The Children's Mental Health Crisis Didn't Start With The Pandemic

05/14/22 • 11 min

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The United States is experiencing an adolescent mental health crisis. Experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the Surgeon General are stressing the urgent need to address the mental health needs of children and teens.
The pandemic focused attention on this issue as young people dealt with isolation, the uncertainty of lockdown and grief over the death of loved ones. But while the pandemic exacerbated the problem, it has been building for years.
We speak with Judith Warner, a journalist and author, to find out how we got to this point, and what can be done to help kids now. Warner's most recent piece, "We Have Essentially Turned a Blind Eye to Our Own Children for Decades," appears in The Washington Post Magazine.
This episode deals with suicide. If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or the Crisis Text Line by texting "HOME" to 741741.
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Genetic Testing: Is It Better Not To Know?

Sasa Woodruff loves food—she's been accused of having far too many cookbooks. But in 2019, a phone call from an unknown caller changed her relationship to eating.
A genetic counselor called to tell her that she had a rare genetic mutation which could lead to a lethal form of stomach cancer.
The only way to prevent that cancer was to get her stomach surgically removed.
While she's now grateful for the information that genetic testing gave her, Woodruff's story raises questions about what kind of information patients should have and how they can use it.
Professor of law and philosophy at Duke University, Nita Farahany and professor of law and biosciences at Stanford University, Hank Greely discuss the implications of growing access to genetic testing and how to weigh health decisions.
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Buffalo Shooting Victims Are Likely Targets Of Racist 'Replacement' Violence

A man accused of killing 10 people in Buffalo, New York was allegedly motivated by a racist doctrine known as 'replacement theory.' It's just a new name for an old set of racial hatreds, Kathleen Belew told NPR. Belew is an assistant professor of history at the University of Chicago and the author of Bring The War Home: The White Power Movement And Paramilitary America.
NPR's Quil Lawrence reports from Buffalo on the aftermath of the shooting, and NPR's Adrian Florido takes a closer look at the supermarket where it took place.
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