffed by volunteer or paid peers—people with personal experience with mental health disorders.  They use their experience to better understand and support callers, offering conversation, emotional support and information on local mental health services and other community services when needed.
Complicated Grief: When Time Doesn’t Ease the Pain of Loss
Everyone will experience loss of loved ones in their lives and grief is a natural response. It is also a very individual process. Anniversaries, holidays, and other milestones are often particularly difficult. As painful as the process of grief can be, with support of family and friends, most people go through it without needing the help of a mental health professional. However, some experience severe, prolonged and disabling grief symptoms, referred to as complicated grief.
Knowing about Mental Health Concerns of Friends and Family Members Reduces Stigma and Encourages People to Seek Help
A new study highlights the value of people sharing their mental health problems and treatment with friends and family. When people know a friend or family member with a mental health illness, they are more likely to recognize and understand their own mental health issues and seek treatment, according to study from researchers from Palo Alto University in Palo Alto, California
How Common are Mental Health Disorders Among Children and Teens?
An estimated 15% of children and adolescents will be diagnosed with a mental disorder before age 18, according to a new study published in JAMA Psychiatry last month.
Microaggressions: Subtle, Pervasive, Harmful
- By Jai Gandhi, M.D.
As rapper and songwriter Kanye West stated in “Never Let Me Down:” “racism’s still alive, they just be concealin’ it.” The subtle, yet insidious, nature of “concealed” forms of discrimination has garnered increasing attention in popular media. Recent films and television shows such as “Get Out” and “Dear White People,” have showcased the occurrence and effects of microaggressions. Despite intermittent attention in news outlets, this pervasive form of discrimination is often misunderstood and criticized.