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Can AI solve our mental health access problem?
Last week I asked you what worries you most about AI in health. It was close, but your top answer was “AI giving bad health advice.” Last week’s poll results: You’re in good company. This concern was top of mind at a conference I joined at Stanford last week, where researchers, clinicians, and people who build AI systems spent a day debating trust and safety in health AI. Stepping back, I’m also hearing your emerging concerns about AI’s impact on our well-being generally. I see this as a matter of public health, and we’ll take it in pieces as we learn together. Today we’ll focus on AI chatbots used for therapy for mental health. Early this month, Governor Newsom vetoed Senate Bill 903, California’s most ambitious attempt to regulate AI use for mental health. It’s at the center of active debate, and raises the questions patients, family members, citizens, and voters will face as AI moves deeper into health care. Let’s work through it. What is “AI-based therapy”? It’s really two things: purpose-built mental health apps designed to deliver structured support, and general chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini that people increasingly use for emotional support—even if they weren’t built for it. Spoiler alert: I don’t know whether the shift toward AI therapy is good or bad. The evidence isn’t there yet. But I do know it’s already happening, and I have some ideas about how we can roll it out with safety in mind. The therapy dilemma, in a nutshell Mental health challenges are common, and strain health and well-being across populations. Therapy (interactive dialogue with a trained, empathetic practitioner) helps many people heal. The demand for licensed therapists far exceeds the supply in California, and AI-based therapy can narrow that gap. AI-based therapy remains novel, unproven, and not well tested. Right off the bat, we can see we’re dealing with trade-offs here. Since the main driver of demand for therapy from a robot is lack of access to therapy from a human, we’ll start there. It’s too hard to find and afford a human therapist California is short roughly 55,000 licensed, non-prescribing therapists and counselors, about 40% of what we need. Psychiatrists, who rely on talk therapy as a complement to prescribed medications, are even more scarce. Eight counties have none, and density ranges from 1.7 per 100,000 residents in San Benito County, to 68.1 in Marin County. My wife is a psychiatrist in Marin, and even here access is tight. If it’s hard in the best-supplied county, imagine rural Sierra County, or the San Joaquin Valley. In 2024, more than half of Californians who tried to make a mental health appointment struggled to find a provider who took their insurance, compared with 14% for physical health care. When Senate staff posed as “secret shopper” patients and called 120 mental health providers in Medicare Advantage networks, they landed an appointment less than once for every five tries. Insurers pay behavioral health clinicians about 22% less than medical and surgical clinicians for comparable office visits. On top of that, billing denials and prior authorizations hit hardest at the solo and small practices common in mental health. Psychiatrists opt out of Medicare at the highest rate of any specialty. In many places, a cash practice for therapy fills quickly with patients paying $250 or more an hour, with no insurance paperwork at all. Families who can pay cash find providers more easily. Those who rely on insurance, including Medi-Cal enrollees, older adults, rural residents, and non-English speakers, compete for what’s left. So we can’t pretend the human system works, and we can’t blame people for turning to AI for support when they’re in distress. AI is filling the gap It’s estimated that roughly a quarter of AI users use it for mental health support. If you have internet, it’s available 24/7, it’s cheap, and it speaks your language. Uninsured adults are about twice as likely as insured adults to do it (30% vs. 14%). It feels anonymous in ways that may enable people to ask things they’re unsure or embarrassed about. The largely hidden, personal use makes it hard to study whether it’s actually helping people with their mental health issues, but researchers are trying. Does AI therapy work? A 2026 analysis of nearly 40 randomized trials found chatbots showed a real but small reduction in depression symptoms. But most of these trials were compared to an alternative of no therapy, not a human therapist. So the benefit of AI therapy is probably real, but modest, and mostly untested against the alternative of human contact. We need more studies. Serious concerns OpenAI’s own estimate is that more than a million ChatGPT users each week show signs of suicidal planning or intent. These are high stakes encounters, and AI doesn’t always get it right. That’s partly because a chatbot can sound like a therapist, but it has no license, no duty of care, and it’s not clear who to hold accountable when it gets things wrong. AI is also designed to help users in whatever task they’re seeking to accomplish. People may feel like they’re getting therapy, but they’re mainly getting a convincing conversation. It’s easy for an AI companion to wander into gray areas, like playing along with “creative writing” that may be about the user’s own suicidal intent. Courts are driving safety conversations A wave of lawsuits have been filed on behalf of families claiming that chatbots pushed people they loved toward self-harm, including teens who died by suicide. The first settlements came this year. OpenAI is headquartered in San Francisco, and dozens of cases alleging that ChatGPT drove users to suicide or self-harm are now before a San Francisco judge. Character.ai has filed for bankruptcy after several states brought lawsuits accusing the chatbot of pushing dangerous content to kids. But the technology seems to be improving. Last month, an independent evaluation found that newer AI models “almost never endorse suicide.” That’s progress, but our societal appetite for even one preventable death is very low. So how do we move forward? Finding a middle ground Earlier this month the governor vetoed Senate Bill 903, a bill designed to place guardrails on the use of AI for therapy. The bill would have prohibited any AI-based platform from being advertised as psychotherapy, and would have required a licensed professional to review and approve each encounter where AI was used to support therapeutic decisions. Newsom called it overly broad, since even routine screening questions would have needed clinician sign-off. Knowing we’re already short on mental health providers, requiring human review of AI encounters may not relieve our access problems. Still, the answer isn’t no oversight. Here’s one feasible short term solution. Rather than reviewing each encounter, a licensed clinician can design the guardrails: what counts as a crisis, what triggers an immediate handoff to a human, and what gets sampled for audit each month. The AI runs inside that structure. Conversations get checked, failures get reported, and a real clinician owns the framework. Medicine already has models to learn from. The FDA process for rolling out newly approved medications is an example. After a product reaches patients, we keep watching for adverse events. Patient-facing AI needs the same “digital pharmacovigilance”: systematic tracking of harms, near misses, and the types of groups that get hurt and why. It’s also critical that users know that they can reach a human if they’re in crisis. Most chatbots now include messages like these: Bottom line The rush to use unproven AI tools for mental health support is mostly a workaround, a sign of a health system people can’t get into. We need better access to proven care from licensed clinicians. That takes reimbursement that makes accepting insurance viable, and a bigger workforce. But, built and tested well, AI could be part of the answer. It could be the 2 a.m. check-in when no one else is awake, or a way for patients to practice skills their therapist taught them. It could be the first step to get someone the right level of care, and take paperwork off clinicians’ plates so they spend more time with patients. None of this is simple. The SB 903 veto doesn’t end the debate, and the legislature will be back. In the meantime, those of us using these tools need to stay informed, ask hard questions, and hold the companies building them accountable. I’ll try to do my part, and we’ll keep learning together. Love,Matt P.S. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988- you’ll reach a real person— or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7. Dr. Matt Willis is the author of Your Local Epidemiologist in California. A California native, he’s served as a primary care physician, CDC epidemiologist, and public health officer for Marin County, where he guided the pandemic response. He lives in Marin with his family and their dogs, Teddy and Ramona. Thank you Cynthia He, MD, PhD, and Parnika Saxena, MD, for their guidance in preparing this article. Cynthia works in an outpatient mental health clinic, treating patients who have Medi-Cal or, sometimes, no insurance. Parnika works in an inpatient psychiatric unit, treating patients with public or private insurance or self-pay ability. All opinions are their own and do not represent their employers.
Rangers embarrassed by Devils in 7-1 blowout loss
Thursday night’s edition of the Hudson River Rivalry will surely conjure bad memories for the Blueshirts faithful. The New York […]
The Yankees Roster May Look Completely Different in 2027
The New York Yankees are, once again, out of the MLB postseason much earlier than they (and their fans) would have anticipated. New York not only got swept by the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Division Series, they were flat-out embarrassed. The Rays outplayed them at the plate, in the field, and even …
Garry's Mod Creator Says He's 'Ashamed' And 'Embarrassed' By The Response To His Latest Project: 'I've Let Everybody Down'
s&box is in a bit of a pickle, but Newman has plans to turn the game around
Sports Equipment Playing Sports
Ever feel embarrassed when you don’t know how to do something new? Instead of taking risks or putting others in harm’s way, learn how to make safe choices so everyone can have fun together.
‘He Has a Bigger Problem,’ ‘Embarrassed The Business’ — NFL Legend Terrell Owens Has No Sympathy For Tony Romo After Controversial CBS Exit
Terrell Owens has little sympathy for Tony Romo following the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback’s sudden departure from CBS Sports. The network announced on Friday that it had mutually agreed to part ways with Romo after nine years in the broadcast booth, bringing an unexpected end to one of the biggest analyst careers in recent NFL history.
Orioles news: Yankees get embarrassed in Game 1
The Yankees nearly got no-hit and committed a costly baserunning blunder in a Game 1 loss to the Rays.
🗞️ England's papers are embarrassed by Manchester City
Wednesday’s press splits its front pages between two historic teams: the Spanish national team and a Manchester City that looks set to be stained for life by the charges brought against it by the Pr...
Simone Biles Addresses Recent Health Issues, Opens Up About Eczema Journey
At first she felt “embarrassed and ashamed,” Biles tells TODAY.com, but learning more about her skin health built back her confidence.
Are Broncos Pretenders Or Contenders In AFC?
The Denver Broncos were embarrassed in Week 1 against the Kansas City Chiefs, but turned the season around with two come-from-behind wins in the following two weeks.
Lions Have No Excuses Against a Banged-Up Jets Team
After getting embarrassed by Buffalo, the Lions have had four extra days to stew. Now, Detroit gets a banged-up Jets team at Ford Field—and a chance to make a statement.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ‘Embarrassed’ by Poor Season for Blue Jays
According to a prominent Canadian sports writer, Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is “embarrassed” by his poor season.Guerrero is enduring the worst season of his eight-year MLB career so far.The six-time MLB All-Star is batting just .262 for the Blue Jays with an OPS of .694 and an OPS+ of 92, indicating […] The post Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ‘Embarrassed’ by Poor Season for Blue Jays appeared first on HEAVY.
Broncos news: Denver makes move after pathetic performance vs. Chiefs
The Denver Broncos didn’t wait long to make a roster move after getting embarrassed on national television. According to DNVR’s Zac Stevens, Denver is re-signing wide receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey to its 53-man roster following a procedural move that resulted in his release on Monday. Humphrey was not expected to play against Kansas City, but his […] The post Broncos news: Denver makes move after pathetic performance vs. Chiefs appeared first on ClutchPoints.
Kirk Herbstreit Was Embarrassed By USC's Crowd In Week 0
While many fans USC's near-empty stadium as a source of mockery, ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit was simply embarrassed for the Trojans.
MLB power rankings: Baseball's worst division gets embarrassed again
Mariners continued their stunning downfall, getting swept in an ALCS rematch.
Brewers Embarrassed as Padres Expose Harrison
Kyle Harrison’s disastrous outing and a mounting injury crisis have left the Milwaukee Brewers reeling.
‘Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip’ star Luann de Lesseps apologizes to J. Lo for saying she’s ‘from the hood’
“I’m a little embarrassed,” the Countess tells EW of her premiere mix-up.
The Beauty Of Settled Science
Commenters convinced me I made a subtle mis-step in my framing of Psychology Research Is Mostly Fine. My framing emphasized that social priming studies had failed to replicate, but that many other subfields of psychology hadn’t. This naturally led commenters to point to failed replications in other subfields. Although none of these were as bad as social priming, few or none were entirely problem-free. Instead of emphasizing the difference between social priming and other subfields, I should have emphasized the difference between settled science and novel research. Here are some of my favorite psychology findings: The brain is sculpted by reinforcement learning, and a key driver of this learning is a prediction-error-based algorithm located in the nucleus accumbens and implemented through dopamine. Psychedelic drugs exert their effects through 5-HT2A receptors, pointing to a role for these receptors in some sort of construct like the balance between priors and new evidence. Certain cognitive functions are localized to certain brain areas (for example, impulse control to the frontal lobes; linguistic structure to Broca’s area, linguistic meaning to Wernicke’s area. But injure one of these areas, or render a certain function useless (eg a blind person having no more use for their visual cortex), and these mappings can gradually shift - suggesting that neurons are general-purpose compute whose specialization is a contingent fact about convenience and efficiency rather than a necessity. Most personality traits and general capabilities are about 50% genetic and 50% random, with little role for family environment or childhood history, with a few notable exceptions like partisan preference. Recent research complicates this story, but the further you go from this basic picture, the gnarlier the chains of indirect causation you require. Neurons fire together in “brain waves”, whose exact frequency corresponds with the character of consciousness; These divide neurons into natural subpopulations and linked graphs. The gamma rhythm corresponds surprisingly well to items in conscious awareness. GABA receptors seem to be involved in something like relaxation. By hitting different GABA receptors in different ways, you can modulate the exact type of relaxation you produce. Hitting GABA-A directly is too powerful and can cause dangerous levels of sedation, but allosteric modulation of GABA is an incredibly fruitful strategy that underlies drugs from benzos to barbituates to alcohol. If you know your GABA-A subunits, you can target specific subtypes of relaxation; for example, Ambien hits GABA-A1 and induces sleep. Memory divides somewhat fuzzily into bins of immediate-sensory, short-term, and long-term, with separate retrieval and storage functions, and separate systems for declarative vs. procedural learning. These can be harmed selectively, usually by hippocampal injury, so that some patients can remember their life stories but not form new long-term memories, or learn new skills like bike-riding but not new facts. The exact substrate of memory is unclear but seems to involve new synaptic connections between neurons in at least some way. The ability of modern psychology and psychiatry to treat mental illness is real but limited. SSRIs work for half or slightly fewer than half of patients; antipsychotics work with extreme side effects; benzodiazpines work but produce addiction and tolerance in many (not all) people. Most supplements are stuck in Poor Quality Study Replication Crisis Hell, but melatonin and l-theanine stand out as especially promising. Psychotherapy works with moderate effect size, but (with a few exceptions) seems to be more about the relationship with the provider than the details of the therapy itself. Mental hospitalization can sometimes defuse immediate crises but work less well than mental hospitals would like, with some studies showing overall negative effects. Schizophrenia is mostly genetic, but risk also increases with prenatal infection (especially rubella) and obstetric complications; there is suggestive evidence for roles of social stress and drug use (with psychedelics and marijuana making things worse, and nicotine if anything making things better). Bipolar and schizophrenia are so closely linked on a pathophysiological level that it seems like they might be the same disease; on the clinical level, they do seem to follow two separate courses/prognoses but can sometimes surprise clinicians by eg someone who seemed condemned to permanent schizophrenia unexpectedly recovering. The brain’s native reinforcement learning algorithms cash out in the phenomena of classical and operant conditioning; different reinforcement schedules reinforce at different levels, which can be exploited by bad actors to make especially compelling products (eg slot machines). None of these are immune to doubt. A few are speculative; one or two are genuinely unorthodox. But they’re all a step above one p = 0.049 paper that might not replicate. If they get overturned, they’ll be overturned by the same sort of genuine scientific shift that replaced Ptolemy with Copernicus or Lamarck with Darwin, not some sort of sordid discovery about someone entering random numbers into a spreadsheet. In 2008, Eliezer Yudkowsky wrote about The Beauty Of Settled Science: If you only care about scientific issues that are controversial, you will end up with a head stuffed full of garbage. The media thinks that only the cutting edge of science is worth reporting on. How often do you see headlines like “General Relativity still governing planetary orbits” or “Phlogiston theory remains false”? So, by the time anything is solid science, it is no longer a breaking headline. “Newsworthy” science is often based on the thinnest of evidence and wrong half the time—if it were not on the uttermost fringes of the scientific frontier, it would not be breaking news. Scientific controversies are problems so difficult that even people who’ve spent years mastering the field can still fool themselves. That’s what makes for the heated arguments that attract all the media attention. Worse, if you aren’t in the field and part of the game, controversies aren’t even fun. Don’t be embarrassed to read elementary science textbooks, either. If you want to pretend to be sophisticated, go find a play to sneer at. If you just want to have fun, remember that simplicity is at the core of scientific beauty [...] A steady diet of science news is bad for you: You are what you eat, and if you eat only science reporting on fluid situations, without a solid textbook now and then, your brain will turn to liquid. Psychology isn’t centrally the new paper in Annals Of Recently-Breaking News saying that an n=5 study showing that large portion sizes increase support for terrorism. Psychology is centrally ideas like brain waves, GABA receptors, reinforcement learning, twin studies, and connectionism. People who think differently are worrying too much about BREAKING NEWS!!!, and should stop. The key distinction isn’t “recent research in social psychology” vs. “recent research in cognitive/bio/behavioral psychology”, as my essay last week unfortunately implied. It’s recent research in general vs. the deposit of settled science, battle-tested hypotheses, and carefully-earmarked speculation. And part of the reason social priming in particular was such a disaster was that it defied that heuristic, building itself up over hundreds of studies until it approached or even entered the pantheon of settled science - before collapsing (5-HTTLPR was also sort of like this). This isn’t a claim that settled science is always right - Freud was “settled science” for a long time - just that there’s an intuitive distinction between the level of credence you should have in the existence of power posing vs. the existence of Broca’s Area. (I compounded this error by calling the last post “Psychology Research Is Mostly Fine”, which suggested I was talking about the new research rather than the settled science. I actually meant to distinguish between research-psychology-the-field vs. clinical-psychology-aka-therapy, but this framing unintentionally pushed against the point I wanted to make) Some commenters on the previous article understood this point, but challenged its weight. It’s very cool, they said, to know how many neurons are in which brain lobe, but the main way that Psychology affected their lives was through bad clickbait studies used to buttress dumb policies; some p = 0.049 study says that exposure to microaggressions makes minorities’ brains shrivel into raisins, and now their company has to implement punitive DEI or be sued for hazardous work conditions. I won’t dispute this as an accurate description of how the sausage gets made, but it’s worth examining the trains of thought that connect this observation to a campaign against psychology in general: The dumb woke psychology was wrong and bad, and I don’t have good heuristics for distinguishing dumb woke psychology from other psychology, so I’m going to assume it’s all wrong and bad. The dumb woke psychology was wrong and bad; it seems useful to punish/discredit psychology as a whole to assist my campaign against it, so for propaganda purposes I will try to discredit psychology as a whole. To people in the first camp, my response is: come on, your heuristics aren’t that bad. “Microaggressions makes minorities’ brains shrivel up like raisins” is in the woke category; “the hippocampal theta rhythm seems to be associated with both memory and pathfinding, suggesting an unexpected yet surprisingly compelling relationship between the two” is in the not-woke category, don’t play dumb here. To people in the second camp, my response is: deliberately exaggerated propaganda campaigns are bad and this is a confession, not an excuse. Inability to view science through anything but a political lens was what got us into this problem; doubling down on it is a temporary solution but a recipe for permanent disaster. If you pronounce entire fields of science to be acceptable collateral damage in your campaign against bad political actors, you will alienate not just scientists but patients, clinicians, and general lovers of truth. Instead, you can say the thing you mean - that woke partisans shouldn’t try to occupy and exploit the otherwise-noble science of psychology for their own political gain - and wage the same campaign with a halo rather than a comic-book-villain goatee. From the font of oracular wisdom that is Weird Sun Twitter: [ Vessel Of Spirit@VesselOfSpirit i love you all conditionally but i love the good part of you unconditionally. even if it becomes a very small part 2:11 AM · Jan 22, 2015 1 Reply · 5 Reposts · 29 Likes ](https://x.com/VesselOfSpirit/status/558084551772471298) This is how I feel about psychology1, too, but with a touch more optimism. The good part of psychology is enormous, a hoard of endless treasures. You just have to look past the headlines! 1 To play devil’s advocate - should one always be so magnamious? Astrology? Phrenology? These seem different in that their entire orientation was flawed from the start; they didn’t simply fail to find the correct constellation-personality connections, the whole project of searching for connections between constellations and personality was doomed from the start. More difficult might be asking the same question about education research, which is notoriously bad. I don’t know enough about education research to know if there’s some settled science of correct and enlightening results lurking in the background beyond the day-to-day froth of poorly-conducted and politically-motivated studies. I think if it’s 90% bad, 10% good, it’s correct to call it bad as a compact way of communicating a useful truth; I think psychology is better than that, but admit it’s a tough judgment call.
Could you use a refresher on AI in healthcare? Here are 5 retention ticklers
Don’t be embarrassed. Like computer hardware, the human brain tends to perform byte retrieval a little slower after ingesting deluges of data every day for years.
‘Dumbest thing in sports’ – NFL fans are ’embarrassed’ by new Buffalo Bills stadium design feature
The Buffalo Bills are gearing up for their first season in their state-of-the-art new stadium after leaving the old Highmark Stadium behind in January. Josh Allen’s first competitive game at the new Highmark Stadium will come in week two of the NFL season against the Detroit Lions.
Why some Russians are breaking with Putin as Ukraine war drags on
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s iron grip on power is being challenged by the war in Ukraine and his government’s authoritarian crackdowns. He finds himself in unfamiliar political territory, questioned by some of the country’s elite and embarrassed by Ukraine’s strikes into Russian cities. Compass Points moderator Nick Schifrin discusses the state of Russian politics with Arkady Ostrovsky.
J.J. McCarthy getting embarrassed early in Minnesota Vikings QB competition
The NFL has several offseason position battles underway as teams prepare for minicamps and training camp. One of the most closely watched competitions is unfolding with the Minnesota Vikings, where J.J. McCarthy is battling free-agent addition Kyler Murray for the…
Asking Eric: Memory issues threaten relationship with hairstylist
I have missed several appointments in the past year. I am so embarrassed that it happened again and I’m not sure what to do.
Asking Eric: How to handle repeated missed appointments with your hairstylist
I am so embarrassed and I’m not sure what to do. Should I call to make another appointment or just slink away to another salon?
Friends make snarky comments about my wealth. Hax readers give advice.
Is a mid-40s letter writer, getting snark from friends about wealth, “supposed to be embarrassed” about early career success?
How Could We Allow Trump to Complete His Worst Con Yet?
You’d think that, by now, conservatives would be embarrassed about giving the president whatever he wants.
Science and Immigration Are Interconnected: On Higher Education, ICE, and the Assault on DEI
One day in graduate school, I confessed to my fellow students that I had never been outside of the United States. They hailed from all over the world, so I was embarrassed to admit it. “You don’t need to leave the country,” one of them replied, “Here, the world comes to you!” In many ways, he was ri
Hearts say ‘shameful’ scenes at Celtic ‘embarrassed Scottish football’
Hearts blasted the ‘shameful, unacceptable’ scenes at Celtic which ‘embarrassed Scottish football’ as their Premiership title dream ended on Saturday.The Jambos lost the crucial away game 3-1 ...
Trump gets revenge, and other takeaways from Tuesday’s Indiana and Ohio primaries
President Donald Trump vowed revenge when the Republican supermajority in the Indiana state Senate embarrassed him in December, voting down Trump’s demands to redraw the state’s congressional maps to help the party win two more seats.
Awkward Health Questions Women Avoid — And Why That’s Dangerous
Carly Stern sits down with Dr. Caren Behar to tackle the medical questions patients are too mortified to say out loud. From everyday issues many silently struggle with to warning signs that could...
LA Galaxy Embarrassed and Eliminated 3-0 At Home
Los Angeles, Calif. -- The LA Galaxy were overcome by a scarlet wave, both in the stands and on the field, as they fell 3-0 (2-7 on aggregate) at home to Liga MX champions, Toluca, in the second leg of the Concacaf Champions Cup Quarterfinal on Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
LG's canceled rollable just embarrassed 2026 phones in a teardown video
JerryRigEverything tore down LG's scrapped rollable, and it hurts to watch what could've been.
How to poop better, according to a gastroenterologist | Science Friday
For many of us, what happens in the bathroom stays in the bathroom: According to a recent survey, 1 in 3 Americans are too embarrassed to talk about their poop or gut issues with thei...
Cruel Science Teacher Tried To Sabotage A Student’s College Prospects, So Student Fought Back And Embarrassed Her In Front Of The Whole Class
Looks like this cruel teacher had finally met her match.
Zach Braff was mortified when Michael Fassbender mistook him for Dax Shepard in Vegas nightclub
Zach Braff is still mortified after being mistaken by a spirited Michael Fassbender for Dax Shepard in a packed Vegas nightclub. 'I was so embarrassed,' he confessed to on his look-a-like's podcast.
This is your brain on pleasure (even the guilty kind)
It’s likely you have at least one “guilty pleasure.” Maybe it’s romance novels. Or reality TV… Playing video games… or getting swept into obscure corners of TikTok. Neuroscientists say the pleasure response helps us survive as a species. So why do we feel embarrassed by some of the things we love the most? Even if you don't have these negative emotions, experiencing – and studying – pleasure is not as straightforward as it might seem. For a long time, neuroscientists thought the concept of "pleasure" referred to a singular system in the brain. But as research into the subject grew, scientists realized that pleasure is really a cycle of "wanting" and "liking" – each with separate neural mechanisms. Today on the show, producer Rachel Carlson explores this cycle with researchers, who weigh in on the science of pleasure. Even the kind that makes us feel guilty. Read more of Rachel’s story on guilty pleasures. Interested in more brain science? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.
Newsom blasted by CA GOP Chair over viral clip labeled 'racist' by critics: 'He should be embarrassed'
California GOP chairwoman accuses Gov. Gavin Newsom of condescending remarks after viral clip showed discussing his poor SAT score with Atlanta mayor.
Kansas State students call for Jerome Tang’s firing before he erupts on his team after latest blowout loss: ‘I’m embarrassed’
Recap: Blues embarrassed by Colorado’s dominance
The cage was wide open for the Avalanche all night.
You may soon be able to change your Gmail address
Good news for anyone tired of or embarrassed by their current Gmail address.
Tattoo Regret: Wyoming Residents Pay Big Money For Tattoo Removal
Across Wyoming, more people are paying big money to erase tattoos they regret having done. “I tell them don’t be embarrassed, because they were young and…