Mental Health & Trauma

So much crucial brain development occurs in the first three years of life that one researcher jokes that to him and his colleagues, 3-year-olds are practically middle aged. And yet,the first three years of life often get comparatively little attention in mental health or education policies

Mental Health

Prescription painkillers like OxyContin have flooded the market. They're incredibly addictive, and once people are hooked, the habit gets expensive. More and more are turning to the cheaper alternative, heroin. And now, more people die every year from accidental opioid (painkillers and heroin) overd

Environmental Health

Heroin addiction grabbed the national spotlight recently after famed actor Philip Seymour Hoffman died on Super Bowl Sunday. He was almost certainly not alone that day — about 100 Americans die every day from drug overdoses. Can anything be done to stop this?

Healthcare Regulation and Reform

I was a bit surprised by how readily this new physician I visited agreed to prescribe more pain medication for me. My previous experience before I was a cancer patient was that doctors were unwilling to prescribe highly addictive drugs — but they weren’t palliative care doctors, like him.

Healthcare Regulation and Reform

When I tackled the topic of loneliness as a 2013 National Health Journalism Fellowship project, I honestly didn't think it would be hard to find people who were lonely so that I could write about the issue. I was right and wrong.

Aging, Mental Health, Environmental Health

Reporting on Health Contributing Editor William Heisel set off a spirited discussion this week on Twitter on the risk of addiction to opioid pain medicine. What are the implications for chronic pain management and treatment?

Patient Safety and Ethics

As he tells it, Geronimo Garcia was on the path toward dropping out by the time he started school.

Race and Equity, Poverty and Class, Environmental Health, Mental Health, Community Safety

Native American Rehabilitation Association of the Northwest, NARA, offers inpatient and outpatient drug treatment and a 70-bed residential program in Portland, Oregon.

Mental Health, Environmental Health