(Courtesy of Youth Guidance)
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Teen girls are in crisis. Research found nearly 40% of girls studied in Chicago high schools are experiencing signs of post-traumatic stress disorder as well as anxiety and depression from exposure to violence.

(WTTW News)

Exposure to violence is traumatic for everyone involved and can cause both immediate and long-term psychological damage. That damage can lead to depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, sleep and substance abuse disorders and even suicide.

Chicago CRED hold a session for participants on July 6, 2023. (WTTW News)

Chicago CRED aims to approach violence reduction by engaging with those most at risk of being shot. The nonprofit organization, which has nine locations, provides young men in the city with opportunities to change their lives through services like life coaching and education.

(Fiordaliso/Moment RF/Getty Images)

Adults ages 19 to 64 in the U.S. should be screened for anxiety disorders, according to a new recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a group of independent medical experts whose recommendations help guide doctors’ decisions and influence insurance plans.

A person is silhouetted against the sky at sunset at Papago Park in Phoenix on Thursday, March 2, 2023. (AP Photo / Charlie Riedel)

Experts cited several possible reasons for the increases, including higher rates of depression, limited availability of mental health services and the number of guns in U.S. homes.

(Thomas Ulrich / Pixabay)

Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy recently issued a warning that social media presents a “profound risk of harm” to kids’ mental health. He’s calling on families to set limits on social media use and for lawmakers to issue tougher standards on technology platforms to protect kids.

(WTTW News)

Chance the Rapper’s nonprofit is trying to make sure Chicagoans have access to mental health care in an initiative called My State of Mind. It has offered nearly 3,000 different wellness programs since its 2019 inception.

(WTTW News)

The Department of Veterans Affairs found Black veterans may be more likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder than their White counterparts. However, an internal VA report shows Black veterans were more often denied benefits for PTSD.

(WTTW News)
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With Mayor Brandon Johnson vowing to reopen the city’s shuttered mental health clinics, some advocates are looking at the administration to reinvigorate and reimagine the city’s approach to providing mental health services.

(WTTW News)
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“We are going to reopen the mental health clinics,” Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson said in an interview with WTTW News, putting it first in a list of his top priorities.

In this Sept. 25, 2018, photo, people look at a display of wooden crosses and a Star of David on display at the Clark County Government Center in Las Vegas. (AP Photo / John Locher, File)

Over the first four months and six days of this year, 115 people have died in 22 mass killings — an average of one mass killing a week. That includes the bloodshed Saturday at a Dallas-area mall where eight people were fatally shot.

(WTTW News)
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Researchers studied 1,200 elementary and middle school CPS students over the last four years and found that Latino students are up to twice as likely to be at risk for depression and anxiety.

Amelia, 16, sits for a portrait in a park near her home in Illinois on Friday, March 24, 2023. “We are so strong and we go through so, so much," says the teenage girl who loves to sing and wants to be a surgeon. Amelia has also faced bullying, toxic friendships, and menacing threats from a boy at school who said she “deserved to be raped.” (AP Photo Erin Hooley)

A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report showed almost 60% of U.S. girls reported persistent sadness and hopelessness. Rates are up in boys, too, but about half as many are affected. Adults have theories about what is going on, but what do teens themselves say?

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker answers questions from the media during a press conference at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Chicago, Nov. 9, 2022. (Anthony Vazquez / Chicago Sun-Times via AP, File)
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A report examining the capacity and condition of Illinois’ response to behavioral health in young people has been in the works for nearly a year. It sketches avenues to help families understand mental illness, then make it easier for them to get required care without wrangling among disparate state agencies.

(WTTW News)

Mental health professionals are continuing to bridge the gap on mental health care in Latino communities by offering more culturally competent care and normalizing conversations about mental health.

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., walks to a motorcade vehicle after stepping off Air Force One behind President Joe Biden, Feb. 3, 2023, at Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia. (AP Photo / Patrick Semansky, File)

On Thursday, the office of Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat who was elected to the Senate after a bruising campaign during which he suffered a stroke, announced he had checked himself into the hospital for clinical depression.