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New research into how a common parasite infection alters human behavior could help development of treatments for schizophrenia and other neurological disorders. Scientists say behavior changes in those infected with T. gondii, which currently infects 2.5 billion people worldwide and causes the disease Toxoplasmosis, could be linked to lowered amounts of norepinephrine, a chemical released in the brain as part of the stress response. Norephinephrine also controls neuroinflammation, the activation of the brain's immune system against infection. Norepinephrine and neuroinflammation are associated with neuropsychological disorders such as schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, and ADHD. T. gondii can only sexually reproduce in cats....

“Pastors cannot be expected to have the same level of skill, training and experience as professional therapists,” said Walter Kim, president of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). “Pastors have a shepherding and counseling role to play, but should refer when people need the next layer of care. Pastors should also play a role in minimizing stigma around seeing therapists.” Several evangelical leaders noted that a key challenge for pastors is discerning when they have both the skill and the necessary time to help, and when they should refer. Most leaders indicated that pastors deal well with mental health issues...

Hollywood and public perception have pushed a narrative that our nation’s protectors are stoic warriors that can’t falter under stress or pressure. This is not true, not at all. Those that wear a uniform, or badge adorned to their person, face an unprecedented amount of stress. Stress bore from decades of wars coming to an end, lack of public support, and pressure to maintain a hard shell. All affect our nation’s protectors' health and mental well-being. Making this worse is the stigma attached to active military, veterans, and emergency responders to come forward to seek the help they need. A...

Lesbians claimed they get abuse if they do not wish to sleep with trans women Some claim they've been pressured to have sex with trans women with penises Transgender rights activists believe having genital preference is discriminatory 'Young women feel pressured to sleep with trans women 'to prove I am not a terf'.' The term 'terf', which stands for Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist, is often used to attack feminists calling to protect women-only spaces, and sex-based rights rather than gender-based rights, in opposition to advice from LGBT lobby group Stonewall. The same 'terf' term was levelled at JK Rowling after...

Washington (CNN)Monica Lewinsky reflected on the mental health struggles she endured in the 1990s amid the scandal surrounding her affair with then-President Bill Clinton, detailing in a new interview the toll it took and how she has reclaimed her story in the years since. Lewinsky, a former White House intern, told CNN's David Axelrod on an episode of "The Axe Files" podcast released Thursday that the investigation into the scandal, which captured the nation's attention for years and eventually led to Clinton's impeachment, caused her to have suicidal ideations. "I just couldn't see a way out. And and I thought...

Frontline healthcare workers were heroes last year. Today, the radical left is making them unemployed.When disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo finally resigned, many in and out of his state rejoiced. But lopping off one Democrat in this manner only yields a new one to take their place, and in this case Cuomo’s successor is authoritarian globalist Kathy Hochul.The new Governor flexed her Neo-Marxist muscles today by calling on medical organizations to fire unvaccinated employees on Monday. Those with medical exemptions are allowed to stay, but those with religious exemptions must wait to hear their fate on October 12...

They face a hostile environment much more often than their liberal peers do. With schools reopening for in-person instruction in a few weeks, many people are understandably fixated on the dangers COVID-19 poses to students’ safety and well-being. While the pandemic remains a real concern, another very worrisome issue will face our nation’s high-school students when they return to the classroom: whether conservative students will be treated fairly if their views and ideas do not comport with the overall zeitgeist of particular schools.... ...In the case of religious beliefs, barely 4 percent of respondents in the sample reported seeing uncivil...

Matt Zeller, an Army veteran and former CIA analyst, was distracted for a very understandable reason during a live appearance on The Week with MSNBC’s Joshua Johnson to discuss the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan: he was waiting for news about several family members and friends who had not yet been able to leave the country. As Johnson introduced him at the beginning of the segment, Zeller could be seen glancing downwards. He would later explain that he had been checking his phone for news of his loved ones.... And I’m trying to get them out,” he continued. “This is personal...

The best friend of New Zealand Olympic cyclist Olivia Podmore says there were no signs she was struggling with her mental health, as he fought back tears at an emotional media conference following her shock death. Olympic rower Eric Murray fronted cameras on behalf of the 24-year-old's devastated family on Tuesday, describing how nothing appeared to be wrong when he spent time with her on the day she ended her own life. Podmore, who competed in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, shared a grinning selfie at an airport along with a chilling Instagram message about the pressures of competing,...

Long before Covid, mental health experts declared a different sort of pandemic—a precipitous decline in mental health on college campuses. One 2019 survey by the American College Health Association found that over the course of a year, 55.9 percent of students reported feeling hopelessness, 65.6 percent reported feeling very lonely, 70.8 percent reported feeling very sad, and 65.7 percent reported overwhelming anxiety. Nearly half said that at some point in the year they felt so depressed that it was difficult to function. This data creates an odd disjunction. College, after all, publicly signifies opportunity, success, and even the American Dream—and...

,,,,,McCallum, who was the first US athlete to compete on the uneven bars in the minutes after Biles told her teammates that she was pulling out of the final, confessed that she was left 'on the verge of tears' by the news - as well as the added pressure that was placed on her and the other two remaining Team USA athletes as a result. 'It was a lot of pressure, my heart was beating about a million miles an hour and I was on the verge of tears,' the gymnast shared. 'I just knew I had to do my...

YAVIN—In a shocking last-minute decision, talented young rebel pilot Luke Skywalker has pulled out of the Death Star trench run to focus on his mental health. According to sources, he started hearing the voices of dead people as he was lining up his shot at the exhaust port and thought it would be best for him to bow out of the attack so as not to drag down his teammates. "Luke, you've switched off your targeting computer. What's wrong?" said a Yavin base controller. "I'm just not feeling this right now," said Luke. "I'm getting pretty stressed out and hearing...

<p>Simone Biles on Tuesday withdrew from the Olympic women’s gymnastics competition due to concerns about her mental health. Now, the most decorated female gymnast is receiving an outpouring of criticism and vitriol from people who couldn’t do so much as a cartwheel if their lives depended on it.</p>

WASHINGTON, D.C.—After seeing Olympic gymnast Simone Biles's inspiring decision to quit the Olympics right before the finals, President Biden has announced that he too will be resigning from the presidency to focus on his own mental health. "That pretty little gymnast girl quit the Olympics, and that's just inspiring folks," said Biden. "I wanted to be President for myself, but after a while, I started to realize I was still doing this for other people. I need to take this time away to focus on my own personal issues instead of always trying to please others. Self-care, folks! Gotta do...

Chicago to dispatch mental health officials instead of cops on 911 calls In response to defund the police protests and the killing by cops of individuals suffering from mental health issues, the City of Chicago will now send out mental health experts with 911 calls instead of authorities. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the initiative is part of a two-step “alternative response” pilot program that will see Chicago focus more on public health aspect to responding to mental health emergency calls to 911.

In the above video, Oli London describes their journey to identifying as a gender non-binary, trans-Korean person. On June 28, a newsletter from my favorite real-news source, Not the Bee, contained this article about Oli London. London is a white British person who announced coming out as gender non-binary (using the pronoun: “they”) and also as “trans-Korean.” They made this announcement after undergoing 18 plastic surgeries to physically alter their face to look Korean. The physical appearance, with the aid of modern medicine, had been altered to reflect their true underlying identity. My honest first thought was that someone might...

This horrifying reality is yet another unintended consequences of sweeping government pandemic lockdowns.. From mental health to drug overdoses, some of the most apparent unintended consequences from COVID-19 lockdowns and pandemic restrictions have finally garnered mainstream attention. However, the global fallout from lockdown orders on the world’s poorest has flown somewhat under the radar—and will make the aforementioned dire consequences look mild in comparison. A research organization dedicated to documenting the consequences of government pandemic interventions, Collateral Global, released a May analysis reviewing the research on how lockdowns will affect childrens’ prospects. The results are astounding. “The COVID-19 pandemic and...

Doctors are forecasting what some experts are now calling “the fourth wave” of the COVID-19 pandemic. Experts say the mental health impacts will be “profound and far-reaching,” likely outlasting the physical health impacts, and straining already-stretched mental health systems in the United States and worldwide.... “The pandemic has produced a petri dish of psychological factors that may lead to emotional health problems: anxiety, brain fog, depression, and PTSD,” says Luana Marques, a psychologist and professor at Harvard Medical School... During the pandemic’s first nine months, six times as many American adults reported mental health issues as in early 2019.... Soaring...

In his new show, The Me You Can’t See, Prince Harry claims his mother was 'chased to death while in a relationship with someone who wasn't white' and said he feared history repeating itself when Megan was having suicidal thoughts. 'History was repeating itself,' he said in an interview with Oprah. 'My mother was chased to her death while she was in a relationship with someone who wasn’t white. And now look what’s happened. 'It’s incredibly triggering to potentially lose another woman in my life. Like, the list is growing. And it all comes back to the same people, the...

CHRISSY Teigen’s Cravings kitchenware line has been removed from Target’s website following Courtney Stodden’s claims she was “bullied” by the star, The Sun can reveal. Earlier this week, Courtney said she was urged by Chrissy to “kill themselves” at just 16-years-old in addition to her publicly posting a series of hateful messages aimed towards the then-minor. As the backlash rages on, the social media personality's culinary empire is now in the line of fire as thousands of fans have vowed to “stop shopping” with the companies all together if they continued selling Cravings by Chrissy. It appears Target listened to...