Mental Health

Latest KFF Health News Stories

Psychoactive Drugs Are Having a Moment. The FDA Will Soon Weigh In.

KFF Health News Original

Mounting evidence suggests psychoactive drugs including LSD, ketamine, mushrooms, and MDMA can be powerful treatments for severe depression and PTSD. But not everyone is convinced. And even if such drugs gain FDA approval, safety protocols could render them extremely expensive.

The Psychedelics-As-Medicine Movement Spreads to California

KFF Health News Original

Ecstasy, “magic mushrooms” and other psychedelic drugs could soon be recognized as therapeutic in California — one of the latest states, and the biggest, to consider allowing their use as medicine. Legislation by state Sen. Scott Wiener (D) and Assembly member Marie Waldron (R) would allow the therapeutic use of psilocybin, mescaline, ecstasy and dimethyltryptamine […]

En Colorado, reevalúan leyes formuladas para proteger a los menores

KFF Health News Original

Hay esfuerzos en Colorado y otros estados para revertir las leyes que obligan a informar sobre sospechas de abuso o negligencia, argumentando que el resultado ha sido demasiados informes infundados, que perjudican desproporcionadamente a las familias que son pobres, negras, indígenas o tienen miembros con discapacidades.

California Is Investing $500M in Therapy Apps for Youth. Advocates Fear It Won’t Pay Off.

KFF Health News Original

California launched two teletherapy apps as part of the governor’s $500 million foray into health technology with private companies. But the rollout has been so slow that one company has yet to make its app available on Android, and social workers worry youths who need clinical care won’t get referrals.

Paris Hilton Speaks up for California’s ‘Troubled’ Teens

KFF Health News Original

Heiress Paris Hilton is on a mission to shine a light on the “troubled teen industry,” a largely unregulated multibillion-dollar industry that is gaining public scrutiny for alleged abuse of vulnerable youths. Hilton told state lawmakers in Sacramento on Monday she was subjected to abuse disguised as therapy decades ago when she was housed in […]