Good morning. It's Wednesday, May 6, 2026. Welcome to this week's Health & Medicine newsletter. Was this forwarded to you? Sign up here or click here to share with friends. |
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May is officially Mental Health Awareness Month, so this week we're covering mental health and diving into the latest science and developments related to schizophrenia and depression.
An annual mental health holiday was first observed in 1949, due in part to the Truman White House's mental health push during that period. Relatedly, the National Institute of Mental Health was also founded the same year.
Sharing for today and any day: If you—or someone you know—are considering suicide, please call, text, or chat "988" to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
I love hearing from you, dear readers, and many thanks for all the great musical suggestions last week! I particularly liked "Goose," so I am sharing that recommendation for others' listening pleasure. Contacting me is as simple as hitting "reply" to this message.
—Dina Fine Maron, 1440 Health & Medicine Section Editor |
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A Healthy Mind, a Healthy Body |
Mental health 101
Mental health is not just the absence of mental illness, but instead describes the emotional, psychological, and social layers of our overall well-being. It allows us to persevere when we're buffeted by daily stressors. Alongside physical health, good mental health enables us to learn and work effectively, contribute to our families and communities, form relationships, and experience the full range of human emotions. We all may face mental health challenges—even if we don't have mental health disorders.
Our mental health is the result of many factors, including our genetics, support system, exercise, rest, nutrition, and life situation. But mental illness remains stigmatized in the US. Though most Americans say having a mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, 35% of US adults say they'd view someone differently if they knew that person had a mental health disorder. By one recent count, mental illness costs the US economy an estimated $282B annually.
Interest in mental well-being dates back to Hippocrates and the ancient Greek ideal of maintaining a healthy mind in a healthy body. But modern mental health's official precursor—called "mental hygiene," in 1843 by American psychiatrist William Sweetzer—paralleled the idea of attending to personal physical hygiene. It suggested that individuals needed to somehow maintain their mental well-being as they would their personal cleanliness, and thus mental health disorders were avoidable. Public outreach to help people sustain or improve their mental well-being didn't begin in earnest until decades later.
Explore everything else we've found on Mental Health.
Also, check out ...
> Science says forcing a smile could actually make you feel better. (Read)
> Learn how Hollywood tries to get mental health portrayals right. (Read) *Shameless self-promotion: I wrote the above article, and won an award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness for it.
> How studying roller coasters may improve mental health treatments. (Watch)
> Could all mental health disorders have a unifying "p-factor"? (Read) |
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Schizophrenia, explained
Schizophrenia is one of the most challenging mental health disorders to effectively diagnose, live with, and understand. This condition's chief characteristic is psychosis—no longer being able to discern what's real and what isn't. Many patients suffer from auditory and visual hallucinations, disorganized thoughts, and other symptoms, such as delusions and difficulties keeping their train of thought.
The syndrome's causes remain under investigation, though research has indicated as many as 80% of people with the disease were genetically predisposed to develop it. Traumatic childhood experiences and substance abuse are known to increase schizophrenia risk. The syndrome is treated with antipsychotic medications and therapy, but there is no cure. Some patients find their lives are completely derailed by schizophrenia while others, with consistent treatment, can function well, work, and build fulfilling lives.
One of the scariest things about schizophrenia is that its symptoms can seem to manifest quite suddenly, often when people are in their 20s. No one test confirms a schizophrenia diagnosis, so clinicians diagnose the syndrome largely by ruling out other possible explanations for its symptoms.
Explore everything else we've found on Schizophrenia.
Also, check out ...
> Nursing homes are inappropriately diagnosing schizophrenia. (Read)
> US FDA recently approved the first new schizophrenia drug in decades. (Read)
> Schizophrenia increases heat death risks in several complex ways. (Read)
> Listen to how gaps in schizophrenia care helped lead to a murder. (Listen)
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When the Dark Clouds Won't Lift |
What's depression?
Depression is a medical condition that negatively affects how a person thinks, feels, and functions. It could be likened to a lead weight that makes every action in life more challenging. Formally diagnosed as major depressive disorder, this persistent feeling of sadness often also includes anhedonia—the inability to feel pleasure in things that once fueled joy. A paradox of depression is that it often robs patients of the energy and motivation to take actions that might make them feel better, including exercising or going out to see friends.
This disorder has been recorded for centuries, dating back to the second century BCE in Mesopotamia, when it was viewed as a spiritual problem. Hippocrates later called it "melancholia," derived from the Greek for "black bile"—a nod to the bodily humor imbalance that he believed explained the condition.
A mix of therapeutic approaches—exercise, medication, meditation, and therapy—can help treat this very common mental health disorder. Roughly 1 in 10 US adults take medication for depression. Recent estimates suggest more than 18% of US adults and teens have depression. Diagnosed rates remain higher among females than males.
Explore everything else we've found on Depression.
Also, check out ...
> See how antidepressants were discovered. (Watch)
> Depression was linked to brain chemical imbalances in 1965. (Listen)
> Depression hits these brain areas hard—but the changes are reversible. (Watch)
> Explore this deep dive into how SSRIs work. (Watch)
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Medical Developments Spotlight |
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We love spending time learning about the latest medical breakthroughs and spotlighting research that piques our interest, may influence future research directions, or inform healthcare conversations. Here's what we found this week.
> Gene therapy showing great promise to 'functionally cure' HIV in monkeys
Science | Jon Cohen. After one shot of the novel treatment, six of 19 lab animals were able to suppress the monkey-equivalent of the AIDS virus for more than a year, meaning the virus stayed at very low levels and no suppressing drugs were needed. The therapy delivers a gene for producing a cell receptor-blocking antibody, and without that viral binding opportunity, the virus can't infiltrate cellular machinery and hijack it to reproduce. (Read)
> Narrowing who gets hepatitis B vaccines will cost the US millions of dollars
STAT News | Helen Branswell. A new policy adopted by the CDC late last year to recommend administering the vaccine on a case-by-case basis to babies at perceived elevated risk of infection—rather than giving it universally—will lead to higher costs and more cases of the infection, according to two new mathematical projections. (Read)
> People in 13 states have been sickened due to one large Salmonella outbreak
CDC | Agency scientists. A new CDC investigation found that 34 people across the eastern US have been sickened by the same strain of Salmonella, some of whom were hospitalized. Scientists have linked its spread to backyard poultry—chickens and other birds kept at people's homes—and are now urging better handwashing, removing outdoor shoes, and keeping vulnerable populations, like young children and the elderly, away from backyard birds. (Read) |
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In partnership with Particle |
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The Hidden Aging Factor Hurting Men |
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Please support our sponsors! |
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"Even the darkest night will end, and the sun will rise." |
—Victor Hugo, in Les Miserables |
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