In the News

The California case in which 13 siblings were found imprisoned at home earlier this week is shocking, but not without precedent. Lurid cases have come to light over the years of children locked in closets and basements, held captive by parents who have crumbled under the weight of drugs, extreme religious conviction, personality disorders or their own abusive backgrounds.

The good news, trauma experts say, is that recovery is indeed possible. Victims can reclaim their lives.

At 90, Beverly Herzog is writing songs for the first time.

Once a week, a music therapist helps Mrs. Herzog transform her thoughts into lyrics, then sings them back to her mellifluously over the strums of her guitar. The result can be transformative. When Mrs. Herzog listened during a session in December, she marveled at how magically the music reflected her views on love and life.

Nothing was ever easy in this woman's life.

She felt trapped — trapped in a life with the wrong parents, surrounded by the wrong people, and, as a result, she had a pregnancy with the wrong man for her and her child.

But some lives are fulcrums on which generational histories tilt. She decided hers would be such a life.

When sisters Jean and Ruby were growing up in Harlem, they invented a game of make-believe called "Eartha." The little girls would put on their prettiest dresses and shiniest shoes and sit down to tea as grown-up ladies. They discussed details of their hoped-for husbands and children, and all the exciting things they would do together.

Two major investors in Apple — one the California teachers pension plan — sent a letter over the weekend saying the tech giant needs to do more to protect the mental health of teens and children using their products.

President Trump signed an executive order Tuesday aimed at expanding mental-health care for transitioning veterans as they leave the military, in an effort to reduce suicides in a group that is considered particularly at risk.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Correctional Officer Scott Jones kissed his wife goodbye on July 8, 2011, and headed off to a maximum-security prison in the remote high desert of northeastern California. He never came home.

Jones' body was found a day later, along with a note explaining why the 36-year-old took his own life: "The job made me do it."

Federal health officials have suspended a program that helps thousands of professionals and community groups across the country find effective interventions for preventing and treating mental illness and substance use disorders.

The National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices is housed within the Health and Human Services Department's Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.