☁️🍄 Issue No. 018: Social Prescribing

Happy Sunday, folks! Hello to all the new faces here :) Happy to have you. If you haven’t yet, check out our first piece, Issue No. 000: Why We Exist, to get oriented.

As for today, I’m excited to dig into a theme we touch on often here at Headlines: that community and connection must be an integral part of mental health interventions to truly make a lasting impact.

SOCIAL PRESCRIBING

Depression across the US is reaching record rates. Can social prescribing help reverse the trend? 

WHAT’S HAPPENING

According to the latest Gallup survey, American adults are more depressed than ever.

• Nearly a third of US adults say they’ve been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lifetime, up 10% from 2015. 

• Over 40% either endure significant depression or anxiety, or have a close friend or family member who suffers from it. 

• 22% have experienced depression or anxiety so extreme they could not continue regular daily activities for two weeks or longer.

Paradoxically, as we covered in Issue No. 010 We vs. Me, America spends hundreds of billions on depression yet has one of the highest mental health disease burdens among high-income countries. 

As the crisis reaches alarming rates, we’re increasingly turning to medication and digital salves. While helpful as adjunct treatments, these approaches often don’t address or acknowledge the full picture of when our mental state goes awry.

SOCIAL RX

Enter social prescribing.

What it is: Rooted in the biopsychosocial model, social prescribing asserts that well-being is shaped not only by medical interventions but also by social, economic, and environmental factors. 

Under this model, GPs, nurses, and other primary care professionals refer folks to activities that can holistically support their health.

• A park visit a day. Nature prescription services like Park Rx America, PaRx, and more are gaining traction; studies have found moderate to large effects on depression scores.

• Movement is medicine. Researchers say exercise may be the best antidepressant; a step ahead, national health services across the UK, Ireland, and the Netherlands have been prescribing physical activity for decades. 

• The art of being well. Project UnLonely, from The Foundation for Art & Healing, works with partners and communities to develop evidence-based creative expression programs for mental health.

And beyond nature and exercise, many also refer individuals to gardening, cooking and healthier eating, and more. 

DOCTOR’S ORDERS

A key facet of the social prescribing model is the “link worker”: someone who is intimately integrated in the local community. 

These individuals act as both a consultant and as a bridge for patients to new activities and groups, easing the anxieties of doing new things, joining new circles, and forming meaningful connections. 

When executed well, the benefits of social prescribing are two-pronged. Besides improving well-being, the model also helps cut costs by diverting people to nonclinical (yet impactful) care within their community. 

Effects also tend to be stickier and longer-lasting. Frequent, habitual encouragement from a nourishing network—versus infrequent doctor check-ins—is far more likely to achieve sustainable behavioral change. This holds true across diet, exercise, or social well-being.

So, who’s cultivating this model? The Bromley by Bow Centre in East London has helped pioneer and popularize social prescribing since its inception in the UK in the 1990s. 

In modern times, demand for connection amidst the loneliness epidemic has manifested in the rise of third spaces like the SF Commons as well as co-living initiatives like Cabin and Haven. Meanwhile, operators are increasingly integrating aspects of the biopsychosocial model across urban planning and senior wellness. 

But the most potent organizations may be the hundreds of grassroots communities and charities already existing in a town near you. These associations are the unsung hearths of care that are, as of now, largely untapped and underutilized in the fight against the mental health crisis. 

LOOKING AHEAD

A common reaction to the concept of social prescribing is incredulity — have we really gotten to the point where we need to be told to touch grass and hang out with friends? 

The short answer: Well, yes. The long answer: Digital addictions and distractions make it harder to stay in touch with our instincts for what we need. And the stats don’t lie; the mental health crisis, across all ages, are at unprecedented levels.

It’ll be an uphill climb but not impossible. Even small bids to return to the beauty and richness of embodied reality—nature, exercise, culture, conversation—all slowly turn the tide. And small shifts can come together and compound in powerful ways. 

Punchline: Medication and therapy are important pieces of the mental healthcare puzzle, but they’re only a small part of a much larger picture. Too often, doctors prescribe pills to patients who would benefit most from much larger lifestyle changes.

Social prescribing and the biopsychosocial model are a powerful potential framework to encourage that.

QUICK HITS

• Make the dream work. Grief dreams may play a crucial role in healing.

• Sad scientist. Toxic research culture, meager wages, and long hours; a mental health crisis is gripping science.

• Ibo-gains. Researchers are developing novel drugs for depression inspired by ibogaine.

• Go with your gut. Tryp Therapeutics partners with Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital to advance psilocybin therapy for IBS.

• Non-magic shroom? Psilera reveals its non-hallucinogenic psilocybin derivative as lead clinical candidate.

• Scab bot. After firing staff post-unionization,  the National Eating Disorder Association is replacing its telephone hotline with AI-powered chatbot “Tessa.”

• Molly lama. Numinus is aligning its business initiatives to prepare for the approval of MDMA-assisted therapy. [Re-read: Issue No. 012: Meet Molly].

NEWS & TRENDS

1) US surgeon general: the kids are not alright

This week, American physician and US surgeon general Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a 25-page(!) advisory on the “profound risks” of social media use by children. Calling for immediate action, Dr. Murthy urged tech companies, policymakers, and parents alike to engage in a multifaceted effort to reduce risks. 

The youth mental health crisis is in a dire state; we’ll need all hands on deck to combat the growing wave of depression, anxiety, and suicide among adolescents and younger. A new task force from the White House is focused on kids and online health/safety, and the recent advisory appears to reflect increased urgency. Hopefully it’ll be more bite than bark. → Read more 

2) Jailhouse doc 

Here’s a wild stat for you: Americans suffering from mental illness are 10x more likely to be put in jail than they are to be hospitalized. And every year, ~2M arrests are made of people with serious mental illnesses. With psychiatric bed and behavioral healthcare shortages at all-time highs, jails across the country are rapidly becoming de facto providers of mental health services. 

This is putting a massive strain on local prison budgets. Nearly 90% of counties reported a substantial increase in behavioral health needs in the past year. The takeaway? Overlooking mental health needs doesn’t just impact those who are suffering; the effects ripple across nearly every facet of our lives. → Read more

DEALS & DEBUTS

🧬 Polaris Genomics, a precision mental healthcare startup, raised $1M in debt from an undisclosed source. The company aims to leverage genomics to connect mental illnesses, particularly PTSD, to its biological underpinnings. → source

🌱 Lifemost, a B2B mental healthcare startup, closed $650K in pre-seed funding in a round co-led by MENA-focused (Middle East and North Africa) angel investors. The UAE-based company features 350+ fitness classes and educational lectures.→ source

🎧 Endel, makers of AI-driven functional soundscapes, announced a new partnership with Universal Music Group. [Re-read: Issue No. 011: Of Sound Mind]→ source

🧠 NeuroFlow, a cloud based behavioral health platform, partnered with New Jersey’s Atlantic Health System to launch a collaborative care model for adult behavioral health patients.→ source

🌏 Remarkable, a disability tech accelerator, announced 13 new companies for its Global Accelerator Cohort, including The Care Co (kids mental health) and Possibility Neurotechnologies (brain-computer interface technology).→ source

🏫 Clearmind Medicine, developer of novel psychedelic medicines, chose Yale School of Medicine as its first US site for the company’s Phase I/IIa clinical trial of its proprietary compound for the treatment of alcohol use disorder.→ source

🥀 End of Life Psychedelic Care (EOLPC), a new nonprofit advocacy group, will offer classes in psychedelic and integrative wellness, as well as a death doula training program and marketing initiatives.→ source 

🚭Reveri, a self-hypnosis app, debuted “Quit Vaping” content to combat the growing global vaping addiction crisis.→ source

WHAT I’M READING

• What we lose when psychedelics are medicalized.  “Leaving psychedelics in the hands of the biomedical industry and state-regulated facilities can undermine their potential… while leaving inequalities across race, culture, and class unaddressed.” Great piece. → Vox

• The ‘next’ ayahuasca. Meet chiric sanango, an Amazonian “master plant”  that “delivers thorough healing of the body, mind and spirit” with a focus on the bones. A deep dive into the author’s one-month process of dieta with chiric sanango. → Tales from the Field

That’s it this week! Thanks for reading, and for your attention and interest. :) Hope you’re having a fantastic Memorial Day Weekend.

Until next Sunday,

-Mel