Drug Addiction Trends: U.S. Rates Increased While Global Rates Fell
Global age-standardized substance-use-disorder rates fell 16.9% from 1990–2021. High-income North America rose 24%—the divergence US coverage misses.
Cannabis vs. Teen Cognition: Flattened, Not Diminished
ABCD’s 11,036-youth study finds flattened cognitive trajectories in teen cannabis users, not absolute decline. THC drives the signal; CBD doesn’t.
AVATAR Therapy vs. CBT for Persistent Voices (Auditory Hallucinations): Comparison Analysis
AVATAR therapy ties CBT at end of treatment, edges ahead at 3-month follow-up, and uses half the sessions. The ‘better than CBT’ framing outpaces the formal statistics.
How Much Does Loneliness Raise Dementia and Suicide Risk?
Loneliness raises measured risk of Alzheimer’s, suicidal ideation, and completed suicide. The associations are documented; the precise magnitudes are not.
When Inflammation Drives Depression — and When It Doesn’t
‘Depression is inflammation’ holds for a subgroup of patients, not for everyone. Community-sample and twin data weaken the broader version of the claim.
ECT: A Modern Reappraisal of Suicide, Dementia, and Mortality
Modern administrative cohorts find no dementia signal for ECT and link it to lower suicide and mortality. The supportive literature carries known biases worth flagging.
CBT-I: First-Line Insomnia Treatment Most People Don’t Get
CBT-I beats sleep medications long-term and self-help versions work too. Sleep hygiene alone isn’t enough — the two are routinely conflated.