The Best Beginning

11/04/2026

PANS PANDAS Symptoms

https://aspire.care/symptoms-diagnosis/symptoms/

10/04/2026

09/04/2026

The kids are not all right, and frustratingly, we don’t really know how to help them, Olga Khazan wrote in 2023. https://theatln.tc/iWlOZQcz

A study in Australia taught one set of teens a typical middle-school health class and taught another set a version of dialectical behavioral therapy. DBT incorporates some classic therapy techniques, such as cognitive reappraisal, and more avant-garde techniques, such as mindfulness, that have been proven to alleviate psychological struggles. The results were not what the researchers expected: The teens who received the DBT class actually reported worse mental-health outcomes and worse relationships with their parents.

This is not the first program to use so-called universal interventions that have failed to help teens. “D.A.R.E., which from the ’90s to early 2000s taught legions of elementary-school students 10 different street names for he**in, similarly had little to show for its efforts,” Khazan writes. “The self-esteem-boosting craze of the ’80s also didn’t amount to much—and later research questioned whether having high self-esteem is even beneficial. Anti-bullying programs for high schoolers seem to increase bullying … The consistent failure of these kinds of programs is troubling, because teen mental health is now considered a crisis—one that has so far resisted even well-considered solutions.”

These types of programs tend to flop for a lot of different reasons. In the Australian study, the teens did not opt in to the intervention; they were signed up for it. But teens don’t like being told by adults how to think or what to do, even if it’s something that could benefit them, experts told Khazan. The concepts were also complex and the instructors might have had to dilute DBT beyond the point where it was helpful. Additionally, on average the teens in the study were not clinically depressed or anxious to begin with. Teaching them to notice negative thoughts may have inadvertently reinforced them.

“Alleviating the teen-mental-health crisis may require something that is not altogether comfortable for adults: trusting that teenagers will know when they need help.” Khazan continues here at the link.

📸: William Keo / Magnum

06/04/2026

Celiac disease is often thought of as something that is diagnosed in childhood, but it can develop at any age. Over 80% of cases in the US diagnosed in adulthood. The reported mean age at adult diagnosis in North America is between 46 to 56 years!

Regardless of age, the same factors are involved in the development of celiac disease: genetics and consumption of gluten. Certain genes increase the risk, especially in people who already have autoimmune diseases like autoimmune thyroid disease or type 1 diabetes.

It is also believed that triggers such as viral infections, major stress, changes in gut bacteria, or pregnancy may also bring on celiac disease in people who are genetically at risk. However, researchers are still addressing these questions.

03/04/2026

A child’s brain develops from the bottom up. Before thinking, reasoning and problem solving can happen, the nervous system needs to feel safe.

The bottom up, whole brain approach recognises that behaviour is not just about choices. It is about the state of the body and nervous system first.

When a child is dysregulated, their lower brain is in charge. This is where survival responses live. Fight, flight, freeze or fawn. In these moments, the thinking brain is much less accessible. So reasoning, consequences or logic often do not work.

Play therapy works with this, not against it.
Instead of expecting children to “think their way” out of distress, play therapy supports regulation from the bottom up. Through sensory experiences, rhythm, movement and relational safety, the nervous system begins to settle. Only then can higher level thinking and reflection start to come online.

In play therapy, the child is not pushed to explain or analyse. They are given space to express, experience and process through play, which is their natural language.

This approach helps to:

• support nervous system regulation before cognitive demand
• build felt safety through consistent, attuned relationships
• integrate emotional and sensory experiences
• strengthen connections between the lower and higher parts of the brain
• enable children to access thinking, learning and relating more effectively

As Bruce D. Perry reminds us, “Regulate, relate, reason.”

Play therapy honours this sequence. It meets the child where they are and supports development in the way the brain is designed to grow.

01/04/2026

Myth: You have to have gut symptoms like diarrhoea to have coeliac disease

Fact: Coeliac disease is a multi-system condition, meaning it can affect many parts of the body, not just the gut.

Symptoms vary from person to person, and some people may have no digestive symptoms at all.

Other symptoms can include:
• Ongoing tiredness
• Unexplained anaemia or vitamin deficiencies
• Persistent mouth ulcers
• Skin rashes
• Neurological symptoms such as poor balance or tingling in hands and feet

This can make coeliac disease harder to recognise and diagnose.

Find out more about the symptoms:
https://f.mtr.cool/ghidxqxixb

31/03/2026

16 Years Ago, My Life Drastically Changed
In April of 2010, I entered a period where i couldn't sleep, and didn't have a good grip on reality. In the months that followed, I would end up in the psych ward at our local hospital. Doctors told me that I had Bipolar Disorder

For years I was absolutely ashamed of that period of my life. It's taken a long time for me to realize that I came through a dark time and I am still standing, and in some ways thriving.

And I am thankful for the medications that help me be the best version of myself. That allow me to get a good night sleep, which is SO critical for mental health.

It's given me a greater compassion for those who struggle with mental illness. It's made me upset to see people who are homeless or incarcerated, because they made choices when they were unmedicated, and unable to access them do to cost. And how healthcare often doesn't "care" about people at all.

If you or a family member are dealing with mental health issues, please know that you are not alone. Even though I am sure there are times you feel that way.

Today is World Bipolar Day. It is a disorder that has vascillating episodes of mania and depression. There are different types of bipolar disorder, and different symptoms. It can happen in any age of life.

To learn more about Bipolar Disorder, visit the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance.

https://www.dbsalliance.org/education/bipolar-disorder/

04/03/2026

It is time to move beyond the “baby brain” cliche, say scientists who scanned dozens of women’s brains.