Behavioral Health | Penn Today

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Childhood trauma has lasting effect on brain connectivity in patients with depression

A study led by Penn Medicine researchers found that childhood trauma is linked to abnormal connectivity in the brain in adults with major depressive disorder.

Five round pills lined up with smiley faces drawn on the front

The placebo cure

Drug researchers use control groups to measure the efficacy of their drug tests. What happens when the control group responds? Science proves the placebo effect is indeed medicine itself.

Two adolescents walking on the top structure of a bridge, a third sits, while people are on the walkway beneath the top of the bridge.

Do adolescents have a natural tendency to engage in more risk-taking than children?

An article published in Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences coming out of the Annenberg Public Policy Center reviews research into whether adolescents are actually more likely to take risks than children, as some neuroscience theories have suggested.

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Behind the scenes, complex disease surveillance is protects the campus community

Beyond promoting vaccines and overall health education, Campus Health, the public health arm of Student Health Service, is watching for clusters of common illnesses, unusual diagnoses, and anything out of the ordinary.

People standing in a group outside, with winter coats and orange vests, in front of a tent and plastic bags.

Can closing homeless encampments help Philadelphia’s opioid problem?

According to a new report, the city’s recent effort opened up treatment spots for people with opioid addiction and offered permanent and temporary housing options.

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U.S. fertility is at an all-time low, but is that a bad thing?

Researchers from the Population Studies Center dissect the latest CDC numbers and explain the role of migration patterns, better family planning, and delayed parenthood.

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College campuses are thinking about lactation spaces—but could be doing more

Breastfeeding mothers in higher-education environments can typically find a place to pump, but only recently have institutions begun to prioritize access to this resource.

Facebook, Twitter are blocking dangerous antivaccine posts. It’s about time

The Perelman School of Medicine’s Paul Offit wrote about efforts to stop the spread of misinformation about vaccines on social media. “Nothing educates like outbreaks,” wrote Offit.

How has the ‘crack cocaine of gambling’ affected Illinois? The state hasn’t bothered to check

Charles O’Brien of the Perelman School of Medicine discussed gambling addiction, saying that “many clinicians have long believed that problem gamblers closely resemble alcoholics and drug addicts, not only from the external consequences of problem finances and destruction of relationships but increasingly on the inside as well.”

A girl in a blue fleece standing in front of a wall of black and white posters in Hebrew. Boxes of children's toys are in front of the wall.

Embracing a community’s practice to promote the measles vaccine

Mimicking a news-sharing custom common among ultraorthodox Jewish communities, two Penn Nursing students created and placed posters around a Jerusalem neighborhood, employing a mystical technique that assigns a numerical value to each Hebrew letter.

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