Progress on mental health and addiction is real — and often underreported. This archive covers treatment breakthroughs, policy shifts, community-led programs, and research advances that are improving lives. It’s evidence that change is possible.
Following successful alternative policing programs in Denver and Newark, Oakland, California is the latest city to adopt such a program with an initiative to redirect nonviolent, noncriminal calls to mobile teams of civilians.
The extremely promising data are the first Phase 3 results to be revealed for any psychedelic-based therapy, paving the way for a landmark US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in 2023.
“Transgender or nonbinary gender identities are normal variations in human expression of gender. Attempts to force people to conform with rigid gender identities can be harmful to their mental health and well-being.”
A small open-label trial is the first to test MDMA therapy as a treatment for addiction and the results suggest it is safe, well-tolerated and significantly more effective than any current treatment for alcoholism.
Australian scientists have developed and validated a world-first test that is claimed to accurately measure levels of a brain protein known to be associated with depression and bipolar disorder.
The Somerville City Council voted 9-0 to decriminalize the possession of entheogenic plants, including psilocybin mushrooms and ibogaine.
According to the new data from pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, the antibody donanemab slowed cognitive decline by 32% compared to a placebo.
The new study reports the addition of MDMA to the couples therapy protocol resulted in effects that were, “on par with, or greater than, those achieved with CBCT [cognitive-behavioral conjoint therapy] alone.”
Starting next year in Anchorage, Alaska, a new team of mental health first responders will replace police for emergency calls for someone with a mental health issue. The Mobile Crisis Team is funded by a new local alcohol tax and the team is trained to be dispatched to situations police do not have adequate training to address.
Thanks to a new pilot program, 911 calls in New York City that are evidently mental health-related will be taken care of by mental health and crisis workers instead of law enforcement. The move is the result of months of protests around the country over police brutality, sparked by the tragic death of George Floyd.
