Good afternoon everyone.
I hope your week is off to a great start! The temps are warming up here in the Midwest, and the grass is looking greener all around—literally!
Let’s spring into this week’s headlines, shall we?
😫 Real tips for managing chronic stress
🧠 How court-ordered treatment is helping people stay well
🚀 A 4-day treatment for panic attacks that actually lasts
⛓️💥 Why resilience alone isn’t enough in broken systems
🍄 Psychedelics: promising research and real-world impact
💊 The evolving opioid crisis: new risks, treatments, and urgent challenges
Plus, embracing mistakes, the limits of willpower, and the power of putting yourself first.
Here we go . . .
Mental Health Roundup
(Photo credit: Adobe Stock)
😫 Suffering from chronic stress? Here's what can actually help. Managing chronic stress is about staying sane in this nonstop world. The sad truth is, the world isn’t going to get less stressful, but you can learn to manage it better. Small changes like moving your body, good sleep, and kinder self-talk can go a long way in keeping stress in check, no matter how busy life gets.
🤍 Being underweight may raise suicide risk. A South Korean study found that underweight individuals had a higher suicide risk, while people with obesity had a lower one. The why is still unclear, but it’s a reminder of how physical and mental health are connected.
⚖️ Court-mandated treatment shows real results. Assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) is helping people with serious mental illness see real improvements. Fewer arrests, hospitalizations and violent episodes—especially after six months or more. Proving that structured, court-ordered care can make a big difference in preventing relapse and re-hospitalization.
🚀 4 days to relief for panic disorder. The Bergen 4-Day Treatment (B4DT) is giving people with panic disorder rapid, lasting relief. Many continue to feel even better months later, with added benefits for anxiety and depression. Patients face their fears head-on in a supportive, small group setting. Originally developed to treat OCD, the B4DT method has been adapted to treat other mental disorders.
🩸 Schizophrenia and brain aging. New research suggests schizophrenia may speed up brain aging. Using a blood test to track a protein released by damaged brain cells, scientists discovered faster brain decline when compared to healthy peers. This could potentially change how we monitor and treat schizophrenia.
⛓️💥 Stop blaming yourself for a broken system. Resilience is important, but it’s not a cure-all. Too often, we’re told to toughen up and adapt, when the real problem is a dysfunctional environment. Instead of “bouncing back,” it’s time to speak up, set boundaries, and build better, more supportive systems. You’re not the problem, the system is.
Pychedelics
🪴 Ibogaine therapy gains support in Texas. Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer credits ibogaine with saving his life. His rapid turnaround echoes what researchers are seeing: a single ibogaine session can deliver dramatic, lasting relief for PTSD, depression, and anxiety, even in veterans who’ve tried everything else. Texas lawmakers are now backing clinical trials, bringing ibogaine one step closer to mainstream treatments.
🌀 Microdosing for motivation. Microdoses of a lesser-known psychedelic, DOPR, helped boost motivation in mice with depression-like symptoms, without causing hallucinations. If it works for people, it could offer a new way to treat those with low-drive depression, without the intense side effects.
🍄 What is psychedelic-assisted therapy? Guided use of psilocybin or MDMA in a safe setting to help process grief, trauma, depression, and substance abuse. Celebrities like Kristen Bell and Seth Rogan are talking about it, and researchers are taking it more seriously. While not quite mainstream yet, it’s gaining ground—especially in treatment for veterans (see above).
Youth/Adolescence
🏋️ Exercise is good for teen mental health — to a point. Moderate physical activity helps teens feel better mentally, but too much can have the opposite effect. Researchers suggest 90 minutes of exercise 3-4 times per week is optimal for better brain function and emotional health.
📚 Let teens make mistakes. Mistakes are part of learning—especially in adolescence. Teens need adults who normalize messing up. It doesn’t make them stupid, and it doesn’t mean they’re not trying. Parents and teachers can turn mistakes into valuable lessons, not punishments. Supportive responses can help them learn and grow, while harsh criticisms can be harmful.
💊 Prozac in adolescence may have lasting side effects. A new study on mice raises concerns that taking Prozac (fluoxetine) during the teen years can lead to pain sensitivity and lower body weight later in life, especially for girls. More research is needed on the long-term effects of these drugs on young people.
Addiction & Substance Use
🧠 Addiction isn't just bad choices. It’s not all about brain chemistry or willpower. It’s a complex mix of how our brains adapt, the choices we face, and the environment we live in. Addiction thrives in environments where better choices aren’t available, or appealing. Recovery becomes possible when healthier alternatives are more accessible.
🍻 Social drinking a well-worn path to alcohol use disorder. When picturing a 'typical' alcoholic, people tend to imagine a person drinking at home alone. New research shows most heavy drinking happens in social settings, not in isolation. Many of the worst consequences like violence, risky behavior, and accidents, occur in group settings.
🌿 Daily cannabis use linked to chronic inflammation. People who use cannabis daily tend to have higher levels of inflammation markers in their blood, while occasional users don’t show this effect. This raises questions about how frequency might impact long-term health.
📈 Depression and anxiety pattern may predict relapse. People in alcohol treatment whose anxiety or depression doesn’t improve are more likely to relapse, especially women. Identifying these trajectory patterns early in treatment can help tailor interventions for those who need more intense support.
⚠️ Alcohol's negative impact on people with ADHD. Alcohol abuse has a greater negative impact on the quality of life for those with ADHD than those without it. The emotional struggles and impulsivity tied to ADHD can make it even harder to cope, and lead to more harmful drinking patterns.
Opioids
😧 Illicit opioid use is way underreported. New data suggests that fentanyl use in the U.S. is over 20 times higher than the government estimates. That’s a huge gap. We need to do a better job of tracking opioid use in order to develop a faster, more effective public health response to the crisis.
💊 1 in 5 people prescribed long-acting opioids develop addiction. A long-delayed FDA-mandated study found that extended-release opioids like OxyContin carry far more risk than drugmakers claimed. The push is on to tighten regulations and rewrite labels that reflect the dangers of these drugs. "How can you have a label that suggests this is safe and effective when you now have evidence that it's unsafe and still don't have evidence that it's effective?"
🐾 Animal sedative medetomidine showing up in street drugs. Mixed with fentanyl, medetomidine, a potent veterinary sedative, can slow heart rate and breathing to dangerous levels. Unlike most opioids, naloxone doesn’t reverse it, making overdoses harder to treat.
Wellness
❤️ Want better relationships? Try putting yourself first. Taking care of yourself isn’t selfish—it’s the secret to better relationships. When your needs are met, you show up with more patience, presence, and emotional availability for others. Setting healthy boundaries can lead to deeper, more balanced connections with others.
✍️ Journaling
Here are some prompts to help you reflect how this week’s themes show up in your own life:
🔹 What signs tell me I’m living in a state of chronic stress, and what small habits can help me reset?
🔹 Where in my life am I “bouncing back” when I really need to push back?
🔹 How has my environment influenced my choices around alcohol or other substances?
🔹 What does putting myself first look like for me, and how does it affect the people I care about?
🎧 Good Moods Tunes
This amazing song serves as a reminder to move your body, shake off the stress, and reclaim your power!
When I move my body just like this
I don’t know why but I feel like freedom
I hear a song that takes me back
And I let go with so much freedom
That’s it for this week ~ thanks so much for reading!
I hope you enjoyed this mental health roundup! It would mean so much if you could ❤️ this post, share your thoughts in the comments below or share with a friend!