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 mental health.

Mental illness haunts me in two different ways. The first surrounds me, living and working in Los Angeles, California, daily. When I see people half naked, lying on the hot sidewalk on the way to the trendy new coffee house. When I meet parents searching for their missing adult children and being turned away by agencies who can help—but …

by Kerry Morrison | March 13, 2023

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

by Katherine Nevitt-Chung | February 23, 2023

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 …

Our Favorite Essays of 2022

From Behind Prison Walls to a Container Ship Out at Sea to the World’s Largest Refugee Camp, Zócalo’s Contributors Traversed the World to Report on the Human Condition

December 29, 2022

In 2022, Zócalo’s contributors reported from the front lines of a changing world, looking to foster conversation—and curiosity—about the way we live now.

While selecting just 10 essays from the scores …

It Takes a Village to Tackle the Teen Mental Health Crisis

In Gonzales, California, Young People Are Turning to One Another—With the Support of Their Community—to Address a National Problem

by Joe Mathews | November 22, 2022

How will California ever solve the mental health crisis among its young people?

Perhaps by empowering young people to do the job themselves.

That, at least, is what happening in the state’s …

| Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Keeping the Kids’ Faith

Studies Suggest Religion Provides a Ballast Against Depression and Other Adolescent Mental Health Struggles

by Jim Hinch | November 14, 2022

The school year is under way and the kids, we are told, are not all right.

America’s families are suffering through what a recent front-page story in the New York Times …

How the Kids Are Getting to All Right

The Voices of the Youth Mental Health Crisis Are Hurting, Honest, and Wise

by Bree Barton | July 14, 2022

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 …

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