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Peter C. Baker (USA)

Freelancer, Contributing Editor
Pacific Standard Magazine

Topic: Illuminate the mental health costs of the ongoing Illinois budget stalemate and the difficult work of Illinoisans who have tried to stanch the damage.

The veteran psychotherapist Enrico Gnaulati is scared for the health of his profession. In Saving Talk Therapy, he makes the case that in-depth, long-term, interpersonal psychotherapy remains one of the best tools for alleviating emotional suffering, helping people flourish, and reducing overall medical spending.

Americans are terrified of dementia. As we live longer, more of us are developing the disease, or seeing loved ones, friends, celebrities, and movie characters struggle with it. Until recently, dementia was the country's second most intense medical fear, but recent polls show that fear rising—even, in at least one survey, taking the No. 1 spot.

In interviews, Elverum has mentioned feeling both unable to sing certain songs from his new album and fundamentally disconnected from everything he wrote before.

An image from “The Devil and Daniel Johnston,” Jeff Feuerzeig's documentary, from 2005, about the artist's life, artistic output, and struggles with mental illness.