Behavioral Health | Penn Today

People standing in a group outside, with winter coats and orange vests, in front of a tent and plastic bags.

Can closing homeless encampments help Philadelphia’s opioid problem?

According to a new report, the city’s recent effort opened up treatment spots for people with opioid addiction and offered permanent and temporary housing options.

Black and white silhouettes of many people and one large person with a stroller.

U.S. fertility is at an all-time low, but is that a bad thing?

Researchers from the Population Studies Center dissect the latest CDC numbers and explain the role of migration patterns, better family planning, and delayed parenthood.

Person in a black dress standing on stairs for a portrait.

College campuses are thinking about lactation spaces—but could be doing more

Breastfeeding mothers in higher-education environments can typically find a place to pump, but only recently have institutions begun to prioritize access to this resource.

Facebook, Twitter are blocking dangerous antivaccine posts. It’s about time

The Perelman School of Medicine’s Paul Offit wrote about efforts to stop the spread of misinformation about vaccines on social media. “Nothing educates like outbreaks,” wrote Offit.

How has the ‘crack cocaine of gambling’ affected Illinois? The state hasn’t bothered to check

Charles O’Brien of the Perelman School of Medicine discussed gambling addiction, saying that “many clinicians have long believed that problem gamblers closely resemble alcoholics and drug addicts, not only from the external consequences of problem finances and destruction of relationships but increasingly on the inside as well.”

A girl in a blue fleece standing in front of a wall of black and white posters in Hebrew. Boxes of children's toys are in front of the wall.

Embracing a community’s practice to promote the measles vaccine

Mimicking a news-sharing custom common among ultraorthodox Jewish communities, two Penn Nursing students created and placed posters around a Jerusalem neighborhood, employing a mystical technique that assigns a numerical value to each Hebrew letter.

Poor sleep could clog your arteries. A mouse study shows how that might happen

The Perelman School of Medicine’s Namni Goel weighed in on a new study that found that poor sleep can clog arteries.

Child in a gray shirt sitting waiting to get a shot by gloved hands.

The art of talking about science

Paul Offit of Penn Medicine and CHOP offers five tips for better communicating tough scientific topics to the public—and standing up for science in the process.

Treating opioid addicts is expensive. States want drug makers to fund it

Daniel Polsky of the Perelman School of Medicine weighed in on the high cost of treatments for opioid addiction. “It’s in insurers’ interest to cover addiction medications, and it’s in the patients’ interest too,” Polsky said. “It’s the cheapest and most effective treatment available.”

Hospitals could play bigger role in preventing gun violence, study says

A new study co-authored by Kit Delgado of the Perelman School of Medicine proposes that emergency rooms could help prevent gun violence. “The emergency department may be [gunshot victims’] only contact with the health care system, and what we know is that represents an opportunity to try and prevent a repeat injury,” said Delgado.

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