Mental Health

A still from the game "At-Risk For College Students".

Can An Online Game Help You Learn To Help Struggling Friends?

5:00am January 21, 2017

by Angus Chen

It's hard to ask someone if they're depressed or suicidal. Colleges are using an online game to help students learn how to have those conversations. The goal: more support and empathy.

Health & Safety

Kitty Dukakis: Electroshock Therapy Has Given Me A New Lease On Life

7:25am January 17, 2017

David Greene talks to Kitty Dukakis and her husband, former Mass. Gov. Michael Dukakis, about their campaign to destigmatize electroshock therapy. She has used it to alleviate severe depression.

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The highly rated variety of medical marijuana known as "Blue Dream" was displayed among other strains at a cannabis farmers market in Los Angeles in 2014.

Marijuana's Health Effects? Top Scientists Weigh In

7:40pm January 12, 2017

by Patti Neighmond

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine sorted through 10,000 studies to determine the good and bad health effects of marijuana. Tight drug restrictions impede research, they say.

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Musi, an African elephant, is one of Fresno Chaffee Zoo's five elephants enrolled in the Elephant Welfare Initiative.

Fitness Trackers Aim To Improve The Health And Happiness Of Zoo Elephants

10:08am January 11, 2017

by Kerry Klein

OK, so they're not using Fitbits. But zoos across America are using software to minutely track the activity, behavior and physiology of captive elephants, and using that data to improve zoo life.

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A community counselor, left, speaks to a patient on the Friendship Bench in Zimbabwe.

Health & Safety

The Friendship Bench Can Help Chase The Blues Away

9:20am January 10, 2017

by Maanvi Singh

A psychiatrist in Zimbabwe had a brainstorm. What if there were a place where people who are depressed could seek counseling without having to go to a clinic.

Esteban Santiago (third from left) is returned to jail after his first court appearance Monday in Fort Lauderdale. He is accused of a shooting rampage in which five people were killed.

Fla. Airport Shooting Suspect Appears In Court, Is Assigned A Public Defender

8:39pm January 09, 2017

by Greg Allen

Esteban Santiago, who faces charges in the rampage that killed five people and wounded six others, is scheduled to enter a plea later this month.

A child takes a facial recognition test in which he is asked to match the face on the top to one of the faces on the bottom.

Brain Area That Recognizes Faces Gets Busier And Better In Young Adults

6:38pm January 05, 2017

by Jon Hamilton

From birth through age 30 or so, our ability to recognize faces keeps improving, research shows. At first, kids discern adult faces better than other kids' mugs. Not so after adolescence.

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India's Community Approach To Depression Tackles Treatment Shortage

4:29pm January 05, 2017

by Joanne Silberner

It's estimated that about 90 percent of people in India in need of mental health treatment go without. A new program is looking to change that by training locals to be mental health counselors.

Docents on the America InSight tours guide visitors through the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Blind Art Lovers Make The Most Of Museum Visits With 'InSight' Tours

1:07pm January 05, 2017

by Susan Stamberg

"Sight isn't the only pathway to understand art," says Carol Wilson of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. There, specially trained docents lead tours using sound, description — and even touch.

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When There's No Therapist, How Can The Depressed Find Help?

12:55pm January 05, 2017

by Joanne Silberner

A different way of providing counseling is being tested in India. It turns out it was tested — but abandoned — in the U.S. decades ago.

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