Hacker News with Generative AI: Mental Health

Do smartphones and social media harm teens' mental health? (nature.com)
Concerns about young people’s use of phones and social media has spurred some authorities to restrict their use.
Anyone who trusts an AI therapist needs their head examined (pluralistic.net)
Anyone who trusts an AI therapist needs their head examined: Same goes for trusting an AI with your trade secrets.
Ask HN: Struggling with Anxiety as a Developer – What Are My Options? (ycombinator.com)
I'm a senior web developer (10 years), but in the past three years, I’ve struggled with anxiety, and my performance has suffered because of it. I started a new job last year but I was let go due to performance and am now wondering how to move forward.
“Our kids are the least flourishing generation we know of” (nytimes.com)
The social psychologist Jonathan Haidt discusses the “parents’ revolution” on smartphones that his book “The Anxious Generation” has ignited.
Blocking mobile internet on phones improves sustained attention and mental healt (nlm.nih.gov)
Blocking mobile internet on smartphones improves sustained attention, mental health, and subjective well-being
Addressing Burnout (libera.chat)
Therapy chatbot trial yields mental health benefits (home.dartmouth.edu)
Dartmouth researchers conducted the first-ever clinical trial of a generative AI-powered therapy chatbot and found that the software resulted in significant improvements in participants’ symptoms, according to results published March 27 in NEJM AI.
Mid-pregnancy pollution exposure linked to postpartum depression (bps.org.uk)
New work finds that exposure to particular pollutants during pregnancy is associated with depression up to three years postpartum.
US administration revokes $11B in funding for addiction, mental health care (npr.org)
State and county public health departments and nonprofit groups are reeling after the Trump administration announced abrupt cancellation and revocation of roughly $11.4 billion in COVID-era funding for grants linked to addiction, mental health and other programs.
What's Happening to Students? (honest-broker.com)
A frustrated teacher recently took to social media with a desperate warning:
Why SF tech workers are scared to speak up (sfstandard.com)
Tech workers who spend hundreds of dollars for 50-minute therapy sessions increasingly have one man they want to discuss: Mark Zuckerberg.
Heavy chatbot usage is correlated with loneliness and reduced socialization (platformer.news)
New research from OpenAI shows that heavy chatbot usage is correlated with loneliness and reduced socialization. Will AI companies learn from social networks' mistakes?
Are fantasy games like Dungeons and Dragons a cure for US's loneliness epidemic? (businessinsider.com)
Are fantasy games like Dungeons & Dragons the cure for America's loneliness epidemic?
Adolescence reveals a terrifying truth: smartphones are poison for boys' minds (theguardian.com)
When a Netflix drama highlights how online influencers can turn a teenager into a killer, it’s time to rethink social media
Poor sleep may fuel conspiracy beliefs, research suggests (medicalxpress.com)
A new study from the University of Nottingham has revealed that poor sleep quality may increase susceptibility to conspiracy beliefs, with depression likely playing a key role in this relationship.
Mindfulness mediates the association between chronotype and depressive symptoms (plos.org)
Morningness-eveningness (or diurnal preference) refers to an individual’s sleep-wake behaviour (preferred bed and wake times, and times preferred for peak cognitive/physical performance). Diurnal preference impacts mental health: studies have linked a tendency towards eveningness (late chronotype) to a higher risk of major depressive disorder (MDD) [1,2].
A mother suing Google and a chatbot site over her son's suicide (fortune.com)
A mother suing Google and a chatbot site over her son’s suicide found AI versions of her late son on the site
Show HN: Calmer – from surfing accident to building an anxiety relief app (gocalmer.com)
Calmer is a new anxiety relief app packed with research-based tools and ideas for managing anxiety and panic attacks.
Ask HN: How do I escape homelessness after rebuilding my mental health? (ycombinator.com)
I never thought I’d be here—but I’ve hit a wall I can’t break through alone. I’m asking for help, advice, ideas—anything practical—to get off the streets and back into stability.
Trump Derangement Syndrome (revisor.mn.gov)
A bill for an act relating to mental health; modifying the definition of mental illness; adding a definition for Trump Derangement Syndrome; amending Minnesota Statutes 2024, sections 245.462, subdivision 20, by adding a subdivision; 245I.02, subdivision 29, by adding a subdivision.
Obsessing over loneliness is a key factor in the development of depression (elpais.com)
According to data from the latest report from the State Observatory of Unwanted Loneliness (SoledadES), corresponding to the year 2024, one in five people in Spain suffers from loneliness, and of these, almost 70% say they have been in that situation for more than two years.
What Ketamine Does to the Human Brain (theatlantic.com)
Excessive use of the drug can make anyone feel like they rule the world.
The sudden rise of AuDHD: autism and ADHD (2024) (theguardian.com)
Just over a decade ago, autism and ADHD were thought to be mutually exclusive. But in recent years, all that has changed
The age of regret: Gen Z grew up glued to screens, missed the joy of being human (theguardian.com)
It’s the love-hate relationship that defined a generation. We think we know all about teenagers and the phones to which they’re so umbilically tied: sleeping with them under the pillow, panicking at the prospect of ever being denied wifi, so glued to the screen that they’re oblivious to the world unfolding around them.
The serotonin theory of depression: a systematic review of the evidence (2022) (nature.com)
The serotonin hypothesis of depression is still influential. We aimed to synthesise and evaluate evidence on whether depression is associated with lowered serotonin concentration or activity in a systematic umbrella review of the principal relevant areas of research.
Antidepressant use among teen girls and young women has skyrocketed (2024) (apa.org)
Solo RPGs and journaling games give advantage on mental health rolls (gamesradar.com)
Link between social media and depression stronger in teen girls than boys (cnn.com)
Show HN: I built an app to stop me doomscrolling by touching grass (touchgrass.now)
Inside the violent rationalist cult of the Zizians (wired.com)
I know this is unconventional, but I’m going to start by telling you the ending. Or at least, the ending as it stands today. Most of the people involved in this story wind up either dead, maimed, spending months in a mental hospital, languishing in jail, or gone underground.