February, 2017
Is a Teen Depressed, or Just Moody?
The Checkup By PERRI KLASS, M.D. New York Times FEB. 13, 2017 The hardest questions pediatricians must routinely ask teenagers at checkups are those about depression and suicide. But they aren’t optional; we have to ask them, every time. From 2005 to 2014, the prevalence of depression — that is, the chance of having a... read more
LSD to Cure Depression? Not So Fast
Richard A. Friedman New York Times FEB. 13, 2017 Psychedelics, the fabled enlightenment drugs of the ’60s, are making a comeback — this time as medical treatment. A recent study claimed that psilocybin, a mushroom-derived hallucinogenic, relieves anxiety and depression in people with life-threatening cancer. Anecdotal reports have said similar things about so-called microdoses... read more
Addiction Treatment Grew Under Health Law. Now What?
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE and ABBY GOODNOUGH New York Times Feb. 10, 2017 MANCHESTER, N.H. — Chad Diaz began using heroin when he was 12. Now 36 and newly covered by Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, he is on Suboxone, a substitute opioid that eases withdrawal symptoms and cravings, and he is slowly... read more
Pregnant Women Turn to Marijuana, Perhaps Harming Infants
By CATHERINE SAINT LOUIS New York Times FEB. 2, 2017 During her pregnancy, she never drank alcohol or had a cigarette. But nearly every day, Stacey, then 24, smoked marijuana. With her fiancé’s blessing, she began taking a few puffs in her first trimester to quell morning sickness before going to work at a... read more