Happy Hump Day!

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According to the experts, we are not experiencing an autism epidemic — we are experiencing a long-overdue reckoning with how many people were previously missed, misdiagnosed, or simply overlooked, particularly girls, adults, and children in marginalized communities who lacked access to proper evaluations.

The vaccine myth has been thoroughly and repeatedly debunked across more than 20 large-scale studies, and autism cannot be "prevented" or "cured" — because as neurodivergent psychotherapist Vanessa Palomera puts it, "autism is a natural part of neurodiversity, just like variations in personality or learning styles."

Read More: This Is The Evidence-Backed Reason Why Autism Rates Are Rising (Parents.com)

The National Union of Healthcare Workers filed a first-of-its-kind complaint alleging that Kaiser Permanente is using an automated algorithm to triage mental health patients seeking help for anxiety and depression — issuing care recommendations instantly, with no evidence that a licensed clinician reviews responses before patients are directed to virtual therapy, health classes, or self-care apps.

As Kaiser therapist Ilana Marcucci-Morris puts it, "people with depression commonly minimize their symptoms — so an algorithm relying solely on a patient's answers may miss signs of a more severe condition" — and she's now seeing patients with significantly higher acuity because the tool incorrectly determined they could wait 10 days to be seen.

Read More: Kaiser Used An Algorithm — Not Clinicians — To Triage Mental Health Patients, A Union Alleges (CalMatters)

Startup founder Katherine Prime is betting that "pouches are what gummies were five years ago" — and her company Blip is already in 7,000 retail locations with nicotine-free functional pouches packed with nootropics like L-theanine and Alpha GPC, promising clean focus and energy without the addiction risk of Zyn.

The science behind why pouches could be effective for some ingredients is real — bypassing the digestive system means faster, more predictable absorption — but experts caution that not every ingredient can actually permeate the tissue, making some formulations little more than expensive placebo.

Read More: ‘Pouches Are What Gummies Were 5 Years Ago’: Why 1 Startup Is Betting on Wellness’s Next Big Format (Inc.)

MYTH: Being suicidal means I’m crazy.

FACT: Suicidal feelings are most often symptoms of depression or a related mood disorder. Feeling suicidal does not make you any more or less crazy than anybody else. Suicidal feelings go away once you begin to receive adequate care for your depression or other mood disorder.

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