Want to connect with colleagues on a local level? Check out our Chapters & Affiliates page for upcoming meetings and events! Don't see a chapter in your state and want to start one? Download our Chapter Chartering Manual to get started today!
You are here
Recovery Update features the most recent articles from throughout the field of psychiatric rehabilitation. Stay up to date on all the latest mental health news through this weekly newsletter.
Current Issue
A gut-wrenching experience. Butterflies in your stomach.
Many of us instinctively feel the connection between our gut and our brain. That connection and how the range of bacteria residing in our digestive tract — our microbiome — might help treat mental illness has become a field of interest for scientists in recent years.
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are early life adversities that include exposure to abuse, neglect, and living in toxic environments. Exposure to ACEs is associated with physical and mental health, as well as developmental and behavioral problems. Individuals in the military are more likely to be exposed to ACEs compared to their civilian peers.
Sixty percent of college students say the pandemic has made it harder to access mental health care, even as financial stresses and prevalence of depression increased among them, according to a new survey on the impact of COVID-19 on student well-being.
The survey by the Healthy Minds Network for Research on Adolescent and Young Adult Mental Health and the American College Health Association garnered results from 18,764 students on 14 campuses.
COVID-19 is having a devastating effect on the emotional, psychological, and social well-being (as well as the physical health) of people around the world. Risk factors for addiction, mental illness, and "deaths of despair" are growing while behavioral health resources are lacking for many who need them, especially among vulnerable populations.
Jasmin Pierre was 18 when she tried to end her life, overdosing on whatever pills she could find. Diagnosed with depression and anxiety, she survived two more attempts at suicide, which felt like the only way to stop her pain.
Years of therapy brought progress, but the 31-year-old Black woman's journey is now complicated by a combination of stressors hitting simultaneously: isolation during the pandemic, a shortage of mental health care providers and racial trauma inflicted by repeated police killings of Black people.
The SARS pandemic tore through Hong Kong like a summer thunderstorm. It arrived abruptly, hit hard, and then was gone. Just three months separated the first infection, in March 2003, from the last, in June.
But the suffering did not end when the case count hit zero. Over the next four years, scientists at the Chinese University of Hong Kong discovered something worrisome.
We've all heard about how the coronavirus pandemic prevented people from visiting their loved ones in nursing homes. The same thing has happened to another community: those with family members in locked psychiatric facilities.
Annie Felix is part of the latter group. Her son, whom she identifies as Andrew R., is at La Casa mental health rehabilitation center in Long Beach.
More than $3 million in funding was announced recently for San Diego County's first pre-trial mental health diversion program, designed to provide treatment options for people with untreated mental illnesses who might otherwise face jail and criminal charges. The San Diego County Board of Supervisors authorized a contract to accept up to $3,328,000 in grant funding from the Department of State Hospitals for the program, which will provide community-based treatment for individuals who meet the state's criteria for mental health diversion.
As a teenager, Paulina Castle struggled for years with suicidal thoughts. When her mental health was at its most fragile, she would isolate herself, spending days in her room alone. Paulina Castle uses weekly routines to manage her mental health — made worse from isolation during the coronavirus pandemic. "We need to start treating mental health the same as we do physical health," she says. "This is an issue we need to stop keeping in the dark."
Local advocates and leaders in the state's mental health system applaud Gov. Kim Reynolds for prioritizing mental health amid the pandemic with her decision to allocate $50 million in federal money for services. But despite some good news, concerns about long-term funding still loom for the state's 14 mental health regions coordinating care: They're trying to implement new required mental health services, while the current funding structure isn't sustainable.
Recent studies show that the pandemic, quarantine and the prolonged nature of risk has affected the mental health of workers at every echelon of the career ladder. Few employees are exempt from the stressors and required changes. And a new Gallup study found that employees are 20% less likely to say they are well prepared to do their jobs now than a month ago due to the pandemic.
More than 90% of people who responded to a new nationwide survey reported feeling increased worry, frustration, boredom or anxiety during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The survey, which has been published online, was a collaboration between researchers at Harvard Medical School and the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.
The new PRA Exam Application site is now online! Please visit https://reg.testrac.com/pra to begin an application to sit for the CPRP or CFRP exam. Please note that with this change, application fees are now collected upon submission of an application, instead of before beginning the application. Individuals that need to schedule a retake may need to email PRA to transfer eligibility in the new system. For more details and deadlines, visit https://www.psychrehabassociation.org/exam-dates-deadlines.
There are nearly 20,000 mental health apps that will do everything from tracking a person's suicidal thoughts to soothing someone experiencing a panic attack. A new online tool from researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center aims to help patients sort through the noise for almost 200 of them — and counting.
Follow Us
Become a PRA Member
Join our community of psych rehab professionals and help enhance recovery and wellness services and outcomes for individuals with mental illness seeking them.
Individuals - Learn More
Organizations - Learn More