Mental health symptoms may manifest differently across cultures

Mental health is much more than the absence of mental illness

It's a state of well-being that allows individuals to cope with daily stressors, realize their abilities, learn and work effectively, and contribute to their overall community. Inextricably linked to physical health, modern science indicates that mental health is a central component of our overarching ability to function and enjoy life.

Key symptoms of burnout can be both mental and physical

Burnout can be accompanied by several symptoms, including low energy and chronic fatigue, trouble concentrating, difficulty sleeping, and depression. It may even manifest physically as musculoskeletal pain, headaches, stomach and intestinal pain, and more. More intense cases have been linked to cardiovascular and mental health disorders.

35% of polled Americans said they'd view people differently if they knew they had a mental illness

In April 2025 polling, mental health remained highly stigmatized in the US. Though 88% of US adults say a mental health disorder is nothing to be ashamed about, 84% of them think the term "mental illness" carries a stigma and only about half of respondents said they'd feel comfortable sharing their mental health struggles with others.

Could all mental health disorders have a unifying 'p-factor'?

Some researchers have argued in the past couple decades that all mental health disorders may have a unifying dimension—a theoretical "p-factor" that is common across mental illness, but life experiences and behaviors influence if and how illness manifests. Proponents point to similarities across different disorders, while detractors argue that such connections are largely exaggerated.

Mental health applications of psychedelics

Scientists are investigating psilocybin, ketamine, LSD, and MDMA (also known as ecstasy) as potential treatments for mental health issues. These drugs enable an altered state of consciousness, which can have beneficial or harmful impacts depending on the nature of the experience. Research suggests these drugs can be effective in treating substance use disorders, mental health conditions, including depression and anxiety, and psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia.

Having five of nine key symptoms constitutes a major depression

Before professional standards were adopted, practitioners used varying criteria to diagnose mental health disorders. By the 1970s, more objective lists were organized, culminating in this list of polythetic criteria—a list of symptoms where no single criterion is required, but a minimum number must be present.

See this collection of mental health cartoons

These cartoons were curated around mental health themes in celebration of World Mental Health Day, which is observed annually on Oct. 10. The 15+ cartoons include thematic nods to weathering mental health challenges and looking forward to better times ahead.

Boy culture pressures teens to hide emotions, weakening their friendships over time

Cultural norms about masculinity teach boys to suppress vulnerability and prioritize independence over time, resulting in isolation. Given that humans are social creatures, mental health struggles gradually become more common through this abandonment of connection.

Women are four times as likely to be diagnosed with seasonal depression

This prevalence trend mirrors the broader incidence of depression among women and is well-documented. Researchers suggest the disparity stems from differences in hormones, social role expectations, coping mechanisms, and more. Men may also present with depression differently, and seek help less.

How race science influences breast cancer research

Despite researchers' and physicians' pushback, race is still used in studies and clinics to categorize human differences in health conditions and treatment responses. This article explores how race has influenced breast cancer research. Considering race as a factor in cancer research, diagnosis, and treatment can lead to racial inequalities. Sociocultural factors, including food access and air pollution, greatly influence health outcomes.

Yoga is believed to improve mental health, but studies are not definitive

Many think that yoga's combination of stretching, focused breathing, and contemplation help treat depression and anxiety, but the data has often relied on small, homogenous sample sizes.

Meeting someone with common healthcare challenges can be life-changing

The understanding that comes from meeting others who have similar experiences can provide hope that life can get better, the solace of affirmation, and make navigating a new diagnosis or a rare illness, in particular, much easier.

Stress affects different animals in different, but useful, ways

Animals feel stress when they experience actual dangers—such as a zebra chased by a lion. Humans often feel stress from worries, memories, or even thoughts about problems that may occur in the future. For this reason, animals tend to experience stress in short, intense bursts. Conversely, people can feel stressed for long periods, which can eventually be harmful to their health.

Hippocratic doctors treated severe mental illness with the poisonous plant hellebore

Since symptoms like hallucinations were believed be due to an imbalance of black bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegm, the treatment at the time was to bring those humors back into balance. That meant standard treatments could include bleeding a patient or using substances like hellebore to induce vomiting or diarrhea.

How seizures (potentially) alter consciousness

Seizures occur when intense electrical activity floods the brain, prompting significant loss of self-control and a variety of sensory disruptions and hallucinations. Cultures interpret the episodes differently, with many contemporary norms viewing them as negative while others characterize them as intense spiritual occasions. Author Fyodor Dostoyevsky viewed his seizures this way, as well as cultures in Mongolia, some Shamanic indigenous religions, and others.

Schizophrenia symptoms often appear suddenly

Schizophrenia is a particularly shocking mental illness because its symptoms may appear seemingly without any prior signs of illness after a person has had no symptoms for the first couple of decades of their life. Among teens, symptoms may look like typical adolescent behaviors—withdrawal, being irritable, and having trouble sleeping.

The history of skull modification

The ancient Maya people sometimes modified their skulls to appear more conical. Body modification has been a human pastime for literal ages, from piercings to bindings and everything in between. Modifying one's skull shape may have been a way to symbolize status, beauty, belonging, or belief. The health impacts of such practices are still debated. This article explores the history and health impacts of skull modification, also known as artificial cranial deformation.

Rural vs. urban: Exploring the digital health divide

Though digital health tools (DHT) hold potential to transform healthcare accessibility, their adoption varies across urban and rural landscapes. This comprehensive study, drawing from the 2019 Health Information National Trends Survey, evaluates the...

Grief can trigger broken heart syndrome

Broken heart syndrome—stress cardiomyopathy—involves sudden, intense chest pain that is often mistaken for a heart attack. The condition, which affects part of the heart, briefly interrupts the way the heart pumps blood.

See how Advent traditions vary widely around the world

Advent is celebrated in distinct ways across countries—Chinese Christians hang colorful lanterns, Mexicans reenact Las Posadas processions, Germans light weekly wreath candles, and Hungarians attend dawn matins—reflecting how local cultures shape the season’s preparation.

Cultural norms about how to handle the bodies of loved ones in communities in West Africa have hampered Ebola responses.

Non-Western performance art developed in its own political context

The medium’s emerging popularity in 1990s China is a perfect example of this. Many Chinese artists incorporated the practice of meditation into their works, combining the Buddhist tradition with various modes of endurance art to comment on divisions within Chinese society and the power of the government.

Ghost stories across cultures often trace back to traumatic events

From a bat-like demon in Tanzania to a malevolent woman figure hovering above your sleeping body, the four disturbing tales outlined in this NPR article offer a glimpse into how happenings from WWII or the Aztec Empire haunt people’s memories.

Inflammaging appears to differ across global populations

Chronic, low-grade inflammation linked to aging is a byproduct of our industrialized lifestyles, according to recent research. The work compared two industrialized populations with two Indigenous, non-industrialized populations in Bolivia and Malaysia, and found that inflammation levels in the Indigenous groups—unlike the industrialized ones—did not seem to differ by age.

Cultural norms about how to handle the bodies of loved ones have hampered Ebola responses in West Africa

Awareness of local burial and grieving traditions eventually helped healthcare workers fight the spread of the virus. As healthcare workers and burial teams altered their procedures during the 2014 West African Ebola outbreak, and as community leaders pressed people to adapt traditional ceremonies, the spread of Ebola began to slow.

Breaking down various tongue disorders, from infections to genetics

Taste is one of our fundamental senses, but can be impeded by a wide variety of conditions including glossitis, angioedema, and black hairy tongue. Most are characterized by their color, shape, and sometimes change in function. Causes range from vitamin or mineral deficiencies to fluid accumulation, fungal infection, or more.

About 12.5% of US adults experience a phobia in their lifetime, a diagnosis that hinges on the intense fear interfering with daily life and persisting for at least six months.

Studies suggest when you sleep is as important as how much you get, and syncing with your circadian rhythms may lead to less fatigue and improved long-term health outcomes

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

See images of medical cases of firework injuries shared on this 'Instagram for doctors.' (Warning: Graphic content)

Alzheimer's can lead to brain shrinkage, with an average of around 2% of volume reduction per year

Use this calculator to find the dollar value of your mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care for your children.

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.

Larger animals like giraffes, elephants, and blue whales have developed a unique defense against cancer, a phenomenon known as Peto's Paradox

Human-to-human transmission of hantavirus remains extremely rare, so the 2026 hantavirus cruise ship outbreak doesn't mean we're facing a COVID-style pandemic risk.

Poison ivy is in the same family as mangoes, cashews, and pistachios—and they all produce oily urushiol in their raw, unprocessed state—but they are typically prepared in ways to avoid causing human discomfort.

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

The United States is one of only around two dozen countries with a fully federal system of government, in which power is divided between national and state governments.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

In 2018, 26-year-old missionary John Allen Chau was killed by tribesmen after attempting to reach and evangelize on India's isolated North Sentinel Island

Coral reefs get their colors from zooxanthellae—microorganisms that line corals' digestive tracts and provide them with sugars in exchange for a home within this protective tissue.

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by over 1.5 million Muslims.

Mark Twain spent decades feuding with the US Postal Service, convinced its costs and regulations were bureaucratic overreach.

Clever Hans was a 1900s horse that was believed to be able to solve math equations, tell time, and read and comprehend German, until a psychology student discovered how he got his answers.

American short story writer Flannery O'Connor raised 40 peacocks, which became potent symbols for her fiction's elegant violence

The word 'jazz' evolved from 'jasm,' 19th-century American slang for 'energy'

All rainbows are 'raincircles' caused by water droplets separating white sunlight into a spectrum of colors, but Earth's surface blocks the bottom half of the circle from our line of sight.