Last summer, I received a manuscript in the mail from a 32-year-old man who wanted to tell me the story of his psychosis -- how close he came to killing his dad, and how, when it passed, they put the pieces of their relationship back together. Here it is. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/29/s...

The V.A. has eliminated thousands of medical positions left vacant after a wave of resignations last year, leading to the first drop in front-line medical staff in 20 years. Our latest, w/@NickNehamas @danielle_ivory @anfuller

A Harvard psychiatrist addresses Kennedy's claim that he "cured schizophrenia" with the keto diet. That is "not accurate," Dr. Christopher Palmer said. But Palmer hopes Kennedy's MAHA movement will help expand access to the treatment. w/ @ellenbarry.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/u...

For much of the 20th century, dysfunctional mothers were blamed for all kinds of adult maladies. But a new study on early life parenting found something unexpected: Stress from the father's behavior shaped a child's health into the future.

Great reporting from @ellenbarry.bsky.social + @pambelluck.bsky.social on the push — & fight — to get postpartum psychosis in the DSM:

Is it time for 'psychiatry's Bible' to include a listing for postpartum psychosis? @PamBelluck and I report on the internal deliberations. Comments are open. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/20/h...

Another blockbuster from Sarah Topol, on a rapacious international egg-harvesting syndicate that preys on poor women. Hopefully we will read about arrests in this case. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/14/m...

A jury was asked to convict a woman who killed her two boys. What they were not told: The prosecution's own expert found she was schizophrenic, psychotic at the time of the crime. Prison officials did too. But the jury did not hear it, Yvonne Abraham reports. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/04/m...

This piece about a man who overcame midlife despair by becoming a typewriter repairman is -- I don't know how to describe it except as chicken soup for the soul. The sounds of these machines are strangely comforting. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

A lot of news yesterday, but this @JasonDeParle scoop deserves your attention: The administration plans to slash support for long-term housing programs by two thirds, shifting funding stream to 2-year sobriety & treatment programs. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/u...

This is far worse than anyone expected. Trump's HUD plan would cut *two-thirds* of permanent housing and push as many as 170,000 formerly homeless people back onto the street—redirecting funds to work mandates, forced treatment, and encampment sweeps. All as mass internment camps are being built.

At the peak of his career, a bullfighter unclips his pigtail. Heart-stopping, from @jasondhorowitz “I’ve decided to stop before I fall.” www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/w...

exceptional reporting from @ellenbarry.bsky.social + Jason DeParle on the new homeless policy shifts in Salt Lake City — which the Cicero Institute casts as “a harbinger of the future.” gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/u...

Extraordinary reporting from Emily Baumgaertner Nunn on the malignant criminal network that turns girls in foster care into prostitutes on L.A.'s Figueroa Street -- and why the police can't stop it. Everyone should read this. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/26/m...

R.I.P. ICON D’Angelo 🙏🏾🕊️

A Labor Day reminder: today there isn't a single city, metro area, or state in the U.S. where a full-time minimum-wage worker can afford a modest 2-bedroom apartment. Millions of people with jobs—even multiple jobs—aren't safe from homelessness in this country.

It’s painful to lose a therapist, but it’s made better when the therapist has made plans for such circumstances, as I learned when my own therapist handled it all with candor and grace. Thanks to @ellenbarry.bsky.social at @nytimes.com for writing this important piece and for including me.

When a therapist dies unexpectedly, what is left behind? www.nytimes.com/2025/07/24/s...

Attention all Boston-area Punjabi princesses, book club aunties, Khan Market influence peddlers and B-list maharajas. A week from today, I am interviewing the indiscreet, irrepressible @AatishTaseer at Porter Square Books about his haunting new memoir. Come with questions.

An FDA expert panel on the use of SSRIs in pregnancy featured prominent, longtime critics of psychiatric medication, suggesting the agency may be moving toward a "black box" warning for pregnant women taking antidepressants. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/21/h...

Brilliant @antontroian dispatch from Dubai, which has replaced London and Palm Beach as redoubt for the Russian elite. Manages to show how, and why, powerful Russians have stuck with Putin as he led their country into fratricidal war. (Read to the end.) www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/w...

A study published today in JAMA Psychiatry finds withdrawal from SSRIs is mild & transient, which authors hope will reassure patients. However, the new finding is unlikely to resolve debate about SSRI withdrawal, which is hampered by a lack of long-term trials. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/h...

An astonishing figure in this piece: Last year, the U.S. budgeted $12.8B for new affordable housing. This country is now poised to spend $45B on immigrant detention centers. That's nearly *four times* as much on cages as on homes—in the middle of a devastating housing and homelessness crisis.

A grand jury indicted researcher Kseniia Petrova on smuggling charges today. The case arose Feb 16, when she flew into Logan Airport carrying samples of frog embryos for use in a lab at Harvard. If convicted, she faces up to 20 years in prison. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/s...

This was supposed to be a breakthrough year in the 44-year-long struggle against H.I.V. It's turned into something very different. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/h...

Since May: Federal district courts have ruled against Trump admin 94% of the time. Supreme Court has sided with the Trump admin 94% of the time. A judiciary at war with itself.

Stunning multimedia road trip through Syria from @NYTBen & @dguttenfelder takes you through one shattered place after another, stopping for scenes of bitterness & amnesia & grace. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

It was a real pleasure talking with @awaisaftab.bsky.social, one of the sharpest observers out there, about covering mental health for the NYT.

A large, longitudinal study of children's use of screens found that higher screen time did not predict suicidal behavior four years later. The children at highest risk, the researchers found, were the ones who said they were "addicted" to their devices. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/18/h...

Breaking: The Trevor Project received a stop-work order last night on its contract with the national 988 suicide prevention hotline. The Trump administration is eliminating the option for LGBTQ callers to the hotline to press 3 and connect with someone who specializes in LGBTQ mental health.

"Do not contradict the president." Musk and his team systematically built a false narrative of widespread fraud at Social Security to justify gaining access to data on millions of Americans, a NYT investigation found. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/u...

"If I went to the top of the 19 story building I’m in, and I believed with every ounce of my soul that I could jump off it and fly, would I?” Mr. Torres asked. ChatGPT replied that, if Mr. Torres “truly, wholly believed you could fly? Then yes. You would not fall." www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/t...

20 years ago, when U.C.L.A. psychologist @laugeson first proposed an evidence-based curriculum to help autistic adults find romance, "everyone was a little bit afraid of it.” Comments are open on our piece about neuro-spicy dating boot camp 🩷 www.nytimes.com/2025/06/12/h...

"Welcome to Massachusetts." Those were the judge's words this morning, upon releasing Harvard researcher Kseniia Petrova from federal custody, four months after she was detained for failing to declare scientific samples she was carrying. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/12/s...

ICE detentions of people with no criminal records are up nearly 900 percent over the same period last year. Gift link: wapo.st/43DxcEB

Overjoyed to hear Lost Patients, a podcast about living with psychosis in an American city, won a Livingston Award today. One of the best things I heard last year. All the flowers to @sydbrownstone @otherwilljames @esmyjimenez www.npr.org/podcasts/510...

Holy cow, this long-form feature by @washingtonpost.com's @drewharwell.com, about a woman in her 20s who's streamed her life nonstop for the past three years, is so depressing, yet so eye-opening. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

@mega2e and @KirstenGrind find that Musk was using ketamine often, sometimes daily, and mixing it w/other drugs, while campaigning for Trump. He told people he was taking so much ketamine that it was affecting his bladder, a known effect of chronic use. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/u...

A federal judge in Vermont has ordered ICE to release Kseniia Petrova, commenting that she saw no "factual or legal basis" for revoking Petrova's visa. A big legal win... except that Petrova also faces criminal charges & watched the hearing from a Louisiana jail. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/28/s...

Good morning

What a fantastic piece www.nytimes.com/2025/05/20/m...

"The Spy Factory," from @mschwirtz & @jane__bradley, is full of juicy details about the lives of Russia's deep-cover spies, a particular obsession of Putin's. The exasperated text messages between disgruntled veteran illegals are A++++. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/21/w...

It is unusual for the government to bring criminal charges against Kseniia Petrova months into a deportation case, experts say. Typically, the government first determines whether a crime occurred & the criminal process takes priority. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/s...

11 a.m: Federal judge in Vermont schedules bail hearing for Kseniia Petrova, potentially setting the stage for release. 2 p.m.: AUSA in Mass. announces criminal smuggling charges against her. Her lawyer says charge serves "to justify their efforts to deport her." www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/h...

Scientist Kseniia Petrova, finishing her third month in ICE detention, writes for NYT about her longing to return to a life of total absorption in science. She writes of "beautiful colleagues," an astonishing microscope. Her case comes before a judge tomorrow. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/13/o...

Wonderful @susandominus.bsky.social piece for the release day of The Family Dynamic, her fab new book about siblings and success! www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/m...

Extraordinary @jessemckinley story, about the long love affair between Barry Diller (who is gay) and Diana von Furstenberg. A whole secret landscape of separate and together. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/s...

@awaisaftab.bsky.social urges psychiatry to listen carefully to critiques of prescribing practices, not lump them w RFK's claims. It's a travesty, he writes, that 40 years into wide use of Prozac, we still have no trials showing how to safely taper off SSRIs.

One of POTUS's first acts was to rescind remote work agreements for federal workers. In the VA, where ≈100k health care staff were working remotely, this has led to crowding that risks violating health care privacy law. w/@nicknehamas www.nytimes.com/2025/05/04/u...