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Ellen Barry

@ellenbarry.bsky.social

1.3K followers 800 following 83 posts

mental health reporter, former Moscow, Delhi, London, now at home in New England. reach out w ideas: [email protected]

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Reposted by Ellen Barry

Brian Goldstone @brian-goldstone.bsky.social · Sep 1

A Labor Day reminder: today there isn't a single city, metro area, or state in the U.S. where a full-time minimum-wage worker can afford a modest 2-bedroom apartment.

Millions of people with jobs—even multiple jobs—aren't safe from homelessness in this country.

Opinion | America Is Pushing Its Workers Into Homelessness

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Ellen Barry

Laura Carter Robinson • Humanity&Planet @humanityandplanet.com · Jul 24

It’s painful to lose a therapist, but it’s made better when the therapist has made plans for such circumstances, as I learned when my own therapist handled it all with candor and grace. Thanks to @ellenbarry.bsky.social at @nytimes.com for writing this important piece and for including me.

Ellen Barry @ellenbarry.bsky.social · Jul 24

When a therapist dies unexpectedly, what is left behind?

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/24/s...

The Ghost in the Therapy Room

www.nytimes.com

Ellen Barry @ellenbarry.bsky.social · Jul 24

When a therapist dies unexpectedly, what is left behind?

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/24/s...

The Ghost in the Therapy Room

www.nytimes.com

Ellen Barry @ellenbarry.bsky.social · Jul 22

Attention all Boston-area Punjabi princesses, book club aunties, Khan Market influence peddlers and B-list maharajas. A week from today, I am interviewing the indiscreet, irrepressible @AatishTaseer at Porter Square Books about his haunting new memoir. Come with questions.

Ellen Barry @ellenbarry.bsky.social · Jul 22

An FDA expert panel on the use of SSRIs in pregnancy featured prominent, longtime critics of psychiatric medication, suggesting the agency may be moving toward a "black box" warning for pregnant women taking antidepressants.

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/21/h...

F.D.A. Panel Debates ‘Black Box’ Warning for Antidepressants in Pregnancy

www.nytimes.com

Ellen Barry @ellenbarry.bsky.social · Jul 11

Brilliant @antontroian dispatch from Dubai, which has replaced London and Palm Beach as redoubt for the Russian elite. Manages to show how, and why, powerful Russians have stuck with Putin as he led their country into fratricidal war. (Read to the end.)

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/w...

Want to Understand Russia? Visit Dubai.

www.nytimes.com

Ellen Barry @ellenbarry.bsky.social · Jul 9

A study published today in JAMA Psychiatry finds withdrawal from SSRIs is mild & transient, which authors hope will reassure patients.

However, the new finding is unlikely to resolve debate about SSRI withdrawal, which is hampered by a lack of long-term trials.

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/h...

New Research Questions Severity of Withdrawal From Antidepressants

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Ellen Barry

Brian Goldstone @brian-goldstone.bsky.social · Jul 7

An astonishing figure in this piece:

Last year, the U.S. budgeted $12.8B for new affordable housing.

This country is now poised to spend $45B on immigrant detention centers.

That's nearly *four times* as much on cages as on homes—in the middle of a devastating housing and homelessness crisis.

Are We About to Have Labor Camps in the United States of America?

If you think that’s far-fetched, then you really haven’t been paying attention to what the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress have been up to lately.

newrepublic.com

Ellen Barry @ellenbarry.bsky.social · Jun 26

Ellen Barry @ellenbarry.bsky.social · Jun 26

A grand jury indicted researcher Kseniia Petrova on smuggling charges today. The case arose Feb 16, when she flew into Logan Airport carrying samples of frog embryos for use in a lab at Harvard.

If convicted, she faces up to 20 years in prison.

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/s...

Grand Jury Indicts Russian Scientist on Smuggling Charges

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Ellen Barry

Stephanie Nolen @stephanienolen.bsky.social · Jun 25

This was supposed to be a breakthrough year in the 44-year-long struggle against H.I.V.

It's turned into something very different.
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/h...

Promise of Victory Over H.I.V. Fades as U.S. Withdraws Support

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Ellen Barry

Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · Jun 25

Since May:

Federal district courts have ruled against Trump admin 94% of the time.

Supreme Court has sided with the Trump admin 94% of the time.

A judiciary at war with itself.

Bar chart titled “The Supreme Court vs. The Lower Courts: Rulings on the Trump Administration” showing three horizontal bar charts for May 1-June 23, 2025. Federal District Courts: large red bar (82 cases, 94.3% against) with tiny green bar (5 cases, 5.7% for). Circuit Courts of Appeal: medium red bar (15 cases, 68.2% against) with smaller green bar (7 cases, 31.8% for). Supreme Court: tiny red bar (1 case, 6.3% against) with large green bar (15 cases, 93.7% for). Shows dramatic reversal from lower courts ruling against Trump administration to Supreme Court ruling for it.

Ellen Barry @ellenbarry.bsky.social · Jun 24

Stunning multimedia road trip through Syria from @NYTBen & @dguttenfelder takes you through one shattered place after another, stopping for scenes of bitterness & amnesia & grace.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Photos: A Road Trip Through Syria After the Fall of Bashar al-Assad

After decades of dictatorship and 13 years of civil war, can Syria put itself back together? Our journalists traveled the length of the country to explore its hopes and its challenges.

www.nytimes.com

Ellen Barry @ellenbarry.bsky.social · Jun 21

It was a real pleasure talking with @awaisaftab.bsky.social, one of the sharpest observers out there, about covering mental health for the NYT.

Awais Aftab @awaisaftab.bsky.social · Jun 21

Journalism, Psychiatry, and Public Trust: Q&A with Ellen Barry ( @ellenbarry.bsky.social ) , a reporter covering mental health for the New York Times ( @nytimes.com )

“I want to show the readers the human stakes...”

www.psychiatrymargins.com/p/journalism...

Journalism, Psychiatry, and Public Trust: Q&A with Ellen Barry

Ellen Barry is a reporter covering mental health for the New York Times.

www.psychiatrymargins.com

Ellen Barry @ellenbarry.bsky.social · Jun 18

A large, longitudinal study of children's use of screens found that higher screen time did not predict suicidal behavior four years later. The children at highest risk, the researchers found, were the ones who said they were "addicted" to their devices.

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/18/h...

Real Risk to Youth Mental Health Is ‘Addictive Use,’ Not Screen Time Alone, Study Finds

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Ellen Barry

Maggie Astor @maggieastor.bsky.social · Jun 18

Breaking: The Trevor Project received a stop-work order last night on its contract with the national 988 suicide prevention hotline. The Trump administration is eliminating the option for LGBTQ callers to the hotline to press 3 and connect with someone who specializes in LGBTQ mental health.

Ellen Barry @ellenbarry.bsky.social · Jun 16

"Do not contradict the president."

Musk and his team systematically built a false narrative of widespread fraud at Social Security to justify gaining access to data on millions of Americans, a NYT investigation found.

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/u...

The Bureaucrat and the Billionaire: Inside DOGE’s Chaotic Takeover of Social Security

www.nytimes.com

Ellen Barry @ellenbarry.bsky.social · Jun 13

"If I went to the top of the 19 story building I’m in, and I believed with every ounce of my soul that I could jump off it and fly, would I?” Mr. Torres asked.

ChatGPT replied that, if Mr. Torres “truly, wholly believed you could fly? Then yes. You would not fall."

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/t...

They Asked an A.I. Chatbot Questions. The Answers Sent Them Spiraling.

www.nytimes.com

Ellen Barry @ellenbarry.bsky.social · Jun 12

20 years ago, when U.C.L.A. psychologist @laugeson first proposed an evidence-based curriculum to help autistic adults find romance, "everyone was a little bit afraid of it.”

Comments are open on our piece about neuro-spicy dating boot camp 🩷

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/12/h...

The Real-Life Dating Boot Camp That Inspired ‘Love on the Spectrum’

www.nytimes.com

Ellen Barry @ellenbarry.bsky.social · Jun 12

"Welcome to Massachusetts."
Those were the judge's words this morning, upon releasing Harvard researcher Kseniia Petrova from federal custody, four months after she was detained for failing to declare scientific samples she was carrying.

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/12/s...

Russian Scientist Released After Four Months in Federal Custody

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Ellen Barry

Philip Bump @pbump.com · Jun 11

ICE detentions of people with no criminal records are up nearly 900 percent over the same period last year. Gift link: wapo.st/43DxcEB

Ellen Barry @ellenbarry.bsky.social · Jun 10

Overjoyed to hear Lost Patients, a podcast about living with psychosis in an American city, won a Livingston Award today. One of the best things I heard last year. All the flowers to @sydbrownstone @otherwilljames @esmyjimenez

www.npr.org/podcasts/510...

Lost Patients takes you into new spaces most people have likely never experienced before — the inside of someone's psychosis, mental health court rooms, and the past and present streets of Seattle, sa...

Reposted by Ellen Barry

Devon Heinen @devonheinen.bsky.social · Jun 7

Holy cow, this long-form feature by @washingtonpost.com's @drewharwell.com, about a woman in her 20s who's streamed her life nonstop for the past three years, is so depressing, yet so eye-opening.

www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Inside the life of a 24/7 streamer: ‘What more do you want?’

A lonely young woman in Texas has streamed every second of her life for three years and counting. Is this life, or a performance of one?

www.washingtonpost.com

Reposted by Ellen Barry

Michelle Goldberg @michellegoldberg.bsky.social · May 30

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/o...

Ellen Barry @ellenbarry.bsky.social · May 30

@mega2e and @KirstenGrind find that Musk was using ketamine often, sometimes daily, and mixing it w/other drugs, while campaigning for Trump. He told people he was taking so much ketamine that it was affecting his bladder, a known effect of chronic use.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/u...

On the Campaign Trail, Elon Musk Juggled Drugs and Family Drama

www.nytimes.com