The sky turns pitch black as snow falls on the cold, hard ground. You crave the warm blanket of sleep and cannot bring yourself to leave your bed to interact with others around you. Like a hibernating animal, all you wish to do is eat, sleep and repeat. For some, this is a feeling that…
It has been over 40 years since the Alma-Ata Declaration defined the concept of primary healthcare and brought international awareness to the extreme health inequities that permeate the globe. Unfortunately, the declaration’s ambitious goal of healthcare for all by 2000 was not met as intended [3]. Nonetheless, there still exist promising implementations of primary healthcare…
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most shared experiences has been one of isolation, quarantine, and social distancing. But how much of this experience can we truly say is shared? During an era that requires skillsets of rapid adaptation and resilience, the mental health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have presented a monumental challenge…
In an age when 7.1 percent of U.S. adults have had at least one major depressive episode and an estimated 31 percent of U.S. adults will experience any sort of anxiety disorder within their lives, it seems like our country has accepted the presence of mental illness as the new normal. With the ongoing pandemic,…
The following piece was written as part of The Pandemic: Science and Society course offered from Aug. 17 – Sep. 4. Comorbidity is frequently used in psychology and medicine to describe a state in which two or more conditions and/or disorders present together. In the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic brought on by SARS-CoV-2,…
*All of this information is only accurate based on information until April 8, 2020.* SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, has affected over 2.6 million people worldwide. Most current evidence suggests that the virus was transmitted from bats to pangolins and eventually to humans. The medium of transmission was most likely bodily fluid contact…
Mental health encompasses more than just clinically diagnosed conditions that don long, scientific titles. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, mental health is an umbrella term used to characterize any “condition that affects a person’s thinking, feeling or mood” (1). Mental health struggles can present in drastically different fashions for different populations. For…
Love sucks. It makes people act in ways they can’t predict and gives them weird fluttering feelings in their stomach. However, healthy people at least tend to know what to expect with love, and modern research has even discovered the molecules involved in the development of romantic attraction, both emotionally and physiologically. One of cupid’s…
Socioeconomic status has long been considered as a potential explanation for discrepancies in professional expectations, lifestyle trends, and mental and physical health in America. The relationship between household income and mental disorders has been especially thoroughly examined. Numerous longitudinal studies over the years have consistently found a damningly strong correlation between the two variables. In…
It is common to find yourself in a scenario where a friend or family member suffers a physical injury, like a broken leg. The socially acceptable course of action would be to offer assistance in the form of rides to work or or offering to cook them dinner. We would send texts offering words of…