Slate Health Slate Podcasts

The story of IUDs is a story of technology, reproductive rights, shortcomings in communication about women’s health, and politics. 

Guest: Mia Armstrong-Lopez, managing editor at ASU Media Enterprise and author of a recent piece on IUDs for Slate. 

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Saying any one storm or heat wave or weather in general was “caused by climate change” is tricky—summer is, after all, usually pretty hot, and storms happen. But researchers are working on a model that brings “climate change” from abstract into the particular.  

Guest: Daniel Swain, climate scientist at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, studying how extreme events are changing on a warming Earth.

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For years, psychiatrists have been researching new methods to help people with treatment-resistant mental illness. These include severe cases of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other debilitating diagnoses.
One type of drug has seen some positive results in clinical trials: psychedelics like psilocybin, MDMA, ketamine, and LSD.
In professional medical settings, they’re used as a part of a multifaceted approach to mental health treatment, including supervised therapy sessions while a patient is on a drug.
Recently the pharmaceutical manufacturer Lykos petitioned the FDA to approve the psychedelic MDMA as a part of caring for treatment-resistant PTSD.
Earlier this month, an advisory committee to the FDA released their vote of rejecting to approve the drug. 
Now it’s up to the FDA to make the final call, but the odds are not in the favor of Lykos and many psychiatrists and patients who’ve seen positive outcomes as a result of these MDMA-assisted trials.
Psychiatrist and entrepreneur Dave Rabin is one of the doctors pushing to approve psychedelic-assisted therapy. 
On this week’s episode of Well, Now we ask him about the results of his trials using psychedelics in therapy as well as what he thinks the future holds for this field as we wait for the FDA’s final verdict.
If you liked this episode, check out: “As Little Regulation As Guns”: How Social Media Hurts Youth Mental Health
Well, Now is hosted by Dr. Kavita Patel and registered dietitian nutritionist Maya Feller.
Editing and podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry, with support this week from Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola.
Editorial oversight from Alicia Montgomery, Vice President of Slate Audio.
Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to wellnow@slate.com.
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The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision to uphold access to mifepristone left the door open for another case to be brought to ban the abortion pill. This physician is eager for another chance. 

Guest: Dr. Christina Francis, CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG), associate scholar with the Charlotte Lozier Institute, a board member of Indiana Right to Life, physician member of the Abortion Pill Reversal Network. 


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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther.
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Today, we’re revisiting one of our favorite episodes from September 2023 with Dr. Orna Guralnik (host of Showtime’s Couples Therapy).
In this episode, Dr. Orna Guralnik joins Prudie (Jenée Desmond-Harris) to answer letters from readers about what to do when a friend is obsessed with misogynistic love and relationship podcasts, when your husband just can’t figure out birthday gifts, and when you’re wondering “Does therapy just not work for me?”
If you want more Dear Prudence, join Slate Plus, Slate’s membership program. Jenée answers an extra question every week, just for members.
Go to Slate.com/prudieplus to sign up. It’s just $15 for your first three months.
Podcast production by Se’era Spragley Ricks and Daisy Rosario, with help from Maura Currie.
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The Supreme Court is soon expected to decide Grants Pass v. Johnson, a case where a town’s efforts to remove unhoused people from its parks became “cruel and unusual,” according to lower courts.

Guest: Dr. Bruce Murray, chief medical officer for the Mobile Integrative Navigation Team (MINT) in Josephine County, Oregon.

Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.

Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther.
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