mental health

Beach Bummer: Gulf Residents Face Declining Emotional Health
If seeing sea turtles bellying up on Gulf coast beaches during the oil spill this summer made you a little sad, imagine what it did to residents. A new Gallup poll indicates that residents of Gulf coast counties have seen their overall emotional health decline since the start of the Gulf oil spill last spring. Self-reported cases of clinical depression are up, too, according to the poll.

Ben & Jerry's Dropping 'All-Natural' Label
What's in a name? For Ben & Jerry's ice cream lovers, names say a lot. Consider popular flavors like Chunky Monkey, Cherry Garcia, Dulce Delish, Chubby Hubby. The Vermont-based ice cream may still bear those signature names, but the colorful labels won't say "all natural" anymore. The company is dropping the term--which doesn't have much real meaning anyway--to avoid confusing its customers. There is no plan to change the ingredients.

Some Prostate Screening Guidance
It's one of the most difficult decisions in modern medicine: Should a man get a P.S.A. test and when? As Tara Parker-Pope writes in the New York Times , getting screened for early cancer detections seems simple enough. Except with a P.S.A, the blood test used to spot prostate cancer early, nothing is ever simple. Use of the test is widespread but it apparently saves few lives. But a new study may offer screening guidance to men 60 and older.

Does a full moon really boost births or cause mental disorders to act up? Weatherman Flip Spiceland separates truth from legend.

To overcome a fear of flying or other phobia, a therapist may ask you to slip on special goggles—and slip into the world of virtual reality.

Which state is psychologically healthier: New York or California? Sounds like a strange question, but it turns out that your emotional well-being may be linked to where you live.

Using CDC survey data, researchers tallied the percentage of residents in every state who reported that their mental health--which included stress, depression and problems with emotions--had been "not good" for at least 14 of the past 30 days. Data were collected before the current recession.

The study, published in the June issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found that people living in Kentucky fared worst, with 14% of adults reporting frequent mental distress. West Virginia and Nevada weren't far behind.

The least stressed-out state? Hawaii, where fewer than 7% of residents reported poor mental health. Not too surprising, perhaps. But consider this: Washington, DC--not typically regarded as a bastion of happiness--also topped the list, as did South Dakota. To find out how your state ranked, see the full list.

For the most part, climate didn't appear to be a factor. New Yorkers were better off than Californians, and Hawaiians notwithstanding, people living in the relatively harsh climates of the upper Midwest tended to come out on top.

Still, as this video segment shows, weather can affect our mental well-being, but sometimes in unexpected ways. Another new study--this one published in BMC Psychiatry--found that suicides in Greenland were more common in the summertime, especially in northern regions with nearly constant daylight.

Too much sunny weather, it seems, may not be so good for your mental health. Unless you live in Hawaii.

After recovering from a heart attack, cardiologist Christopher Leet learned firsthand the connection between heart disease and depression.