The current suicide hotline — 1-800-273-TALK or 1-800-273-8255 — has helped many people. But it's long and tough to remember in a crisis. The FCC is proposing a new national, three-digit number.
Around 20% of U.S. adults live with chronic pain. Medical schools traditionally haven't dedicated much time to teaching about pain and pain control, but one top school now has a mandatory course.
Spravato, a nasal spray of the anesthetic ketamine, has been shown to help people with major depression. Now studies show it can relieve depressive symptoms in people actively considering suicide.
Home renovations can kick up dangerous dust from lead-based paint. A new report finds the Environmental Protection Agency is not adequately enforcing rules meant to protect kids from lead exposure.
Prenatal classes often focus on Mom-to-be — on her shifting role and emotional needs, along with new skills. But if Dad gets sidelined early into a supporting role, research shows, everybody loses.
Efforts to combat Philadelphia's opioid crisis with a supervised injection site could be stymied by a portion of federal law meant to protect neighborhoods during the crack epidemic of the 1980s.
Doctors and nurses are often barred from turning to FDA-approved medications that research shows to be the most effective way to quit. Critics of that policy say stigma is undermining best practice
Fentanyl, Inc. author Ben Westhoff says the opioid, while useful in hospitals, is killing more Americans as a street drug than any other in U.S. history. Here's how it moves from China to your corner.
Pessimists may suspect this finding, but researchers who tracked the health outcomes of thousands of adults across many years found optimists were much more likely to reach 85. Optimism is teachable.
NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Kristi Daugherty, CEO of Emergence Health Network, about the increase in people seeking mental health care assistance in El Paso, Texas.
Researchers say clusters of human brain cells grown in the lab can spontaneously generate electrical patterns similar to the brain waves of a 6-month-old fetus.
The $572 million judgment against Johnson & Johnson will cover one year of addiction treatment and prevention the judge says. But health economists predict it will take decades to abate the problem.
Oklahoma has argued that the drugmaker's marketing of painkillers contributed to thousands of overdose deaths and other harms in the state and is asking for a multibillion-dollar award.
Pain researchers say men and women respond differently to pain, and women may "feel more" pain than men. Understanding the differences in pain perception could lead to better treatments.
In Utah, 85% of deaths from firearms are suicides. To help people who might be vulnerable, outreach workers are discussing suicide prevention at gun shows and firearms classes.
The Trump administration is trying to legalize indefinite detention of migrant families. But detention can be emotionally crushing for kids, leading to long-term mental health problems like PTSD.
The Trump administration's regulation allows the longterm detention of migrant children. But immigration and health experts warn this could have devastating impacts on the children's mental health.
Washington Post journalist Scott Higham says recently released evidence shows the drug industry purposely shipped big quantities of opioids to communities without regard for how they were being used.
Some addiction treatment clinics offer IV infusions of a mix of supplements — including something known as NAD. The treatment isn't proven to work and is not FDA-approved for addiction.
Though tobacco ads have been banned from TV for about 50 years, the marketing of electronic cigarettes isn't constrained by the law. Public health advocates consider that a loophole that hurts kids.
New research casts doubt on the connection between smartphone use and teens' mental health. Some argue it is a case of correlation, not causation, and that the threat is overblown.
NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford, who specializes in obesity medicine, about a new app from WW — formerly Weight Watchers — that targets children.
"The big picture of survival is sometimes so hard to see, but we always know what we can do to make the next best step toward survival," says cave diver, photographer and memoirist Jill Heinerth.
The Mountain West has some of the highest rates of depression and suicide. Researchers think the mountains, with a lack of oxygen at high altitude, could be interfering with people's mental health.
![Bags of heroin, some laced with fentanyl, picked up in a 2016 New York City drug bust. "Basically, [fentanyl] is so cheap to produce and it's so powerful, that drug dealers began realizing it was a way to increase their profits," <em>Fentanyl, Inc. </em>](https://knpr.org/sites/default/files/public/styles/thumbnail/public/images/npr-story/757101225_1449456291.jpg?itok=N19p1YW8 "Drew Angerer, Getty Images")
