Kathleen M. Pike, PhD

Archives: Five on Friday Posts

Time to Take a Break!

I have written on several occasions about how taking time off from work benefits our mental health. So, in the spirit of “practice what you preach,” I will be on vacation for two weeks and will take a break from writing Five on Friday for the month of August. 1.

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All Too Well

Fair warning: you do not want me on your Jeopardy team if one of the categories is pop culture. But when it comes to Taylor Swift, I just might surprise you. Like millions of Swifties around the globe, I was on my feet for the entire three hours of her

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Women’s World Cup and Mental Health

Yesterday marked the Opening Day of the Women’s World Cup. Jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand, the best female soccer players from 32 countries will compete over the coming month to determine who takes home the 18-carat gold trophy on August 20th. Perhaps you are a huge soccer –

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Summer Reading 2023

Our Columbia-WHO Center for Global Mental Health faculty and senior staff had a celebration lunch this week for one of our senior staff members heading to graduate school in the fall. Summer is a great time to catch up on reading, and we had many recommendations for each other. I

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The Dining Room Table

Over the recent holiday weekend, four generations of my family – from 9 months+ to 91 years+ – came together. we had time together to walk, talk, swim, cook, and just generally hang out and connect. At our family beach house, people pretty much do their own thing until dinner

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July 4th for Mental Health

A familiar hush has already descended over New York City. The Friday before a holiday often becomes part of the long weekend. As I ran a few errands yesterday, I saw many supermarket carts overflowing with all the fixings for upcoming weekend barbecues and cars heading out of the city

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June is PRIDE Month

June is PRIDE month. Pride is defined as having “feelings of deep pleasure and satisfaction derived from  qualities that are widely admired; consciousness of one’s own dignity.” Pride should belong to each and every person. So why do LGBTQ+ people have to fight for something that should be a universal

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Language Matters

A loyal reader of Five of Friday recently wrote to me with some feedback. She kindly started with a compliment and then expressed her concern for how I spoke about suicide in my TEDx Talk, which she happened upon online. She is right. That talk is from 12 years ago,

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Weighing the Benefits and Risks of Ozempic

Newspaper headlines, magazine articles, subway posters, highway billboards, and more are all talking about Ozempic. Why? Ozempic (semaglutide) is approved for people with type 2 diabetes. It is gathering attention as an effective weight loss drug, with some touting it as a miracle drug.  Certainly, the medical benefits of Ozempic

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Big Ideas in Eating Disorders

I am in Washington, DC, for the 30th International Conference on Eating Disorders. Since its inception, I have looked forward to attending this meeting every spring given that research, treatment, and advocacy in this field have been core to my professional work for nearly four decades. With over 1,000 people

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Graduation Speeches 2023

This spring is the first time since I can remember that I do not have any children, nieces, nephews, other close family, and friends graduating from high school or university. While most people I know would consider this a blessing, as a committed graduation junkie, I couldn’t stay away and

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Dove Does It Again

It is a great irony that the beauty industry makes so many women feel just the opposite. Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign is something else. It addresses head-on the negative beauty stereotypes and standards that are created and perpetuated by the beauty industry and challenges conventional standards of beauty to connect

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