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From Magic Mushrooms to Mental Remedy

  Clayton Yun Professor Horgan HST 401 25 February 2026 From Magic Mushrooms to Mental Remedy:  How Psychedelics are Changing the Way We View Mental Health When I first took psychedelics, it wasn’t for therapy. It was about curiosity, from the visual distortions to the introspective nature that psychedelics bring; I was intrigued. I had heard many stories from people who became enlightened and changed their lives, to those who went crazy, to say the least. After getting over the 30 or so minutes that followed eating the mushrooms, with their weird aftertaste and anticipation, I started to relax and embraced the feelings. Patterns on the walls started appearing, and my worries and self-deprecating thoughts turned into giggles and constructive criticism. I was seeing my problems at a new angle, which is exactly why psychedelic therapy is seemingly on the rise again. Psychedelics have been around for a very long time; they were used in Ceromonial ways by indigenous people all...
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I've Got it All: New Age Hypochondria and the Rise of Social Media Mediated Self-Diagnosis

  I've Got it All: New Age Hypochondria and the Rise of Social Media Mediated Self-Diagnosis I pledge my honor that I have abided by the Stevens Honors System. It's quite easy to fall down the rabbit hole. You start unassuming, scrolling on your phone through Instagram or TikTok, and you come across posts sharing what it feels like to be overwhelmed at a party, or nervous when entering a new space. This all means you might have anxiety… and if you have anxiety, then maybe you're feeling anxious right now? You scroll a bit more to calm down, and you see other posts about being disorganized and messy. “Do you forget where you place your phone and lose track of time quickly? Those are missed traits of ADHD.” All of a sudden, you have to worry about that as well.  It doesn’t end there; more and more posts will populate your feed as you scroll, each sharing the minute details you might have missed that indicate you have a mental illness that has gone undetected earlier in your l...
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Nature, Nurture, and Freewill

  Sydney Bell  February 26  HST 401  I am going to be honest. I haven’t put much of any thought into my mental health throughout my life. Maybe it’s how I was raised, maybe I’m just less prone to mental illness due to genetics, I really don’t know. Likewise, my family and friends haven’t been through any major mental health issues/illnesses(but even if they were I wouldn’t be prone to just publishing it online without having a lengthy conversation with them first, out of respect). But now that I’m thinking about it, maybe there are certain aspects of life that make you more or less prone to having a mental illness, and maybe if these aspects were more understood more progress could be made in terms of treating mental health.    Elyn Saks, a law professor and psychoanalyst, recounts her personal life experience in an interview with science journalist, John Horgan. In this interview she discusses how life feels as a person who deals with schizophreni...
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Don’t Get Schizophrenia in the US

 Jack Caputo 26 Feb 2026 HST401 I pledge my Honor that I have abided by the Stevens Honor System Don’t Get Schizophrenia in the US I recognize that I am truly fortunate to not have any sort of psycho-condition, nor have anyone close to me who has one. With the prevalence of schizophrenia being between 0.25-0.64% [1], this is not the case for a considerable amount of Americans, around 850 thousand to 2.2 million. And because of the nature of schizophrenia, the condition affects not only the diagnosed but also their family, friends, potential coworkers – really everyone in their life.   Reading the account of Prof. Elyn Saks [2], a successful academic and author with a PhD in psychoanalysis who also happens to have schizophrenia, exposed me to how the condition actually manifests in a person's life. I had the conception that schizophrenia was all about being out of touch with reality, seeing people and hearing voices, unable to distinguish what was real and fabricated. There was...
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What “The Missing Piece” Taught me about Love

Faye Gilbert    Those of us who are lucky enough are often taught young a very naive and hopeful view of love. We are taught of love in the context of power, of its healing properties and purity and ability to conquer all evil with its sheer force. It doesn’t take long in the growing up process to realize that, although a beautiful sentiment, that’s unrealistic. Some people learn that far too young. In my sister’s case, however, despite life’s attempts squelch her hope, she didn't catch on easily.                    She has always been a caregiver. I like to think of myself having two Moms growing up, two rooms to run to when I’d have nightmares. It was in her room, especially, that I’d find myself whenever I was sad or lonely. She has a natural ability to console and comfort—a knack for “healing”—and a special kind of heart that always has love to give.  This outpour of love wa...
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