Mental health

This week two viral social media posts claimed that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), a widely used type of antidepressant, lead to violent behavior. One post included a video of Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. attributing mass shootings to SSRI prescriptions and video games. Another suggested that taking SSRIs contributed to...

A new Florida law will ban children under the age of 14 from having social media accounts and will require children between the ages of 14 and 15 to have parental permission in order to have social media accounts. The law—which will take effect on January 1, 2025—is...

A popular social media post expressed frustration with the national suicide prevention hotline. After calling the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (988), the social media user wrote, “no longer actively suicidal but am totally baffled at the lack of support offered.” In response to the post, other social media users shared...

A recently released study from Drexel University analyzed survey data from 40,000 high school students and found that teenagers who live through a hurricane, flood, tornado, or other climate disaster could be up to 20 percent more likely to experience mental distress. Although the link between mental health and...

Earlier this month, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced plans to expand SCOUT, or subway co-response outreach teams, which involuntarily hospitalize unhoused people on New York subways who show signs of mental illness. Hochul’s announcement led to debate on one social media platform about whether or not these measures...

Pop star and actress Selena Gomez and New York Jets defensive lineman Solomon Thomas led a panel discussing mental health at the South by Southwest conference. Gomez has been public about her bipolar disorder diagnosis and mental health crisis, while Solomon discussed anxiety and grief after his sister died by...