Locked In, Left Out: Mental Health in Prison
This international series examines the mental health crises unfolding behind bars, from the solitary cells of Canadian detention centers to Spain's overstretched prison clinics, Germany's under-resourced psychiatric care, and Finland's efforts to balance punishment with rehabilitation. Many doctors working in prisons speak of the deep rewards of providing care in this setting. But structural change is needed. This series reveals not only how we treat mental illness in prison, but what that says about the values of our health systems — and our societies.
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32 minutes ago
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I Always Knew I Was Different. Still, I Was Shocked To Hear My Doctor Say These 4 Words To Me.
One particularly stressful day a few years ago, while driving to an important work event, I was seized with a severe bout of tics. This was not unusual for me. I'd been ticcing nearly all my life, and stress always exacerbated my tics. On this day, my snorts and jerks were so out of control that I rear-ended a car. That's when I finally visited a neurologist. I needed to know, literally, what made me tic. What he told me — 'You have Tourette syndrome' — came as a shock. It was also a relief. For as long as I can remember, I've had the characteristic vocal and motor tics associated with the condition. Secreting them away in my mental lockbox, burying them well out of sight of others, was how I dealt with them. A diagnosis brought clarity, and it meant that I could deal with my tics in a healthier way — or so I thought. I grew up in a small western New York town in the 1980s, those heady days of ozone-depleting hairspray, goofy mullets, and syrupy synth pop. In my rural community, very few people knew what Tourette was. I certainly didn't. When I was a teenager, a television program, possibly 60 Minutes, aired an episode on the subject that I watched with my mom. It featured a young man who shouted obscenities in some large American city. By that time I'd been ticcing for years — in fact, I'd already been hiding my tics for years. But I didn't recognize myself in this program, because never, not once, did I swear or shout in public. When I was in elementary school, a teacher once stopped class to tell me to quit making noises and 'doing that thing you're doing with your head.' She actually demonstrated 'that thing' in front of my classmates because I was apparently annoying her and disrupting her lesson. Every head turned my way, and I put mine down, humiliated. I could not tell her that I couldn't help myself. Related: If You Don't Pass This Extremely Easy Hygiene Test, You're Officially Stinkier Than The Average Human In birding, there's something called a 'spark bird' — the bird that, when you first see it in the wild, truly gets you hooked on birding. But this was my spark moment, when I realized my tics were not 'normal' and that I needed to hide them if I wanted to be normal. If my mom made any connection between that kid we saw on TV and me, she didn't mention it, and my parents didn't take me to a neurologist to have me checked out. Because of that TV program, I assumed, wrongly, that having Tourette meant shouting obscenities in public. I learned that this version of Tourette is called coprolalia and, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it 'only affects about 1 in 10 people with Tourette.' It is not as common as popular media likes to portray it. For me, ticcing has always meant a near-constant urge to do things with my body. 'Urge' may not be the right word for these head jerks, blinks, snorts, grunts, throat clearings, tongue clicks, etc., but it's the best I've got. From the moment I wake up to the moment I fall asleep, my body seems to have a will of its own. In any given hour, I probably tic at least 100 times. During periods of great stress, like when I rear-ended that car, my tics are like a parasitic fungus that assumes total control over my body. Nobody wants to twitch or make weird noises in public — to be the person people crane their necks to see. What's wrong with this guy? you imagine them thinking. After getting called out by my teacher, I only wanted to blend in — to become invisible — because when you're in elementary school, you don't want to be seen as a freak. You want to be like everyone else. I couldn't stop ticcing, but I discovered that I could make it less obvious. To shield myself from shame and embarrassment, I developed an arsenal of tic-hiding strategies. Instead of jerking my head, I would put my hand underneath the table and waggle my fingers or ball my fists repeatedly. Instead of snorting or chuffing — obvious and strange sounds — I'd click my tongue softly, like an irregular metronome. These tricks satisfied my near-constant urge to tic and kept me mostly hidden from view. I wasn't bullied or teased in school, as kids and adults with tics often are, but I probably would have been if I hadn't learned how to control my tics. I've been using these tricks ever since. When I'm out in public today, I'm keenly aware of my internal pressure to tic, but I've become adept at suppressing it, bottling it up and capping it tight. At home, where I'm free to be myself, it's a very different story. My tics come and go. Six months ago, I began squirting air from my mouth the way someone might blow hair off their face; a few weeks later, I started hocking as though to spit a loogie. Like uninvited guests overstaying their welcome, both tics remain with me as I write these words. Sometimes a particular tic will go away only to return a year later, like an exasperating big brother who'd gone off to college and come home with a sly grin and a shaggy beard. Related: It Turns Out That Most People Wipe Their Butts Completely Wrong, But This Doctor Is Here To Teach Us The Right Way There is no cure for Tourette — all you can do is try to manage your tics. There are treatments available, ranging from antihypertensives like guanfacine and clonidine to alternative options like the antipsychotic drugs risperidone and Abilify. But I'd honestly rather have tics than the potential side effects these drugs can cause. When I was first diagnosed, I tried guanfacine and I'd wake up in the middle of the night so parched that it was like I'd swallowed sand; my sleeplessness felt more like a punishment, especially since the drug didn't even control my tics, so I quit taking the pill. Since then, I've chosen no other treatments, though I recently learned of a promising option I will try called 'comprehensive behavioral intervention for tics,' or CBIT. This doesn't involve any drugs. Instead, it trains you to change your behaviors and tic less. Researchers estimate that between 350,000 and 450,000 Americans have Tourette syndrome, while roughly 1 million have other persistent tic disorders. There's said to be insufficient evidence to determine the number of adults with Tourette because many people simply outgrow their tics by late adolescence. According to the Tourette Association of America, the condition 'occurs in 1 in 160 (0.6%) school-aged children, although it is estimated that 50% are going undiagnosed' (italics mine). A 2022 survey by the group suggested that 1 in 10 children with a tic disorder 'attempted suicide at least once during the past 12 months.' That's a scary number, and it speaks to how difficult it is for many people with tics to feel comfortable in their own bodies. I'm glad that kids (and their parents) who are diagnosed with Tourette today now have resources available to them — including a supportive community — to feel less stigmatized or ostracized by this awkward thing in their lives. I did not outgrow my tics. Because it's hard to admit publicly something I've always internalized and associated with shame, few people know this part of me. Even if you're not bullied or harassed, hurt and humiliation run deep; they form scars that are easily scraped off. How many other adults fly under the radar, as I do? Who, like me, never outgrew their tics but developed strategies for concealing them? Who didn't benefit from services that the Tourette Association of America offers, or the wealth of research being done today? Who struggled to form truly lasting friendships for fear of being exposed as someone with tics? Apart from the nuisance of having tics, I live what society would likely deem a 'good' and 'regular' life. I have a wife, a child, a great job, a house, and a creative life as a writer and translator. I have Tourette, but Tourette doesn't have me — though my wife would certainly disagree with this. When we got together 25 years ago, I suppressed my tics in front of her, but you can't hide something like this from someone you live with. I no longer try. Even on those nights when my ticcing body keeps her up, she's supportive. Since I've spent a lifetime hiding my tics, I've become successful at blending in, even when I'm meeting people for work or on stage in front of an audience, giving a reading or interviewing authors. But I've also experienced moments of deep loneliness. Retreating into yourself is a good way to not be publicly embarrassed, but you pay a price. Eventually, you end up feeling like a ghost in your own life — known to no one but yourself and a few carefully curated individuals whom you trust. I don't make friends easily. Later this year, I will publish my debut novel, The Book of Losman, after translating more than a dozen novels from Danish and writing countless unsold manuscripts over the past 30 years. It's about a literary translator, like me, with Tourette, but that's where the similarities end. It's a speculative fiction about a man named Losman who lives in Copenhagen, Denmark, and gets involved in an experimental drug study to relive childhood memories in the hope of finding a cure for his Tourette. Why not? The beauty of fiction is that you can imagine anything you want, provided the world you create is believable. In real life, I can't go back in time to reassure the little kid who got called out in elementary school, but I'm old enough to understand something he couldn't: 'Normal' is a highly subjective word, one laced with many assumptions. At nearly 50 years old, my tics (and the need to control them) are ingrained in the very fabric of my being. Even after publishing this essay, I will continue to hide my tics in public. Why? The stigma is a great burden. The line between dignity and humiliation is, in the end, a thin one — at least for me. I truly admire those in the younger generation, who can go on TikTok or YouTube and put themselves out there for the world to see. That's not for me. But by sharing my story here, what I can do is help normalize Tourette and other tic disorders. People like me, we're all around you. All that we ask for is what every human being deserves: to live a judgment-free life. K.E. Semmel is a writer and translator of more than a dozen novels from Danish and Norwegian. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Ontario Review, Literary Hub, The Writer's Chronicle, The Southern Review, The Washington Post and elsewhere. 'The World and Varvara' by Simon Fruelund is his most recent translation. His debut novel, 'The Book of Losman,' was published in October 2024 (Santa Fe Writers Project). Find him online at and on his Twitter/X page, @KESemmel. This article originally appeared on HuffPost in June 2024. Also in Goodful: This Woman Is Going Viral For Begging Women Not To Get Married Right Now, And Personally, I Couldn't Agree More Also in Goodful: People Are Sharing Their Biggest "How Doesn't Everyone Know This?" Facts, And I'm Honestly Embarrassed I Never Realized Some Of These Also in Goodful: "I Thought This Was Normal": People Are Sharing Diagnoses They Received After Someone Else Pointed Out Their Symptoms
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an hour ago
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Got $500? 2 Healthcare Stocks to Buy and Hold Forever
Abbott Laboratories provides exposure to multiple areas of healthcare. AbbVie offers growth, income, and an attractive valuation. 10 stocks we like better than AbbVie › I don't know if we'll be riding in personal aircraft 20 years from now, like George Jetson did in the cartoon TV series. I don't know if artificial intelligence (AI) will replace millions of jobs. But there's one thing I'm quite confident about: We'll still need healthcare products and services in the future, whether we're talking about 10 or 100 years from now. The healthcare sector is an ideal place for long-term investors to focus their attention, in my view. The trick is to find the stocks of companies that have demonstrated an ability to adapt to changes over multiple decades and are well-positioned to succeed going forward. You won't need a fortune to get started investing in the healthcare sector. Got $500? Here are two healthcare stocks to buy and hold forever. Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) was founded in 1888. Today, it ranks among the world's most successful healthcare companies and has a market cap of $240 billion. You can buy two shares of Abbott for around $276 and still have plenty left from an initial $500 to buy the second stock on the list. That $276 will give you exposure to multiple healthcare areas. Abbott is a major force in the medical devices market, with products including the MitraClip mitral valve transcatheter edge-to-edge repair system and the FreeStyle Libre continuous glucose monitoring system. It's a top player in diagnostics, marketing products such as the Alinity family of diagnostic instruments. The company is a leader in the nutritional products space, with top-selling brands including Ensure, PediaSure, and Similac. Abbott also operates a highly successful established pharmaceuticals business, marketing branded generic drugs such as Synthroid for treating hypothyroidism and biosimilars targeting cancer, women's health, and more indications. This healthcare giant remains a nimble one. Abbott expects to grow its revenue in 2025 by 8% year over year at the midpoint of its guidance range. It's also continuing a long track record of innovation. For example, the company recently won the European CE Mark for the Volt PFA System for treating atrial fibrillation, and it's conducting a pivotal clinical trial for a new coronary intravascular lithotripsy system. On top of all that, Abbott is a Dividend King. The company has increased its dividend for an impressive 53 consecutive years. You might notice something similar about Abbott's and AbbVie's (NYSE: ABBV) names. That's no coincidence. Abbott spun off AbbVie as a separate business in 2013, but gave the new company a part of its name. AbbVie has eclipsed the success of its parent. The big biopharmaceutical company sports a market cap of around $328 billion. It generated sales of $56.3 billion last year, versus less than $42 billion for Abbott. And with AbbVie's share price hovering around $185, you should be able to scoop up one share in addition to your two shares of Abbott and still have some cash left over. The thing I like most about AbbVie is its resilience. In early 2023, the company lost U.S. exclusivity for its top-selling product, Humira. But AbbVie was well-prepared for this big blow. It had invested heavily in internal research and development, and made multiple acquisitions to bolster its pipeline. Today, AbbVie's product lineup includes two successors to Humira, Rinvoq and Skyrizi, that should rake in combined sales of $31 billion by 2027. That's much higher than Humira's peak annual sales of around $22 billion. Another thing I really like about AbbVie is its dividend. It inherited Abbott's streak of dividend increases and extended it. Since the 2013 spin-off, AbbVie has increased its dividend every year by a cumulative 310%. The company's forward dividend yield is a lofty 3.51%. As an added bonus, the stock is relatively cheap. AbbVie's shares trade at only 15.2 times forward earnings. With more growth on the way from Rinvoq and Skyrizi, as well as other products, the stock's valuation is even more attractive. Before you buy stock in AbbVie, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and AbbVie wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $704,676!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $950,198!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,048% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 175% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 23, 2025 Keith Speights has positions in AbbVie. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends AbbVie and Abbott Laboratories. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Got $500? 2 Healthcare Stocks to Buy and Hold Forever was originally published by The Motley Fool
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
CVS Health Corporation (CVS) Outpaces Broader Market with Strong 2025 Rally
CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) is one of the Best Dividend Stocks of 2025. A row of shelves in a retail pharmacy, demonstrating the variety of drugs and over-the-counter products. Following a challenging year in 2024, CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) appears to be making progress toward a recovery. The company remains committed to becoming the most trusted healthcare provider in the United States by delivering improved care, value, and service through its integrated and industry-leading operations. The stock has surged by over 50% since the start of 2025. With a strong focus on customer needs, CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) reported positive results across its Health Care Benefits, Health Services, and Pharmacy and Consumer Wellness segments. The company continues working toward its goal of building a healthier future for the 185 million individuals it serves. CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) also updated its full-year 2025 guidance for GAAP diluted earnings per share, adjusted earnings per share, and operating cash flow to reflect strong performance across all business areas. However, the company is maintaining a cautious outlook for the rest of the year due to ongoing elevated cost trends and potential broader economic challenges. CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) has paid regular dividends to shareholders since 1997. The company's quarterly dividend comes in at $0.665 per share for a dividend yield of 3.90%, as of June 26. While we acknowledge the potential of CVS as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: and . Disclosure. None. Sign in to access your portfolio
