Mental Health

NEW YORK (AP) — Elon Musk is joining his space exploration and artificial intelligence ventures into a single company before what’s expected to be a massive initial public offering for the business later this year. His rocket venture, SpaceX, announced on Monday that it had bought xAI in an effort to help the world’s richest man dominate the rocket and artificial intelligence businesses. The deal will combine several of his offerings, including his AI chatbot Grok , his satel

When it comes to treating mental health conditions like depression , the most common question, whether in a doctor’s office or a research lab, is still: Does it work? That’s understandable. We all want to know if a treatment helps people feel better. But increasingly, there’s a more useful question we should be asking: Who does it work for? Most antidepressants today are tested in large, mixed populations. The results reflect the “average” effect across that group. But depre

A major new World Health Organization publication sets out, for the first time, a practical, evidence-based package of care to address the mental health impacts of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and the stigma that can prevent people from seeking care and participating fully in society.  The  Essential care package to address mental health and stigma for persons with neglected tropical diseases  responds to growing evidence that people living with NTDs experience higher r

While researchers debate whether artificial intelligence (AI) might someday exceed human intelligence , a quieter crisis unfolds: AI systems are exploiting our deepest psychological vulnerabilities. The 2026 International AI Safety Report documents technological advances, but what are we doing to ourselves in relation to our new artificial counterparts? The 490,000 We Don't Talk About In 2025, researchers from OpenAI and MIT analyzed nearly 40 million ChatGPT interaction

If you’re a parent of a child who pulls their hair, picks their skin, or bites their nails, you’ve probably found yourself asking a painful and frustrating question: Why don’t they just stop? Body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs), like hair pulling, skin picking, and nail biting, can take up a lot of space in a family’s life. Not just in bathrooms and bedrooms, but in conversations, emotions, and worries about the future. Parents want to help, kids want relief, and every

There’s a fine line between stress and anxiety. Both are emotional responses, but stress is typically caused by an external trigger. The trigger can be short-term, such as a work deadline or a fight with a loved one or long-term, such as being unable to work, discrimination, or chronic illness. People under stress experience mental and physical symptoms, such as irritability, anger, fatigue, muscle pain, digestive troubles, and difficulty sleeping. Anxiety, on the other hand,

As digital relationships proliferate, psychologists explore the mental health risks and benefits Once the realm of science fiction, human-AI relationships are becoming normal aspects of daily life. While generative AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini have become common tools for many users, a new wave of AI apps, such as Replika, Character.AI , and dozens more, are specifically designed to simulate human companionship. The essential distinction between the assis

Children and adolescents are growing up in a whirlwind of digital overload, climate anxiety, economic uncertainty, and social instability. In response, psychologists are leading a paradigm shift toward a preventive, whole-child approach that can better support the mental well-being of today’s youth. “Our field originally held this assumption that there’s going to be a small subset of kids with mental or behavioral conditions who need our services,” said psychologist Cody Host

Do you avoid difficult conversations, at home or at work, even when you see no other way to resolve an ongoing problem? If you do, you’re not alone. According to a recent study, people in troubled relationships delay an average of 2.68 years before beginning couples therapy , and workplace studies show that employees will often quit rather than complain. Fear is at the root of most of our conflict avoidance. We’re scared of damaging relationships—as well as our own reputatio

In 2025, countries across three WHO regions put their International Health Regulations (IHR) capacities to the test through region-wide simulation exercises, sharpening their ability to detect, report, and respond to public health threats with international impact. These exercises – South-East Asia Regional Practice of All-Hazard IHR Event Communications (SAPHIRE), Joint Assessment and Detection of Events (JADE) in the European Region, and IHR Exercise Crystal in the Western

Max Delgado was sitting in front of his parents with his hands over his face, finally sharing everything he’d been struggling with for the past year. He didn’t want advice or solutions. “All I want to hear back is, ‘We understand you, and we love you. We’re here for you,’” he says. “People want support. They don’t want a lecture.” As the new school year begins, many adults are wondering how to be that support for young people in their lives. We spoke with four young mental he

Gender disparity in political leadership is seldom cast as the overrepresentation of men (71 percent in the United States and worldwide). Rather, in public discourse, the gender imbalance in positions of power is framed as the underrepresentation of women. Social psychologists at the New York University Social Perception, Action, and Motivation Lab find in their 2024 study, "Women underrepresented or men overrepresented?" Framing the gender gap in political leadership as "

An emotion characterized by apprehension and somatic symptoms of tension in which an individual anticipates impending danger, catastrophe, or misfortune. The body often mobilizes itself to meet the perceived threat: Muscles become tense, breathing is faster, and the heart beats more rapidly. Anxiety may be distinguished from fear both conceptually and physiologically, although the two terms are often used interchangeably. Anxiety is considered a future-oriented, long-acting r

WASHINGTON — Helping to care for grandchildren may serve as a buffer against cognitive decline in older adults, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. “Many grandparents provide regular care for their grandchildren—care that supports families and society more broadly,” said lead researcher Flavia Chereches, MS, of Tilburg University in the Netherlands. “An open question, however, is whether caregiving for grandchildren may also benefit gran

If you've ever known someone with Machiavellian traits, you know how damaging and destructive they can be. Deception, manipulation, and high self-interest are just a few characteristics that people with this type of personality possess—which can wreak havoc on your relationship and well-being. Someone who has Machiavellian traits may ruthlessly deceive or manipulate others in order to meet their own goals. 1 They may treat other people as mere objects that can help them get

Therapeutic drug monitoring revolutionizes psychiatric care, enhancing treatment precision and patient outcomes through real-time data and personalized medicine strategies. Mdisk/AdobeStock “It’s just so important to not guess when we are practicing medicine, and we have tools like therapeutic drug monitoring [TDM], which can aid our decision-making,” Jonathan Meyer, MD, said in a recent Psychiatric Times “Insights” video program. Meyer, voluntary clinical professor of psychi

Psychotherapy involves speaking with a mental health professional to help you better identify, understand, and resolve any behaviors, thoughts, and emotions that may be impacting your mental well-being. A registered specialist may use a wide range of theoretical and clinical frameworks to help you work through negative thought patterns, underdeveloped coping skills, and deeply ingrained unconscious beliefs. Psychotherapy is particularly effective for managing psychiatric dis

We stand at a peculiar junction in human history. For the first time, the technologies we’ve created can speak back to us with uncanny fluency, craft images indistinguishable from photographs, and generate text that reads as if it came from an expert’s pen. Simultaneously, these same technologies are learning to exploit the very cognitive shortcuts that helped our ancestors survive, shortcuts that now make us vulnerable to manipulation at unprecedented scale. We are part of a

Arlington, VA –  After significant pushback by NAMI and a united mental health and substance use community, multiple sources confirmed late last night that the Administration will reverse unprecedented cuts made less than 24 hours earlier. The cuts, which were widespread and impacted thousands of grants totaling more than $1.9 billion, would have devastated mental health services and support resources across the country.  “Americans affected by mental illness are the clear wi

KEY POINTS Social isolation is not having relationships, contact with, or support from others. Loneliness is the feeling of being alone, disconnected, or not close to others. Social isolation and loneliness put a person at risk of developing serious mental and physical health conditions. Overview Social isolation and loneliness are widespread problems in the U.S., posing a serious threat to our mental and physical health. About 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. report feeling lonely.