The Asylum Is Not a Halloween Attraction

But After My Own Trip to the Psych Ward, I Understand the Haunting Power of These In-Between Spaces

Haunted attractions that will push you to the edge of your sanity is the tagline that greets you on the Pennhurst Asylum website. Like other asylums-turned-amusement centers, Pennhurst’s marketing focuses on the horror of its history. The ghosts haunting the place, waiting to terrify you, are supposed to be those of the people once admitted there. The website includes pictures of performers as ghostly patients in straightjackets, monstrous hospital staff performing lobotomies, and many a stereotypical image of mostly female patients looking crazed—messy hair, dirty faces, wild facial expressions. Last …

Are Hospital Wellness Initiatives Making Doctor Burnout Worse?

A Physician Suggests Encouraging His Colleagues to Explore, Reflect, and Talk About Their Feelings

This article is a co-publication of Zócalo Public Square and State of Mind, a partnership of Slate and Arizona State University focused on covering …

What I Learned From my Breakup with TikTok

When I Deleted the App, I Realized It Wasn’t Just the Algorithm That Kept Me Scrolling

This article is a co-publication of Zócalo Public Square and State of Mind, a partnership of Slate and Arizona State University focused on covering …

An illustration of a pay phone inside an open flowery luggage. To the upper right of the illustration is a dark-skinned left hand presses against a glass. Near bottom right is a card that almost makes out the word "mom" placed inside a flowery heart.

My Mom Is Out of Prison, But I’m Still Not Free

The Trauma of Having an Incarcerated Parent Is a Life Sentence of Its Own

This article is a co-publication of Zócalo Public Square and State of Mind, a partnership of Slate and Arizona State University focused on covering …

What the World Can Learn From Trieste’s Mental Health Model

The U.S. Treats People in Crisis. Italy Envelops Them in Community

This article is a co-publication of Zócalo Public Square and State of Mind, a partnership of Slate and Arizona State University focused on covering …

Pills, colored half green and white, against a dimming white background. On the white part of the pill, there is a drawn smiling face, with the eyes in the shape of a heart.

What Happened When I Finally Got Medicated for My OCD

The Compulsions I Thought Were Part of Me Were Actually Burying Me

This article is a co-publication of Zócalo Public Square and State of Mind, a partnership of Slate and Arizona State University focused on covering …