"What a piece of work is a man" declares Hamlet, and indeed human beings are quite extraordinary. What other organism can organize 334 million individuals (or even 158 million) over 3.8 million square miles in a shared activity in service of an abstraction like democracy? In terms of sheer numbers, the closest would probably be an ant colony or a bacterial film, both of which can coordinate the activities of that many individuals, but via genetics and biochemistry. Only humans are socially engaged at such a scale … [Read more...] about Science Corner: Responding in Kind
mental health
Millennials: Depression, the Pandemic and Hope: Part 2
Introduction In Part 1 we explained how negative thoughts influence depressive symptoms and how depression is due to a brain health issue (a weakened frontal lobe) which can influence behavior and impulsivity. Impulsivity leads to bad habits such as alcohol and drug abuse alongside poor food choices, decreased exercise, increased screen time and decreased social interaction. This creates a negative cycle where bad habits and depressive symptoms influence each other. This downward cycle occurred with Millennials … [Read more...] about Millennials: Depression, the Pandemic and Hope: Part 2
Millennials: Depression, the Pandemic and Hope (Part 1)
Recently, ESN hosted a webinar on Cultivating Mental Health in Grad School in response to the mental health crisis evident in universities and our wider society that has been exacerbated by COVID-19. We are grateful to Grace Chung and Cahleen Shrier for this two part series addressing this crisis and the distinctive hope we have as followers of Christ I. Introduction Millennials have had an increase in diagnoses of depression since 2013 (Blue Cross, 2019). Some individuals suffering from depression have a compromised … [Read more...] about Millennials: Depression, the Pandemic and Hope (Part 1)
Event Announcement: Cultivating Mental Health in Grad School
Graduate school in normal times is a stressful experience for many. A study in 2018 found 39 percent of the respondents experiencing moderate to severe symptoms of depression. This compared to 6 percent of the general population. These are not normal times--a two-year long pandemic with lockdowns, isolation, changing protocols on campuses and personal losses. Add divisive politics, racism, climate concerns, and war, and even the most optimistic among us have days we struggle. Another research study in mid-2020 at … [Read more...] about Event Announcement: Cultivating Mental Health in Grad School
Science Corner: When Normal Isn’t Normative
Although my public health training focused on infectious diseases, I care about a wide range of public health issues. My job cuts across domains, and also personally I want people to be comprehensively healthy and not merely free from contagions. So when I saw that health-improving and potentially life-saving interventions were being labeled as child abuse and used as the sole grounds for investigating parents, I was baffled and dismayed. I don't understand how providing treatments which have demonstrated health … [Read more...] about Science Corner: When Normal Isn’t Normative