As first responders across the nation headed to the fire-ravaged small Hawaiian island of Maui focused on halting the devastation, psychological experts were bracing for an aftermath of another kind.
With its curved nursing stations and faux stone pathways winding throughout brightly-lighted hallways, the new 40-bed behavioral health unit at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital (UCH) represents a fresh focus on mental healthcare at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus.
Community Mental Health COMBAT
For one of Ian Stanley’s former patients, an unexpected firework blast sent him hurling across the room, pouncing on his children and shielding their bodies from the fallout of the “bomb attack” that left him trembling in fear.
Research Patient Care Mental Health COMBAT
No caring person would wish post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – or the likely terrifying event that led to it – on anyone. But for those people who develop the mental health condition and find treatment, the skills and lessons they learn can improve their lives in unexpected ways.
A treatment offered by the University of Colorado School of Medicine Community Practice is giving hope to people with depression who haven’t found relief with other treatment options.
Community Mental Health Addiction
It’s no secret that Coloradans are struggling with substance use and mental health issues.
Many professions, including the mental health field, are greeting new AI technology like ChatGPT with excitement and fear, celebrating the possibilities while predicting the dark sides. For eating disorder experts, where everything from chatbot misdiagnoses to AI-generated body images can have devasting consequences for their patients, the concerns are high.
While many people celebrate love and romance on Valentine’s Day, for some people, it can be a day shadowed by pain and loss. Mental health issues from depression, grief and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can all trigger harmful negative emotions.
Voters in November pushed Colorado to the forefront of a psychedelic-assisted therapy movement for mental health, becoming the second state behind Oregon to approve the use of hallucinogenic mushrooms for therapeutic use.
About 800,000 people worldwide take their lives each year, which is one death every 40 seconds, according to the World Health Organization. It’s estimated that for every one person who dies by suicide, there are up to 135 people who are impacted by the death. Survivors of suicide loss often feel stuck in the trenches fighting a battle alone in a war they were thrown into against their will.
Christopher Schneck, MD, guardedly tuned in to a highly trumpeted documentary on celebrity Selena Gomez on a recent weekend. Unsure if “Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me,” a six-year recorded journey of the pop star’s life that debuted Nov. 4 on Apple TV+, might amount to a publicity ploy, the top bipolar expert began watching with a skeptical eye.
As the time changes and the dark days of winter settle in, many people may start feeling the impacts of seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Even in Colorado, where we see more sun than most states, SAD is an ongoing problem for many residents and can severely impact their professional and personal relationships if left untreated.
The Kardashians, arguably today’s leading body-image influencers, have shrunk, capturing headlines for their striking weight loss. Pictures highlighting tiny waists, jutting ribs and bone-thin arms have shocked fans and raised eyebrows, particularly among eating disorder experts.
First responders across Colorado and the nation are headed to areas ravaged by Hurricane Ian to assist in recovery efforts. While the acute effects of the tragedy are the prime concern in the short term, experts say psychological effects could persist in the long-term for both survivors and emergency personnel.
Mental Health Clinical Research
As the nation reels from a substance abuse crisis that’s shattering lives every day, scientists and clinicians across the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus work diligently in their labs and clinics, hoping to prevent tragedies of addiction.
Community Faculty Mental Health
Meet Krinkle, a professional therapy dog who works at the Helen and Arthur E. Johnson Depression Center. He and his handler, Samantha McBride, PsyD, senior instructor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, were certified as a therapy dog team in 2015 through Freedom Service Dogs (FSD).
Over 60 years ago, Bill Wilson, the man behind the largest sobriety program in history, tried LSD and began publicly touting the psychedelic drug as a way toward recovery from alcoholism. Today, a growing number of studies suggest the Alcoholic Anonymous co-founder’s revelation might be right.
Plagued by severe depression all his adult life, Aaron Serna has lived through years of ups and downs so low nothing could pull him out of the darkness. Job losses, failed relationships, forced hospitalizations and months of isolation and despair mark his 37 years of life, with thoughts of ending it planned out – all the way to the circled day on his calendar.
What’s it like living when you are dying?
It’s a question palliative care provider and instructor Jonathan Treem, MD, fields so often, he derived an analogy in answer.
It’s like being in a perpetual horror movie, where a killer lurks inside your home, he says. You’re the main character, alone with the murderer, who lies in wait. As you creep from dark room to dark room, searching for a monster sure to overpower you, the dread builds.
Demonized in the early 1960s despite promising research, psychedelic drugs are making a resurgence as therapeutic tools, capturing the eye of medical scientists and the public. Two initiatives destined for Colorado’s November ballot would open the door to treatment in the state and likely ease the launching of studies at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
Research Press Releases COVID-19 Mental Health
People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) struggled with their mental health during the COVID-19-induced lockdowns and subsequent restraints on community services, according to a new study published today in Psychiatric Services.
Community Faculty Mental Health
Starting the process of finding a therapist can be overwhelming. Emily Hemendinger, MPH, LCSW, assistant professor of psychiatry in the University of Colorado School of Medicine, walks through the questions you should ask yourself before starting therapy, the different types of therapy and what to expect at your first session.
The term burnout has been tossed around frequently the past two years.
Most people know the feeling, but what can you actually do about it? Tyra Fainstad, MD, visiting associate professor of internal medicine, and Adrienne Mann, MD, assistant professor of hospital medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine decided they wanted to do something to address the root of the problem, so they created and implemented Better Together, a physician coaching program for trainees. The duo answers common questions and addresses misconceptions about burnout.
Editor’s note: This interview was edited for clarity and brevity.
Research Women's Health Mental Health
A coaching program aimed at decreasing burnout among female resident physicians significantly reduced emotional exhaustion and imposter syndrome while increasing self-compassion over a six-month period, according to researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
Community Faculty Mental Health
After a loved one dies, mourners are left to process a range of emotions – depression, guilt, anger, anxiety, numbness, regret. In some cases, even peace or relief can arise as conflicting feelings. Often, a combination of feelings can strike at once.
Community Faculty Mental Health
For many of us, the unrest in Ukraine may be the first time we are seeing images and videos from a war across the world on our phone screens minutes after an explosion. We now have a front-row seat to war on top of remaining on edge from the pandemic, economic uncertainty, climate change, a global refugee crisis, polarized politics and other psychological tumult.
Research COVID-19 Mental Health
Amber McDonald, PhD, LCSW, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, has been on the forefront of public safety’s cultural shift for years. She’s helped steer policing from a confrontational, “we’re taking you in” approach toward a more nuanced style such as: “We want to hear you out and connect you to community resources.”
Research Patient Care COVID-19 Cancer Mental Health
With the events of the past year underpinned by the fast-mutating SARS-CoV-2 virus and the vaccine rollout, researchers, clinicians and other healthcare professionals at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus remained in the spotlight in 2021.
The holiday season has always challenged mental health experts and their patients. Things like loneliness, depression and grief over lost loved ones don’t go away just because the ornaments and the mistletoe come out. In fact, they often get worse.
Research Patient Care Community COVID-19 Mental Health
The past year has been defined by overwhelming stress. While COVID-19 remains the overarching trigger, a slew of other stressors remain on the boil: domestic economic uncertainty and a global refugee crisis; rising crime rates and mass shootings; climate change and relentless wildfires; and polarized politics and a Capitol insurrection.
Images of the crumbling Twin Towers are invading American living rooms and cellphones, as the 20th anniversary of one of the worst days in the nation’s history nears. From Netflix and PBS documentaries to news reports of tribute events across the country, the swell of 9/11 coverage will give rise to uncomfortable emotions for nearly everyone.
Sahra Cahoon remembers watching her baby girl turn blue. As doctors and nurses rushed to the incubator, bagging the infant and performing CPR, the fear the new mother felt defies words. But at least her partner was by her side.
When a gunman opened fire this week in a grocery store next door to our Boulder sister campus, he added to a string of shootings that has put the state on an unwanted map. From the Columbine High School nightmare to the Aurora theater shootings, many Colorado residents and healthcare providers have seen such tragedies unfold before.
Faculty Women's Health Mental Health
“One of the reasons studying the brain is so fascinating is we do have more to learn, and it is complex,” says Neill Epperson, MD, Robert Freedman endowed professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry in the University of Colorado School of Medicine at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, “But let’s face it: this is the organ that is at the seat of who we are. Don’t we hope that it’s complex?”
A storming of the U.S. Capitol aimed at halting a historical presidential electoral vote failed in its intent on Jan. 6. Yet the riotous act frazzled a nation already weary from a months-long pandemic punctuated by political turmoil and social unrest. And the collective stress is taking its toll.
Laura Kelley
