The Library
Resources
188 plain-language entries on mental health, organised the way people actually look for help. Start with what you’re feeling, or go straight to a diagnosis, a treatment question, or a place to find support.
What you’re feeling
Start from the experience rather than the label: low mood, worry, loneliness, grief, burnout, and the seasons that make them heavier.
16 entries →
Conditions and diagnoses
Plain-language explanations of what a diagnosis means, how it is assessed, and what the evidence actually supports.
67 entries →
Life and relationships
Family, partners, identity, work, school, money, screens, and the life stages that reshape all of them.
34 entries →
Treatment and care
Therapies, how to find a clinician, what insurance covers, and how to navigate a system that rarely explains itself.
35 entries →
Tools for everyday life
Practices you can use today: grounding, journaling, behavioral activation, sleep, movement, and self-guided programs.
17 entries →
Find support
Crisis lines, warmlines, peer communities, and directories: including help for specific communities.
19 entries →
Showing 188 entries · Page 1 of 19
Explainer · Mood and depression
Depression: NIMH plain-language overview
Symptoms, types, treatments, and what current evidence supports: written for the general public by the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health.
12 min read
Explainer · Anxiety
Anxiety disorders: NIMH overview
Generalized anxiety, panic, social anxiety, and phobias: what they are, how they differ, and what works.
10 min read
Explainer · Mood and depression
Bipolar disorder: NIMH overview
Bipolar I, II, and cyclothymia: the diagnostic distinctions, the mood-episode shapes, and the treatment scaffolding that holds them.
10 min read
Explainer · Neurodivergence
ADHD: NIMH overview
Childhood and adult ADHD, the diagnostic process, and what current treatment guidelines recommend.
10 min read
Explainer · Psychosis and serious illness
Schizophrenia: NIMH overview
What schizophrenia is, what it isn't, and what current treatment looks like.
11 min read
Explainer · Anxiety
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: NIMH overview
What OCD is, how it presents beyond the stereotypes, and why exposure-based therapy is the first-line treatment.
8 min read
Explainer · Trauma and OCD
PTSD: NIMH overview
Post-traumatic stress disorder beyond combat: how it forms, how it presents, and what treatments are best evidenced.
9 min read
Explainer · Sleep and everyday habits
Eating disorders: NIMH overview
Anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, and ARFID: the diagnostic distinctions and what evidence-based treatment looks like.
9 min read
Directory · Crisis and peer support
Suicide prevention: NIMH topic page
Warning signs, risk factors, what works in prevention, and how to support someone who is struggling.
10 min read
Directory · Crisis and peer support
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
The U.S. federal 24/7 crisis line: call or text 988, chat at 988lifeline.org.
3 min read
Directory · Getting care · United States
SAMHSA National Helpline: treatment referral, not crisis
Free, confidential, 24/7 information and referral for mental health and substance use treatment.
3 min read
Directory · Getting care · United States
FindTreatment.gov: the federal treatment locator
Search by ZIP code for licensed mental health and substance use treatment providers.
3 min read
Exercise · Sleep and everyday habits · United Kingdom
NHS Every Mind Matters
Free, NHS-run mental health self-help including a personalised Mind Plan, sleep, anxiety, and low-mood resources.
5 min read
Explainer · Mood and depression · United Kingdom
Mind UK: A-Z of mental health problems
Mind's UK-focused condition library, written in plain English with rights and treatment information.
varies read
Directory · Crisis and peer support · United Kingdom
Samaritans: 24/7 emotional support in the UK and Ireland
Free helpline (116 123), email, and in-person branches across the UK and Ireland.
3 min read
Directory · Crisis and peer support · Australia and New Zealand
Lifeline Australia: 13 11 14
24/7 Australian crisis support and suicide prevention.
3 min read
Directory · Crisis and peer support · Australia and New Zealand
1737 Need to talk? (New Zealand)
Free call or text to 1737 to reach a trained counsellor in Aotearoa New Zealand.
3 min read
Directory · Crisis and peer support · Global
Befrienders Worldwide: find a crisis line in your country
A searchable directory of more than 300 emotional-support helplines across 32 countries.
3 min read
Explainer · Getting care · Global
WHO: Mental disorders fact sheet
The World Health Organization's standing summary of prevalence, treatment, and policy on mental disorders globally.
8 min read
Directory · Crisis and peer support · Global
WHO: Suicide fact sheet
Global suicide statistics, risk factors, and what works in national-level prevention.
7 min read
Directory · Crisis and peer support
The Trevor Project: crisis support for LGBTQ+ young people
24/7 call, text, and chat for LGBTQ+ people under 25 in the U.S.
3 min read
Directory · Crisis and peer support · Global
Crisis Text Line: text-based crisis support
Free, 24/7 text-based crisis support in the U.S., UK, Ireland, and Canada.
3 min read
Explainer · Family and relationships
Postpartum Support International
Helpline, provider directory, and support groups for perinatal mental health.
4 min read
Explainer · Mood and depression · United States
NAMI: Mental Health Conditions library
Plain-language overviews of every major condition, written for patients and families.
varies read
Directory · Getting care · United States
NAMI: Family Members and Caregivers
How to support someone in your life living with a mental health condition without losing yourself in the process.
10 min read
Explainer · Trauma and OCD
International OCD Foundation
The standard U.S. provider directory and explainer library for OCD and related disorders.
5 min read
Explainer · Sleep and everyday habits
National Alliance for Eating Disorders
Helpline, treatment directory, and free support groups for U.S. eating disorder care.
5 min read
Explainer · Anxiety
Anxiety and Depression Association of America
Patient-facing education, a clinician directory, and self-screening tools for anxiety, depression, and OCD.
5 min read
Explainer · Neurodivergence
CHADD: Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
The U.S. patient-advocacy organisation for ADHD across the lifespan.
5 min read
Directory · Crisis and peer support
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
Suicide prevention research, public-education programs, and survivor-of-loss resources.
5 min read
Explainer · Mood and depression
Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance
Peer-led support groups and education for people living with mood disorders.
5 min read
Explainer · Trauma and OCD
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: National Center for PTSD
The most comprehensive evidence-based PTSD resource in the U.S., open to everyone: not just veterans.
8 min read
Explainer · Getting care · United States
CDC: Mental Health hub
U.S. national mental health surveillance data, prevention frameworks, and public health resources.
6 min read
Explainer · Psychosis and serious illness
Borderline personality disorder: NIMH overview
What BPD is, what current treatment looks like, and why the prognosis is better than the stigma suggests.
9 min read
Explainer · Anxiety
Panic disorder: NIMH overview
Panic attacks, panic disorder, and the cognitive-behavioral treatments with the strongest evidence.
7 min read
Explainer · Anxiety
Social anxiety disorder: NIMH overview
Beyond shyness: what social anxiety disorder is, how it differs from introversion, and what helps.
7 min read
Explainer · Anxiety
Generalized anxiety disorder: NIMH overview
GAD distinguished from everyday worry, and the treatments that change its course.
7 min read
Explainer · Neurodivergence
Autism spectrum disorder: NIMH overview
ASD across the lifespan: how it is identified, how it co-occurs with mental health conditions, and what support looks like.
10 min read
Explainer · Trauma and OCD
Dissociative disorders: Mind UK overview
Dissociation, depersonalization, derealization, and dissociative identity: what they are and what helps.
9 min read
Explainer · Trauma and OCD
Hoarding disorder: IOCDF overview
Hoarding as a distinct condition, with its own diagnostic frame and treatment evidence.
7 min read
Explainer · Trauma and OCD
Trichotillomania and body-focused repetitive behaviors: TLC Foundation
Hair-pulling, skin-picking, and related BFRBs: what they are and what helps.
6 min read
Explainer · Substance use
Substance use disorders: SAMHSA overview
What substance use disorders are, how they are diagnosed, and the treatments with the strongest evidence.
9 min read
Explainer · Substance use
Alcohol use disorder: NIAAA overview
AUD on a spectrum, the medications most clinicians do not prescribe, and how to find help.
9 min read
Explainer · Substance use
Opioid use disorder: NIDA overview
OUD, medications for opioid use disorder, and why MOUD remains the standard of care.
9 min read
Explainer · Substance use
Problem gambling: National Council on Problem Gambling
Gambling disorder as a recognized behavioral addiction, with a national helpline and treatment directory.
5 min read
Explainer · Neurodivergence
Tourette syndrome: Tourette Association of America
TS as a neurological condition with strong mental health comorbidity, and the behavioral treatments that help.
6 min read
Explainer · Sleep and everyday habits
Insomnia disorder: Sleep Foundation overview
Insomnia distinguished from poor sleep, and why CBT-I is first-line.
7 min read
Explainer · Family and relationships
Postpartum psychosis: Action on Postpartum Psychosis
A rare, serious, medical emergency in the weeks after birth, and the support network for women and families who have been through it.
6 min read
Explainer · Sleep and everyday habits
Binge eating disorder: Alliance for Eating Disorders
BED as the most common eating disorder in the U.S., and the treatments most people are never offered.
7 min read
Explainer · Sleep and everyday habits
ARFID: Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder
ARFID distinguished from picky eating and anorexia, and the treatments that are emerging.
6 min read
Explainer · Mood and depression
Grief: what's normal, what's complicated, and where to find help
Grief, prolonged grief disorder, and the resources that exist for both.
7 min read
Explainer · Work, school and screens
Burnout: WHO classification and what to do about it
Burnout as an occupational phenomenon, distinct from depression, and how to think about treatment.
6 min read
Directory · Getting care · United States
NAMI HelpLine: information, referrals, and emotional support
Free national helpline staffed by trained NAMI specialists, by phone, text, chat, and email.
3 min read
Directory · Getting care · Americas
211: community resource line for the U.S. and Canada
Dial 2-1-1 to reach trained community resource specialists who can connect you to local services.
3 min read
Directory · Crisis and peer support
RAINN: sexual assault hotline and resources
24/7 confidential support for survivors of sexual violence, by phone, chat, and Spanish-language line.
3 min read
Directory · Crisis and peer support
National Domestic Violence Hotline
24/7 confidential support for people experiencing relationship abuse, with safety planning and referrals.
3 min read
Directory · Crisis and peer support
Blackline: peer support for Black, Black LGBTQ+, brown, Native, and Muslim callers
A non-carceral crisis and peer-support line centering communities most harmed by traditional emergency response.
3 min read
Directory · Getting care · United States
Therapy for Black Girls: clinician directory and community
A searchable directory of licensed Black women therapists across the U.S., plus a popular podcast and community.
4 min read
Directory · Getting care · United States
Asian Mental Health Collective
A pan-Asian directory of therapists, support groups, and culturally specific mental health resources.
4 min read
Directory · Getting care · United States
Latinx Therapy: bilingual mental health directory and podcast
A directory of Latinx therapists, many bilingual in Spanish and English, plus an extensive Spanish-language podcast.
4 min read
Directory · Getting care · Global
Psychology Today: therapist directory
The largest mental health provider directory in the world, with verification of licensure.
4 min read
Directory · Substance use
SMART Recovery: secular, evidence-based addiction support
A non-religious, CBT-grounded alternative to 12-step programs for substance and behavioral addictions.
4 min read
Directory · Substance use
Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous
The world's largest peer-support fellowships for alcohol and drug recovery: free, anonymous, available almost everywhere.
4 min read
Directory · Family and relationships
Al-Anon and Nar-Anon: support for families of people with addiction
Free peer-support groups for adult family members and friends of people with alcohol or drug problems.
4 min read
Exercise · Sleep and everyday habits · United States
Mental Health America: screening tools and information
Free, validated mental health screening tools and a sprawling library of plain-language information.
5 min read
Exercise · Sleep and everyday habits
JED Foundation: mental health for teens and young adults
Programs, resources, and crisis support specifically built for adolescents and emerging adults.
5 min read
Exercise · Sleep and everyday habits
Movember: men's mental health and suicide prevention
Global programs and resources for men's mental health, including peer-support training (ALEC).
4 min read
Exercise · Sleep and everyday habits · Global
HelpGuide: free mental health and wellness library
A long-running, ad-free, plain-English library of mental health and wellness articles.
5 min read
Explainer · Getting care · United States
Brain & Behavior Research Foundation
An independent funder of mental health research with a public-facing science library.
5 min read
Directory · Crisis and peer support · Global
International Association for Suicide Prevention
A global directory of crisis lines and suicide prevention resources, plus World Suicide Prevention Day.
4 min read
Explainer · Mood and depression
Bipolar I, II, and cyclothymia: what the distinctions actually mean
DBSA's plain-language breakdown of the bipolar spectrum, written by and for people who live with it.
8 min read
Explainer · Mood and depression
Persistent depressive disorder (dysthymia): the quiet, durable kind
What it means when low mood stops feeling like an episode and starts feeling like weather.
7 min read
Explainer · Mood and depression
Seasonal affective disorder: NIMH overview
Why depression that arrives with the dark months is a distinct pattern, and what the evidence actually says about light therapy.
6 min read
Explainer · Mood and depression
PMDD: premenstrual dysphoric disorder, by the people who study it
IAPMD's overview of a hormone-sensitive mood condition that is widely under-recognized and frequently misdiagnosed.
8 min read
Explainer · Family and relationships
Perimenopause, menopause, and mental health
The Menopause Society on the mood, sleep, and cognitive changes of the menopausal transition, and what helps.
9 min read
Explainer · Family and relationships
Postpartum psychosis: a medical emergency, not 'baby blues'
Postpartum Support International's primer on the rarest and most acute of the perinatal mood conditions.
7 min read
Explainer · Psychosis and serious illness
Schizoaffective disorder: at the seam of psychosis and mood
NAMI on a diagnosis that is often missed, often contested, and often treated as a moving target.
7 min read
Explainer · Trauma and OCD
Dissociative disorders: the ISSTD public overview
What dissociation is, what it isn't, and how clinicians who specialize in it think about treatment.
10 min read
Explainer · Trauma and OCD
Functional neurological disorder: neurology's interface with mental health
FND Society's plain-language overview of a condition that crosses the neuro/psych boundary and is poorly served by it.
9 min read
Explainer · Trauma and OCD
Body dysmorphic disorder: IOCDF overview
BDD is in the OCD family, not the eating-disorder family, and the treatment implications are real.
7 min read
Explainer · Trauma and OCD
Hoarding disorder: IOCDF overview
A condition that is widely caricatured, frequently criminalized, and rarely treated well.
8 min read
Explainer · Neurodivergence
Tic disorders and Tourette syndrome
The Tourette Association's overview of a neurodevelopmental condition that is often diagnosed late and treated reflexively.
8 min read
Explainer · Neurodivergence
Autism in adults: AANE on the late-recognized presentation
What autism looks like in adults, why it is so often missed, and what an evaluation actually involves.
10 min read
Explainer · Anxiety
Selective mutism: Child Mind Institute guide
A childhood anxiety disorder in which a child speaks freely in some places but cannot speak in others, often mistaken for shyness or defiance.
6 min read
Explainer · Mood and depression
Adjustment disorders: when the situation is the diagnosis
A short, time-bound diagnosis for distress that is proportional to a real stressor but disabling in scale.
6 min read
Explainer · Trauma and OCD
Complex PTSD: the prolonged-trauma presentation
PTSD UK's plain-language explainer on CPTSD, the ICD-11 diagnosis for trauma that is sustained and inescapable.
9 min read
Directory · Crisis and peer support
Self-harm and non-suicidal self-injury
Cornell's Self-Injury and Recovery Resources project on what NSSI is, what it is not, and what helps.
10 min read
Directory · Crisis and peer support
Suicide as a condition: understanding suicidality itself
AFSP's overview of suicide risk, warning signs, and what we actually know about prevention.
8 min read
Explainer · Mood and depression · United States
Gender dysphoria and gender-affirming care
WPATH's Standards of Care v8: the international clinical consensus on gender-affirming care across the lifespan.
12 min read
Explainer · Mood and depression · United States
Chronic pain and mental health
The International Association for the Study of Pain on how chronic pain and mental illness affect each other.
9 min read
Explainer · Mood and depression · United States
Long COVID: cognitive and mental health effects
CDC's overview of the neurological and mental health dimensions of long COVID, including 'brain fog' and post-infectious depression.
7 min read
Explainer · Mood and depression
Late-life depression and dementia-adjacent mental health
The Alzheimer's Association on the overlap between depression, mild cognitive impairment, and the dementias, and why distinguishing them matters.
9 min read
Directory · Family and relationships
Caregiver burnout, compassion fatigue, and secondary trauma
Family Caregiver Alliance on the mental health toll of caring for someone with a chronic illness, and what actually helps.
8 min read
Explainer · Substance use
Behavioral addictions: gambling, gaming, and compulsive sexual behavior
The National Council on Problem Gambling on the addiction patterns that don't involve a substance.
8 min read
Explainer · Therapy and treatment
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): what it is and what it is not
The American Psychological Association on the most-studied psychotherapy in the world, in plain language.
6 min read
Explainer · Therapy and treatment
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT): the standard explainer
Behavioral Tech, the training organization founded by DBT's developer Marsha Linehan, on what DBT actually involves.
7 min read
Explainer · Therapy and treatment
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)
The Association for Contextual Behavioral Science on a therapy organized around values and psychological flexibility rather than symptom reduction.
7 min read
Explainer · Therapy and treatment
Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy
The IFS Institute on a model that treats the mind as a system of parts, and the evidence base behind it.
7 min read
Explainer · Therapy and treatment
EMDR: eye movement desensitization and reprocessing
EMDRIA's overview of a structured trauma therapy that the WHO and APA both list among first-line PTSD treatments.
7 min read
Explainer · Therapy and treatment
Exposure and response prevention (ERP): the first-line OCD therapy
Why generic talk therapy can make OCD worse, and what the alternative actually involves.
6 min read
Explainer · Therapy and treatment
Psychodynamic therapy: and the evidence often left out of the conversation
A clean overview of the modern psychodynamic tradition, and what randomized trials actually show.
7 min read
Explainer · Therapy and treatment
Somatic experiencing and other body-based trauma therapies
The Somatic Experiencing International overview, plus honest caveats about an evidence base that is growing but uneven.
6 min read
Explainer · Therapy and treatment
Group therapy: what it is good for, and what it isn't
The American Group Psychotherapy Association on a modality that is consistently undersold and often more effective than people expect.
6 min read
Explainer · Therapy and treatment
Family and couples therapy
AAMFT on the systems-oriented therapies that treat the relationship as the patient.
6 min read
Explainer · Therapy and treatment
Peer support: recovery alongside someone who's been there
SAMHSA on peer-support specialists and the evidence behind a recovery role that sits alongside, not under, clinical care.
6 min read
Explainer · Therapy and treatment
What 'evidence-based therapy' actually means
Cochrane's plain-language explainers on systematic reviews: the tool that decides what 'works.'
8 min read
Directory · Getting care
How to find a therapist (and decode the credentials)
APA's guidance on choosing a therapist, plus what the alphabet soup of LCSW, LMFT, LMHC, PsyD, PhD, and MD actually means.
8 min read
Directory · Getting care
Sliding-scale and low-cost therapy networks
Open Path Collective and the other major networks that exist specifically to make therapy affordable.
6 min read
Directory · Getting care
Identity-affirming therapist directories
Therapist directories built specifically for Black, brown, queer, trans, and disabled clients seeking culturally competent care.
5 min read
Directory · Getting care
Mental health parity rights, and how to appeal an insurance denial
U.S. Department of Labor on the rights granted by federal parity law, and the steps an appeal actually takes.
9 min read
Directory · Getting care
Telehealth therapy: what is good about it, and what to watch for
The American Telemedicine Association on how to evaluate a telehealth mental health provider.
6 min read
Directory · Getting care
Psychiatric hospitalization: voluntary, involuntary, and your rights
Treatment Advocacy Center on the laws governing inpatient psychiatric care in the U.S., and what to expect on the ward.
10 min read
Directory · Getting care
The Stanley-Brown Safety Plan
The evidence-based safety-planning template, free to download, that hospitals and crisis services use after a suicidal episode.
6 min read
Explainer · Family and relationships
NAMI Family-to-Family: the free 8-session program for relatives
The most widely-used family-education curriculum for serious mental illness, taught by family members who've lived it.
5 min read
Explainer · Family and relationships
How to support someone in a depressive, manic, or psychotic episode
NAMI's practical guidance on the conversations that frighten people most.
9 min read
Explainer · Family and relationships
After a suicide attempt: what to say, and what not to
AFSP and Lifeline's guidance for families and friends in the days and weeks following an attempt.
7 min read
Explainer · Family and relationships
Supporting a teen who is struggling
The JED Foundation on the conversations, the warning signs, and the boundary between watchful presence and active intervention.
8 min read
Explainer · Family and relationships
Supporting a partner with a chronic mental illness
DBSA on the long-relationship version of caregiving, and the version where the caregiver also needs care.
7 min read
Explainer · Family and relationships
When to call for help: and how
SAMHSA's overview of the U.S. crisis continuum: 988, mobile crisis, crisis stabilization, and the alternatives to calling 911.
7 min read
Explainer · Family and relationships
BIPOC mental health: Mental Health America's hub
Why mental health outcomes diverge along racial and ethnic lines, and the community-rooted organizations doing the work in response.
8 min read
Explainer · Family and relationships
LGBTQ+ mental health: The Trevor Project research and care
The largest dedicated LGBTQ+ youth mental health organization in the U.S., with annual research that grounds the conversation in data.
9 min read
Explainer · Family and relationships
Trans-specific mental health and crisis care
Trans Lifeline and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health on care designed by and for trans communities.
7 min read
Explainer · Family and relationships
Immigrant and refugee mental health
The Center for Victims of Torture and the Refugee Health Technical Assistance Center on a population whose distress is rarely captured by ordinary screening.
9 min read
Explainer · Family and relationships
Faith communities and mental health
Resources that help congregations support people living with mental illness.
7 min read
Explainer · Family and relationships
Neurodivergent adults: ASAN's resource library
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network on autism, ADHD, and the broader neurodiversity movement, written by neurodivergent adults themselves.
8 min read
Explainer · Family and relationships
Veterans and military families: VA Mental Health
The Department of Veterans Affairs' mental health portal, plus the Veterans Crisis Line and Make the Connection.
8 min read
Explainer · Family and relationships
Disability rights and mental health
The Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund on mental health as a civil rights issue.
9 min read
Explainer · Family and relationships
Worried about a teen: JED Foundation guide for parents
The JED Foundation on what parents and caregivers can do when a teenager or young adult is struggling.
7 min read
Explainer · Family and relationships
College and early adulthood
Resources from Active Minds for the college years, when many mental health conditions first appear.
7 min read
Explainer · Family and relationships
New parents: the perinatal mental health spectrum
Postpartum Support International on the mood, anxiety, and OCD conditions that affect roughly one in five new parents.
8 min read
Explainer · Family and relationships
Midlife mental health and the menopausal transition
A short reading list on the cluster of mood, sleep, and cognitive changes that the perimenopause window often brings: including for people who don't identify as women.
6 min read
Explainer · Family and relationships
Older adult mental health
The National Council on Aging on the conditions that are most often missed in older adults, and the help that exists when they aren't.
7 min read
Explainer · Family and relationships
End-of-life and anticipatory grief
Get Palliative Care and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization on the mental health dimensions of serious illness and dying.
8 min read
Explainer · Sleep and everyday habits
Sleep and mental health
CDC's sleep hub and the AASM consumer site on a variable that affects almost every psychiatric condition in both directions.
6 min read
Explainer · Sleep and everyday habits
Exercise as a treatment for depression
Harvard Health on how regular movement eases depression, and when it stops being enough.
7 min read
Explainer · Sleep and everyday habits
Nutrition and mental health: the honest version
Harvard Health on what nutritional psychiatry actually supports, and what it doesn't, despite confident marketing.
6 min read
Explainer · Sleep and everyday habits
The gut–brain axis, in plain language
An APA Monitor overview of what the gut–brain research actually shows, and where consumer marketing has gotten ahead of the science.
7 min read
Explainer · Sleep and everyday habits
Living with chronic illness: the mental health overlay
The U.S. Pain Foundation and Mental Health America on the bidirectional relationship between chronic illness and mental health.
7 min read
Explainer · Sleep and everyday habits
Co-occurring mental health and substance use conditions
SAMHSA on why integrated treatment outperforms sequential treatment when both are present at once.
7 min read
Exercise · Sleep and everyday habits
Journaling: expressive writing as a small evidence-backed practice
The University of Rochester Medical Center on a deceptively simple practice with a surprisingly durable research base.
5 min read
Exercise · Sleep and everyday habits
Breathwork: what the evidence actually supports
Harvard Health on the breathing practices that have real autonomic effects, separated from the ones that don't.
5 min read
Exercise · Sleep and everyday habits
Grounding techniques for distress and dissociation
The VA's PTSD Coach and Sidran Institute on the brief sensory techniques that interrupt overwhelm in the moment.
5 min read
Exercise · Sleep and everyday habits
Behavioral activation: the small-actions intervention for depression
The Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress on the deceptively simple, well-evidenced behavioral therapy for depression.
6 min read
Exercise · Sleep and everyday habits
Sleep hygiene: the basics, and when they aren't enough
AASM's sleep hygiene basics, plus a flag for when to ask about CBT-I or a sleep evaluation instead.
5 min read
Exercise · Sleep and everyday habits
Values clarification: a short ACT-based practice
A free values-card-sort exercise from the ACT tradition, useful when 'what do I actually want' is the question under everything.
5 min read
Explainer · Work, school and screens
Social media and youth mental health: the Surgeon General's advisory
The official 2023 Office of the Surgeon General advisory on social media's effects on adolescent mental health.
11 min read
Explainer · Work, school and screens
Screens, phones, and family life
Common Sense Media on the practical question of how to live with screens, more than the moral question of whether to.
7 min read
Explainer · Work, school and screens
Gaming, problem gaming, and gaming disorder
What is and isn't supported by the ICD-11 gaming disorder diagnosis, in plain language.
7 min read
Explainer · Work, school and screens
AI chatbots and mental health: the real risks
The Consumer Federation of America's coalition complaint on AI chatbots posing as therapists, and what to know before using one.
8 min read
Explainer · Mood and depression
Grief after a death: the Dougy Center library
One of the oldest grief-support organizations in the U.S., with free written and video resources for every relationship and age.
7 min read
Explainer · Mood and depression
Pregnancy loss, infertility, and reproductive grief
SHARE and RESOLVE on the forms of grief that are routinely under-recognized by the people around them.
7 min read
Explainer · Mood and depression
When grief follows a death or a major life change
Grieving at Stanford on loss, including the losses where no one has died.
6 min read
Explainer · Mood and depression
Climate grief and eco-anxiety
The Climate Psychiatry Alliance on the mental health dimensions of living through climate change.
7 min read
Explainer · Getting care
A glossary of mental health and clinical terms
The APA Dictionary of Psychology: the standard free reference for definitions of clinical and research terms.
4 min read
Explainer · Getting care
Stigma-aware language: a working guide
The APA Inclusive Language Guide and the National Center on Disability and Journalism's style guide on the words that matter and the ones that don't.
7 min read
Explainer · Getting care
How to read a health study
Cochrane's free course for anyone who wants to judge health research on their own.
8 min read
Directory · Crisis and peer support
DBSA peer-support groups: free, ongoing, nationwide
The largest U.S. network of peer-led support groups for mood disorders, including online and family-focused options.
5 min read
Directory · Crisis and peer support
Hearing Voices Network: peer support for psychosis and voice-hearing
An international peer-led network that approaches voice-hearing and unusual experiences without requiring a particular medical framing.
7 min read
Directory · Crisis and peer support
Warmlines and peer respites: alternatives to the ED
The peer-staffed phone lines and short-stay residential programs that exist for the territory between okay and 911.
6 min read
Explainer · Mood and depression
The holidays and mental health
NAMI on why the holidays can be hard on mental health, and what helps.
6 min read
Explainer · Mood and depression
Election stress and news fatigue
APA's Stress in America series on the mental health effects of political and news cycles, and practical ways to stay informed without being flooded.
6 min read
Explainer · Mood and depression
After a disaster: the SAMHSA Disaster Distress Helpline
The U.S. federal helpline dedicated specifically to emotional distress related to natural and human-caused disasters.
4 min read
Explainer · Mood and depression
Anniversary reactions and trauma anniversaries
The VA's National Center for PTSD on the predictable resurgence of symptoms around the time of year a trauma occurred.
5 min read
Explainer · Family and relationships
Facts for Families: child & adolescent mental health
Short, peer-reviewed handouts from the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry covering everything from tantrums to teen suicide.
5 min read
Explainer · Family and relationships
Caring for a family member: Mental Health America guide
Mental Health America on supporting someone you love through a mental health condition.
6 min read
Explainer · Mood and depression
Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation: Surgeon General's Advisory
The 2023 U.S. Surgeon General report that named social disconnection a public-health priority.
8 min read
Explainer · Mood and depression
Connect2Affect: addressing isolation in older adults
A free self-assessment plus local resources for adults 50+ who are feeling cut off.
4 min read
Explainer · Mood and depression · United Kingdom
Campaign to End Loneliness: UK resource hub
Evidence reviews, community guides, and policy briefs from the leading UK coalition on loneliness.
5 min read
Explainer · Getting care
Collaborative Care Model: AIMS Center at the University of Washington
The most-studied way to deliver mental health treatment inside primary care, with 90+ randomized trials behind it.
7 min read
Explainer · Getting care
USPSTF depression and anxiety screening recommendations
Why your primary-care visit now includes a short mental-health questionnaire, and what the score means.
5 min read
Explainer · Getting care
Mental health care in family medicine
The American Academy of Family Physicians on making mental health part of everyday primary care.
6 min read
Explainer · Getting care
Stress in America: annual APA survey
The longest-running national survey of how Americans feel about their mental and emotional load.
7 min read
Explainer · Getting care
Pew Research: Americans' views on mental health
Pew Research Center's key survey findings on how Americans think about mental health.
6 min read
Explainer · Getting care
KFF tracking polls: mental health access and affordability
Recurring polls on whether Americans can find care, afford care, and trust the system providing it.
6 min read
Explainer · Therapy and treatment
NIDAMED Treatment Navigator: finding evidence-based addiction care
A step-by-step guide that distinguishes evidence-based addiction treatment from the marketing-heavy rehab industry.
8 min read
Directory · Substance use
Faces & Voices of Recovery
A national network of recovery community organizations led by people in recovery themselves.
4 min read
Explainer · Getting care
Vet Centers: community-based readjustment counseling
Confidential counseling outside the main VA system for combat veterans, MST survivors, and their families.
4 min read
Explainer · Getting care
Give an Hour: free counseling for veterans and military families
A national network of mental-health professionals providing free care outside the VA.
3 min read
Explainer · Work, school and screens
NIOSH Total Worker Health
The federal research program studying how the conditions of work shape mental and physical health.
5 min read
Explainer · Work, school and screens
OSHA workplace mental health resources
What the U.S. workplace-safety regulator says about psychological hazards on the job.
5 min read
Explainer · Work, school and screens
One Mind at Work: employer coalition on mental health
A global coalition of employers committing to evidence-based workplace mental-health practices.
4 min read
Explainer · Getting care
Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs)
Federally designated clinics that must offer 24/7 crisis care, MAT, and care coordination to anyone who walks in.
6 min read
Explainer · Getting care
Clubhouse International: peer-run community for serious mental illness
A 350+ site global network where members run the clubhouse alongside staff and rebuild work, school, and social life.
5 min read
Personal story · Crisis and peer support
The Mighty: first-person stories on mental health and chronic illness
A large, well-moderated community of writers sharing lived-experience essays.
4 min read
Personal story · Crisis and peer support
Active Minds: young adults changing the conversation
The largest nonprofit mobilizing students and young adults to talk openly about mental health.
4 min read
Directory · Crisis and peer support
ANAD: free peer-support and mentorship for eating disorders
Free helplines, support groups, and one-to-one mentorship from people in recovery.
4 min read
Explainer · Family and relationships
MotherToBaby: medications and pregnancy / breastfeeding
Free, evidence-based answers about specific medications, illnesses, and exposures during pregnancy or breastfeeding.
4 min read
Explainer · Work, school and screens
Job Accommodation Network: mental health accommodations at work
Free, confidential guidance on workplace accommodations for psychiatric and cognitive disabilities.
5 min read