One man's idea for the 'greatest PTSD healing curriculum' in America

Activist and Big Think reader Roy M. Arce explains his idea for a new community policing team and how it can halt vicious cycles of PTSD and homelessness.

Photos: Roy M. Arce.
  • Roy Arce is a U.S. veteran with PTSD whose traumatic experiences with police led him to draft a proposal for how communities and police can work better together.
  • A new kind of police response team – made up of at least one police officer and a trained community peace representative – would be part of what Arce calls "the greatest PTSD healing curriculum" in the U.S.
  • This civilian proposal would also seek to treat homelessness in one of the country's most affected regions.
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Big Think Community

An organism found in dirt may lead to an anxiety vaccine, say scientists

Can dirt help us fight off stress? Groundbreaking new research shows how.

University of Colorado Boulder
  • New research identifies a bacterium that helps block anxiety.
  • Scientists say this can lead to drugs for first responders and soldiers, preventing PTSD and other mental issues.
  • The finding builds on the hygiene hypothesis, first proposed in 1989.
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Surprising Science

Managing your mental health is an under appreciated life skill

Without a healthy mind, tackling the life's challenges becomes exponentially more difficult.

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash
  • Most people know about the importance of managing your finances or eating a healthy diet, but few pay as much attention to their mental health.
  • If we engage in bad habits, we might suddenly find ourselves confined to our beds by fatigue or up all night with anxiety.
  • Research has shown that these four activities are crucial to maintaining a healthy state of mind.
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Mind & Brain

MDMA heads to Phase 3 trials for helping PTSD

A new study shows success in a series of Phase 2 trials.

Photo credit: Jasper Graetsch on Unsplash
  • A new study in Psychopharmacology shows MDMA has a 50 percent efficacy rate for PTSD victims.
  • A series of six controlled, double-blind studies moves research to Phase 3 trials.
  • Combined with psychotherapy, MDMA could be a potent force in treating one of the our most challenging problems.
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Surprising Science

Afghanistan is the most depressed country on Earth

No, depression is not just a type of "affluenza" — poor people in conflict zones are more likely candidates

Image: Our World in Data / CC BY
  • Often seen as typical of rich societies, depression is actually more prevalent in poor, conflict-ridden countries
  • More than one in five Afghans is clinically depressed – a sad world record
  • But are North Koreans really the world's 'fourth least depressed' people?
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Strange Maps