Patrick J. Kennedy in conversation with Jonathan Sherin, MD, PhD, former Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health.

When Patrick Kennedy’s uncle, President John F. Kennedy, published his classic book Profiles in Courage, he hoped to inspire “political courage” by telling the stories of brave U.S. senators who changed America. In Profiles in Mental Health Courage, former Congressman Patrick Kennedy adapts President Kennedy’s theme to inspire the “mental health courage” it takes for those living with mental illness to seek and undergo treatment.

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We are honored to bring together two nationally known leaders in the field of mental health for a  fascinating discussion about their two new best-selling books: Jeremy Nobel, MD, MPH, author of  Project Unlonely:  Healing our Crisis of Disconnection, and Thomas Insel, MD, author of HEALING, Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health. Loneliness has become a daily source of profound anguish for millions of people worldwide, causing the United States Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy to advise that it is the public health crisis of our time.

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Anyone on the front lines of caring for girls today knows that our daughters, students, and the girl next door are more anxious and more prone to depression and self-harming than ever before. The question that no one has yet been able to credibly answer is Why?

Now we have answers. As award-winning science journalist and writer, Donna Jackson Nakazawa deftly explains in her recent book, Girls on the Brink, new findings reveal that today’s growing girl crisis is a biologically rooted phenomenon: the unchecked bloom of social media and cultural misogyny that mixes badly with puberty, the onset of which is happening earlier. When this toxic clash occurs during the critical neurodevelopmental window of adolescence, it can alter the female stress-immune response in ways that derail healthy emotional development.

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The Open Mind is a free community lecture and film series that brings together thought leaders in science and culture for relevant and meaningful programs about mental health issues. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, these programs were held in-person at UCLA but are currently presented on a virtual Zoom platform, attracting a national and international audience. We are honored that the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital Board of Advisors has joined The Friends of Semel in support of the Open Mind.

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