Mental health has been on my mind lately, largely because EHN.org and The Allegheny Front just published a large series looking at the impacts of air, water and climate pollution on our mental health.
Turns out it's a vastly under-researched and under-reported topic. We know that air pollution affects the lungs. But such pollution also affects every organ system, including the brain.
And then there's stress: The stress of coping with a changing climate, the stress of living near fracking operations, the stress of fighting for clean air and water, the stress of wondering whether living in a particular house or neighborhood hurts the health of your kids.
All of that has an impact on mental health, too.
What sort of connection, I wondered, exists between our mental health and efforts to make healthcare more sustainable and healthy?
It's an unlikely pairing, I'll admit: I can't say, for instance, how efforts by my local hospital to reduce plastic affect my mental health.
But that kind of thinking on pollution and mental health has left a collective blind spot, our reporting team found. And I wondered if something similar existed on healthcare.
Its common for people in fracked communities to experience "worry, anxiety, and depression about lifestyle, health, safety, and financial security," a literature review on fracking and mental health reported. Entire communities can experience collective trauma as a result of the boom/bust cycle that often occurs when industries impinge on community life."
A lead author of a Pennsylvania fracking study relayed a story about a community member who suddenly understood, after fracking moved in, why sleep deprivation is used as a torture technique.
"That kind of stress creates its own health impacts," the researcher told our reporter. "When we document that someone has a headache, for example, is that because of a chemical exposure or because they haven't slept and their neighbors don't trust them anymore?"
So when I searched our databases for news stories about sustainability and either healthcare or mental health, I was pleasantly surprised to find nearly 33,000 stories in the last month.
More than one third 22,000 focused on healthcare and sustainability. About 10,500 focused on mental health.
The real shock came when our AI software mapped a representative sample of 2,869 of those stories, pictured above.
They were all clustered in a tight circle, suggesting a number of shared themes and concepts.
The screengrab above shows all 2,800 stories, sorted by our software into thematic, color-coded clusters. Each dot is a story, with lines connecting related stories.
Stories focusing specifically on mental health, highlighted in the above screengrab, sit clustered in the southern hemisphere.
But they're not islands: Many of the mental health clusters spider into and connect with healthcare clusters.
This screengrab highlights one such cluster stories focusing on mental health research. Notice how the links stretch up and out to touch on clusters focused on plastic pollution, climate action, and universal health coverage? That's an encouraging sign.
I'm not one to say where the promising research or reporting on mental health and sustainable healthcare needs to happen. But I think this area offers rich potential for discovery and discussion.
I think back to an alarming bit of science published in November suggesting that the phthalate DEHP, commonly added to IV tubing and bags, contributes to breast cancer mortality and recurrence.
If you're fighting breast cancer and it flares up again, that's a huge mental burden for you and your loved ones.
And if your healthcare delivery system played a small role in that recurrence? That seems worth exploring.
Go here to read the rest:
Mental health and sustainable healthcare - Environmental Health News
- Mental Health - June 23rd, 2018 [June 23rd, 2018]
- Mental Health - Harvard Health - July 26th, 2018 [July 26th, 2018]
- Mental Health UK :: Home - July 26th, 2018 [July 26th, 2018]
- Mental Health : NPR - July 26th, 2018 [July 26th, 2018]
- Mental Health | Youth.gov - July 26th, 2018 [July 26th, 2018]
- Mental Health - Orange County, Florida - November 2nd, 2018 [November 2nd, 2018]
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- Mental Health | NCAA.org - The Official Site of the NCAA - December 26th, 2018 [December 26th, 2018]
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- Mental Health: American Diabetes Association - February 11th, 2019 [February 11th, 2019]
- Mental Health Problem Symptoms, Causes and Effects - February 11th, 2019 [February 11th, 2019]
- Promoting Childrens Mental Health - AAP.org - February 11th, 2019 [February 11th, 2019]
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- Mental Health | Healthy People 2020 - March 23rd, 2019 [March 23rd, 2019]
- Health - lds.org - April 13th, 2019 [April 13th, 2019]
- Mental Health | ADA - September 11th, 2019 [September 11th, 2019]
- Faces of Loudoun: Mental Illness Just Means I Need Help Now and Then - Loudoun Now - September 27th, 2019 [September 27th, 2019]
- Youth mental health work more important than ever after tornadoes, shooting - Dayton Daily News - September 27th, 2019 [September 27th, 2019]
- BOMBARDED Part 3: Mental health struggles weigh heavily on LGBTQ+ youth - Keizertimes - September 27th, 2019 [September 27th, 2019]
- The Uses and Abuses of the Term Mental Illness - National Review - September 27th, 2019 [September 27th, 2019]
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- Meghan Markle Says There Is a Global Consciousness Crisis Regarding Mental Health - TownandCountrymag.com - September 27th, 2019 [September 27th, 2019]
- Letter from the Editor: Michigans mental health crisis is affecting all of us. Something must be done - MLive.com - September 27th, 2019 [September 27th, 2019]
- Voices For Mental Health: Clodagh, on how Ireland has changed its perspective on mental health #NowWereTalking - hotpress.com - September 27th, 2019 [September 27th, 2019]
- Timberlake Jr. High teacher's focus on mental health earns her Idaho Teacher of the Year award - KXLY Spokane - September 27th, 2019 [September 27th, 2019]
- New rule could leave tens of thousands in Michigan without their mental-health counselor - MLive.com - September 27th, 2019 [September 27th, 2019]
- Lawmakers and law enforcement officials push for more mental health beds in northwest Wisconsin - WEAU - September 27th, 2019 [September 27th, 2019]
- One Way to Think About Mental Health: Zero-Proof Cocktails - Houstonia Magazine - September 27th, 2019 [September 27th, 2019]
- Evaluating Jumaane Williams' proposal to reform mental health crisis response - City & State - September 27th, 2019 [September 27th, 2019]
- How to talk to children about their mental health - TODAY - September 27th, 2019 [September 27th, 2019]
- NC bill aimed at providing more mental health resources in schools - WSOC Charlotte - September 27th, 2019 [September 27th, 2019]
- Northeastern University researcher studies the use of social robots in mental health and well-being research - News@Northeastern - September 27th, 2019 [September 27th, 2019]
- 'The way universities are run is making us ill': inside the student mental health crisis - The Guardian - September 27th, 2019 [September 27th, 2019]
- TC's Greg Epstein and Kate Clark talk mental health startups and the 'Cult of the Founder' - TechCrunch - September 27th, 2019 [September 27th, 2019]
- Key resources: Shining light on mental health in New Hampshire - WMUR Manchester - September 27th, 2019 [September 27th, 2019]
- Mental-health issues hit home for lots of Michigan families. Including mine. - MLive.com - September 27th, 2019 [September 27th, 2019]
- Voices For Mental Health: Kano, on telling his truth - hotpress.com - October 3rd, 2019 [October 3rd, 2019]
- See which Michigan counties have highest, lowest ratio of mental-health providers - MLive.com - October 3rd, 2019 [October 3rd, 2019]
- The Politician: why the Netflix show is being criticised by mental health charities - iNews - October 3rd, 2019 [October 3rd, 2019]
- In survey of working women in Japan with mental health issues, a third blame harassment at work - The Japan Times - October 3rd, 2019 [October 3rd, 2019]
- Brexit is affecting our mental health, warn doctors - cosmopolitan.com - October 3rd, 2019 [October 3rd, 2019]
- Odd Socks Day helps to tackle stigma and discrimination around mental health - The Sector - October 3rd, 2019 [October 3rd, 2019]
- Statehouse Online: Rep. Puppolo advocates for mental health and education funding - WWLP.com - October 3rd, 2019 [October 3rd, 2019]
- Living By The Coast May Be Better For Your Mental Health, Study Finds - CBS Boston - October 3rd, 2019 [October 3rd, 2019]
- Jumaane Williams: De Blasio and McCray have failed on mental health crisis - New York Post - October 3rd, 2019 [October 3rd, 2019]
- Family of accused Woodfield Mall driver says his mental health is to blame, not terrorism - WGN TV Chicago - October 3rd, 2019 [October 3rd, 2019]
- Supes Haney And Ronen Unveil Sweeping Mental Health Bill, Mayor Is Quick To Oppose It - SFist - October 3rd, 2019 [October 3rd, 2019]
- Discord in SF City Hall over ambitious mental health system overhaul - Mission Local - October 3rd, 2019 [October 3rd, 2019]
- Your Mental Health and Your Work - Harvard Business Review - October 3rd, 2019 [October 3rd, 2019]
- Mental health and the court system - WCBI - October 3rd, 2019 [October 3rd, 2019]
- Artists to work on mural downtown in support of mental health - pacificsandiego.com - October 3rd, 2019 [October 3rd, 2019]
- Providence St. Patrick Hospital How to know if you have a mental illness? - KPAX-TV - October 3rd, 2019 [October 3rd, 2019]