NEWSLETTER | May 4, 2023

Finding New Insights and Pathways to Mental Health

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, an annual observance to raise awareness and promote understanding. In a health advisory released this week, Dr. Vivek Murthy, the U.S. Surgeon General, said that loneliness poses serious mental and physical health risks that cost the health industry billions of dollars annually. In the advisory, he calls for Americans to strengthen the nation's social fabric and to prioritize meaningful relationships.

Research shows that Americans have become less engaged with houses of worship, community organizations and family members in recent decades, and are increasingly reporting feelings of loneliness, according to a report by the Associated Press. Isolation during the Covid pandemic heightened the problem.

In 1949, Mental Health America, an advocacy organization, launched Mental Health Week as an effort to educate the public, and the following year the first Mental Health Month was observed. Each year, the organization designates a theme and provides resources to promote mental health awareness. The theme this year is “Look Around, Look Within,” emphasizing the ways that surroundings – like housing, neighborhoods and nature – affect mental health.

Here are recent Retro Report documentaries that spotlight mental health.

Covid Deaths Left Orphans. The Stress of Their Loss May Carry Lifelong Risks.
Scientists have long observed the effects of adverse events in childhood on mental health, but a study published in 1998 uncovered a less well-known outcome: Those experiences can have lasting effects on physical health, too. The study identified 10 sources of stress, and matched them to risky health behavior and disease later in life. Ongoing or repeated exposure to adversity, the study found, can trigger physical changes in the body that increase the likelihood of developing diseases like cancer and diabetes later on. 

Could a Simple Intervention Fight a Suicide Crisis?
Suicide rates have been rising steadily across the country, but despite decades of research and innovation in the mental health field, not enough is known about suicide prevention and treatment. U.S. service members and veterans are at particular risk. In this Retro Report, we explore how a psychologist working for the Defense Department unearthed a prevention approach developed in the 1960s. At the time, researchers followed up on vets' hospitalizations by sending them messages of empathy, known as “caring letters.” Decades later, data shows that this simple intervention – updated for the digital era – remains promising.

Is Multiple Personality Disorder Real? One Woman's Story.
In 1976, millions of viewers watched “Sybil,” a television movie based on the best-selling book of the same name, and were introduced to the agonies of a young woman said to have 16 different personalities. The movie elevated a rare mental illness – multiple personality disorder – into a cultural phenomenon. By 1980, the American Psychiatric Association officially recognized the disorder, and soon thousands of patients had received the diagnosis. But as cases continued to rise in the 1990s, so too did questions about the disorder, and the woman who had become the face of it. Today, the controversy over multiple personality disorder, now known as dissociative identity disorder, continues to shape mental health issues.

Eighth Graders' History and Civics Scores Decline, Data Show

Eighth-graders’ test scores in U.S. history and civics fell to the lowest levels on record last year, according to data released this week by the Education Department.

The data, from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the "Nation’s Report Card," showed that just 13 percent of eighth graders met proficiency standards for U.S. history. Four in 10 eighth graders scored below basic levels, unable to correctly identify basic concepts like the difference between indentured servants and slaves. About 25 percent of students scored at or above the proficient level in civics, with many unable to name characteristics shared by all constitutional governments, for example. 

Peggy Carr, the commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, said in a news conference this week that she was shocked by the U.S. history and civics scores. “These data are a national concern," she told reporters. "The health of our democracy depends on informed and engaged citizens.” 

Retro Report Recommends . . . 

The Retro Report team suggests articles, podcasts and videos that interest, impress and inspire us. Do you have a pick you'd like to share? Let us know: news@retroreport.com. 

. . . Understanding the October Surprise
Four writers and policy advisors with deep knowledge of the Carter administration have concluded that Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign delayed the 1981 release of the 52 Americans held hostage in Iran. "We think there’s now enough evidence to say definitively that Ronald Reagan’s campaign manager, the late William Casey, ran a multipronged covert operation to manipulate the 1980 presidential election," they write, "and that these acts of betrayal might have affected the outcome." [The New Republic]

. . . Protecting the Chesapeake
Despite decades of clean-up efforts and regulations from the E.P.A., the Chesapeake Bay is in a critical state. Nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater treatment plants and runoff from cities and farms are suffocating marine life. Climate change, which has brought increased rainfall and warming water temperatures, is compounding the problem. “What happens in the Chesapeake Bay is not only important to our residents, but it also impacts seafood industries, recreation and commercial anglers all along the Atlantic Coast,” said Allison Colden, a senior fisheries scientist at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, a conservation organization. [Scientific American]

. . . Preserving the memory of a shipwreck
Gordon Lightfoot, the Canadian folk singer and writer, died this week in Toronto. He was 84. His first and only No. 1 hit was Sundown, but he may be better remembered for “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” below, which he wrote after reading about a 1975 shipwreck in Lake Superior, in which 29 crew members died. Mike Ives, a New York Times reporter who specializes in news about extreme weather, writes that the song was unusual partly because, at more than six minutes long, it was about twice as long as most pop hits, and also because it was the retelling of a real-life tragedy. [The New York Times]

We Use History to Explain Our World, and We Show Why It Matters

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