Mental health /asmagazine/ en Research finds many psychiatric disorders are influenced by five genetic factors /asmagazine/2026/03/13/research-finds-many-psychiatric-disorders-are-influenced-five-genetic-factors <span>Research finds many psychiatric disorders are influenced by five genetic factors</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2026-03-13T15:24:35-06:00" title="Friday, March 13, 2026 - 15:24">Fri, 03/13/2026 - 15:24</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2026-03/DNA%20strands.jpg?h=61ca6c21&amp;itok=a2vhwQ53" width="1200" height="800" alt="illustration of DNA strands in glowing blue"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1242" hreflang="en">Division of Natural Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1264" hreflang="en">Institute for Behavioral Genetics</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1163" hreflang="en">Mental health</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/144" hreflang="en">Psychology and Neuroscience</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/686" hreflang="en">Research</a> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/blake-puscher">Blake Puscher</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em><span>Genome-wide association studies identify genetic overlap among disorders, providing evidence that their distinctions may be misleading</span></em></p><hr><p><span>One major difference between psychiatric disorders and purely physical diseases is that the former are largely defined by their symptoms. Patient-reported symptoms are also closely associated with physical illnesses, but this is often accompanied by an awareness of underlying, biological causes, which can be confirmed by tests or scans.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span>However, because the biological causes of psychiatric disorders have not been comprehensively explained, the boundaries between them can be blurry, especially considering that many people diagnosed with one disorder will be diagnosed with others, too.</span></p><p><span>As a step toward the long-term goal of explaining these causes, a large number of scientists from across the United States and the world conducted a study</span><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09820-3" rel="nofollow"><span> published</span></a><span> in</span><em><span> Nature</span></em><span> into the genetic associations of 14 disorders. This group includes first author&nbsp;</span><a href="/psych-neuro/andrew-grotzinger" rel="nofollow"><span>Andrew Grotzinger</span></a>, a member of both<span> the University of Colorado Boulder </span><a href="/psych-neuro/" rel="nofollow"><span>Department of Psychology and Neuroscience</span></a><span> and the CU </span><a href="/ibg/" rel="nofollow"><span>Institute for Behavioral Genetics</span></a><span>.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-medium"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2026-03/Andrew%20Grotzinger.jpg?itok=LrDqIw1i" width="1500" height="2246" alt="portrait of Andrew Grotzinger"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">91´«Ă˝ scientist Andrew Grotzinger and his research colleagues studied how certain psychiatric disorders are influenced by genetic factors.</p> </span> </div></div><p><span>This study involved genome-wide association studies on the different disorders, followed by an analysis of the results for signs of genetic overlap (pleiotropy). The disorders ranged from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to schizophrenia, and included several substance-use disorders. The study found that these disorders were influenced by five genetic factors, each of which was shared by two or more disorders.</span></p><p><span><strong>Pleiotropy and genetic association</strong></span></p><p><span>When multiple measurable and observable (phenotypic) traits are influenced by a gene or genetic variant, it is called pleiotropy. One example is the typical form of albinism, where a mutation of a single gene influences skin pigmentation, eye color and hair color by altering the production of melanin. The study uses the term pleiotropic loci, which refers to areas of chromosomes within which genes influencing multiple phenotypic traits can be found. In this case, those traits are different psychiatric disorders.</span></p><p><span>While evidence of pleiotropy can be seen in how some traits tend to vary together between individuals, like hair and eye color, it can only be proven by a thorough analysis of a large amount of genetic data. In this case, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were done for each psychiatric disorder covered. A GWAS attempts to associate common genetic variants with traits by seeing if people who have the trait of interest also have a given genetic variant more often than would be expected based on chance alone.</span></p><p><span>For example, if people can have either gene A or gene B at a particular location (locus) in their DNA, a GWAS could determine if that genetic variation was associated with a given trait. If the study found that many people who did not have the trait had gene A and many people who did have the trait had gene B, it would conclude that gene B influenced the trait, even though there might be other factors contributing to it.</span></p><p><span>However, because there are so many genetic variants, and because scientists do not know which are relevant to begin with, a large number need to be studied. According to Grotzinger, this analysis happens across millions of genetic variants. A massive number of participants, both with and without the trait in question, is also necessary to have this statistical power to reliably study these associations. “What’s unique about this study is, in part, just how many people are involved, how many people we had DNA from,” Grotzinger explains.</span></p><p><span>That being said, data from some groups was more abundant. Only the European genetic ancestry group had enough data to perform analyses for all 14 psychiatric disorders. According to Grotzinger, analyses need to be performed separately by genetic ancestry group for statistical reasons, not because the genes themselves are very different but because the results may not apply equally to all people. “Initial evidence indicates that it may be more applicable for some disorders than others. So, schizophrenia is very much the same across ancestries, whereas depression is a little bit different,” he says. “The only reason we did European-like ancestry here was availability of data, and the hope would be that the next iteration of this study has greater diversity and representation.”</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2026-03/DNA%20strands.jpg?itok=2xG3zo1l" width="1500" height="925" alt="illustration of DNA strands in glowing blue"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>“Most people who are diagnosed with one psychiatric disorder are going to be diagnosed with multiple, and this has led some to theorize that there are genes that just increase your risk for everything,” says 91´«Ă˝ researcher Andrew Grotzinger. (Illustration: Wikimedia Commons)&nbsp;</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><span><strong>Genomic factors</strong></span></p><p><span>After analyzing the results of the different GWAS, the researchers identified five genomic factors that explained the majority of the genetic variance of the individual disorders. Some of the variance is non-genetic (for example, resulting from different life experiences), but these genetic factors explain on average around two thirds of the common genetic variation caused by people having different genes. The factors were associated with 238 pleiotropic loci.</span></p><p>Factor 1 was most strongly associated with compulsive disorders, factor 2 was associated with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, factor 3 was tied to neurodevelopmental disorders, factor 4 was connected to internalizing disorders, and factor 5 explained the genetic variance in substance use disorders</p><p><span>“Most people who are diagnosed with one psychiatric disorder are going to be diagnosed with multiple,” Grotzinger explains, “and this has led some to theorize that there are genes that just increase your risk for everything.” But “by and large, genes increase risks for subsets of disorders, and that’s what those factors are indexing.” All five factors showed high genetic correlation; however, there was evidence for even more overlap between the disorders covered by Factor 2 and Factor 4.</span></p><p><span>Besides genetic overlap within factor groups, the study also found weaker associations between disorders from different factors groups. That is in line with the theory that there are some genes that increase the risk for many psychiatric disorders, Grotzinger says, “and it seems like there are, but those probably map onto really general pathways, like tendency to experience distress. That’s not specific to OCD versus anxiety versus depression.” This overarching factor is called the “p factor” or general psychopathology factor, and is similar in concept to the “g factor” of general intelligence. In this study, the p factor was correlated with all five factors, especially Factor 4 (internalizing disorders).</span></p><p><span>Relatedly, when researchers analyzed genetic regions instead of the whole genome, they found 101 “hotspots”—regions that demonstrated significant pleiotropy. According to Grotzinger, these genetic regions include a larger group of genes than loci. “You can think of them as operating at a more local level, as opposed to the genome-wide level that examines the average percentage of genetic signal shared across the whole genome,” Grotzinger explains. The most pleiotropic region was on chromosome 11. Genes in this hotspot influence most of the psychiatric disorders, excluding all Factor 1 disorders, opioid- and nicotine-use disorder and autism.</span></p><div class="ucb-box ucb-box-title-hidden ucb-box-alignment-left ucb-box-style-fill ucb-box-theme-lightgray"><div class="ucb-box-inner"><div class="ucb-box-title">&nbsp;</div><div class="ucb-box-content"><p class="lead"><i class="fa-solid fa-arrow-right ucb-icon-color-gold">&nbsp;</i><span>&nbsp;Andrew Grotzinger and his research colleagues identified <strong>five genomic factors</strong> that explain the majority of the genetic variance of the 14 psychiatric disorders they studied.</span></p><ul><li><span><strong>Factor 1</strong>: most strongly associated with compulsive disorders (anorexia, OCD and Tourette’s), but also anxiety to a lesser extent&nbsp;</span></li><li><span><strong>Factor 2</strong>: associated with both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder&nbsp;</span></li><li><span><strong>Factor 3</strong>: tied to autism and ADHD, as well as more loosely to Tourette’s&nbsp;</span></li><li><span><strong>Factor 4</strong>: connected to internalizing disorders such as PTSD, depression and anxiety.&nbsp;</span></li><li><span>Factor 5: explains the genetic variance in substance-use disorders, specifically for nicotine, alcohol, cannabis and opioids.</span></li></ul></div></div></div><p><span>Although these analyses close in on some of the genetic causes for psychiatric disorders, this knowledge cannot be used to diagnose or treat those disorders. This is because the disorders are influenced by thousands of genes, and scientists still do not know which specific genes are relevant, just the area of the genome they are in. “This chromosome 11 hotspot is a really interesting data point, but it is not going to help diagnose anyone,” Grotzinger says. “It is one piece of a 10,000-piece puzzle, at the end of the day. It’s baby steps.”</span></p><p><span><strong>Diagnostic boundaries</strong></span></p><p><span>“One thing people say is that our DNA does not read our diagnostic manual,” Grotzinger says. “Our DNA seems to confer risk in a way that transcends the boundaries that we describe in the </span><em><span>Diagnostic and Statistical Manual</span></em><span>.” In other words, psychiatric disorders are currently defined based on the way that symptoms tend to occur together rather than their biological or genetic causes. Of course, psychiatric disorders have non-genetic causes, but knowing what genes contribute to each disorder would help diagnose and treat them more effectively.</span></p><p><span>For example, “if you are someone who is diagnosed with multiple disorders,” Grotzinger says, “they may be more biologically similar than they are distinct. I think that increases the optimism for treatment, because you know that you are not dealing with four separate things. I do not think this is sufficient to argue for changing the diagnostic manual,” he continues, “but it is still a very important piece of evidence for considering whether or not to reconceptualize some of these disorders.</span></p><p><span>Depression and anxiety in particular are an example of disorders that are often diagnosed together, treated using similar methods (e.g., selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), and appear nearly identical from a genetic perspective, according to Grotzinger. “It begs the question of whether or not we are calling something that is very similar different names. The metaphor I offer with this study is that, if you had a runny nose, a cough, and a sore throat, it would not be appropriate to go to the doctor and get a diagnosis for runny nose disorder, coughing disorder, and sore throat disorder.”</span></p><p><span>One implication of this, and a potential topic for future research, is that there are subtypes of disorders. While many of the disorders covered by this study overlap with each other, they do not all overlap completely with themselves. What is classified as depression, for example, may have different genetic causes in some cases. “You can have over 10,000 different symptom combinations, all of which meet the criteria for depression,” Grotzinger says. “So one question is, are there subtypes of disorders?” If enough research does support the reclassification of psychiatric disorders, this could involve both merging and splitting current disorders to most accurately reflect the underlying genetic risk factors.</span></p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about psychology and neuroscience?&nbsp;</em><a href="/psych-neuro/giving-opportunities" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>Genome-wide association studies identify genetic overlap among disorders, providing evidence that their distinctions may be misleading.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2026-03/genes%20header.jpg?itok=L3Bnavhi" width="1500" height="844" alt="illustration of DNA double helix"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 21:24:35 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6342 at /asmagazine The yellow brick road starts here /asmagazine/2026/03/04/yellow-brick-road-starts-here <span>The yellow brick road starts here</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2026-03-04T16:41:11-07:00" title="Wednesday, March 4, 2026 - 16:41">Wed, 03/04/2026 - 16:41</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2026-03/Raimy%20hallway.jpg?h=a1ccabfe&amp;itok=QYjAn49q" width="1200" height="800" alt="Raimy Center sign on pink wall"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1242" hreflang="en">Division of Natural Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1163" hreflang="en">Mental health</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/144" hreflang="en">Psychology and Neuroscience</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1053" hreflang="en">community</a> </div> <span>Julie Chiron</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em><span>91´«Ă˝'s clinical psychology training clinics give children, students and adults a diagnosis, a direction and a path forward</span></em></p><hr><p><span>The letter arrived years after their consultation.</span></p><p><span>A former client of the University of Colorado Boulder’s&nbsp;</span><a href="/clinicalpsychology/raimy-clinic-child-assessment" rel="nofollow"><span>Attention, Behavior and Learning Evaluation (ABLE) Clinic</span></a><span> was doing some spring cleaning and found the assessment he had received from the clinic as a teenager. Enclosed with the test results that diagnosed his dyslexia was a small note of encouragement.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span>His discovery prompted him to write to the clinic with an update. He was graduating from college, and the note gave him fresh encouragement for the new set of challenges ahead.&nbsp;</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-large"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2026-03/Raimy%201.jpg?itok=sCFvdNJF" width="1500" height="1500" alt="three women posing for photo in room"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Nomita Chhabildas (left), director of the Attention, Behavior, and Learning Clinic; Tina Pittman Wagers (center), director of the Raimy Clinic; and RenĂ©e&nbsp;Martin-Willett (right), assistant research professor and&nbsp;acting director of the Psychological Assessment &amp; Testing Hub (CU PATH).</p> </span> </div></div><p><span>“Words are powerful to me. They have always been both vexing and lovely,” he wrote. “When coupled with the right moment, words can carry a meaning that is both motivating and moving. Today it was your words, written almost five years ago, that affected me in just such a way.”&nbsp;</span></p><p><span>For </span><a href="/clinicalpsychology/nomita-chhabildas-phd" rel="nofollow"><span>Nomita Chhabildas</span></a><span>, who has directed the ABLE Clinic for more than two decades, the former client’s letter captures what the university’s three clinical psychology training clinics are meant to do. They are places where people come to better understand themselves and leave with a path forward.</span></p><p><span>This year, the clinics are experiencing a moment of renewal.</span></p><p><a href="/clinicalpsychology/clinics/cu-path" rel="nofollow"><span>CU PATH</span></a><span>, the department’s adult psychological assessment clinic formerly known as the Brain Behavior Clinic, reopened after an 18-month closure following the retirement of the long-time former director. The&nbsp;</span><a href="/clinicalpsychology/raimy-clinic" rel="nofollow"><span>Raimy Clinic</span></a><span>, which provides affordable mental health treatment for students, staff, faculty and the community, is under new leadership. And the clinic spaces inside Muenzinger Psychology Building have been refreshed with soft colors, warm lighting, art on the walls and inviting furniture in every room. It feels more like a living room than a waiting room.&nbsp; &nbsp;</span></p><p><span>“It’s a time when our clinics are being rebuilt,” Chhabildas says. “A really exciting time, both for our students and for the community.”</span></p><p><span><strong>Three clinics, one mission</strong></span></p><p><span>The </span><a href="/psych-neuro/" rel="nofollow"><span>Department of Psychology and Neuroscience</span></a><span> operates the three training clinics.</span></p><p><span>The Raimy Clinic provides psychotherapy for adults, couples and, less frequently, children. CU PATH offers comprehensive adult psychological assessments for conditions including ADHD, learning disabilities and cognitive changes following concussion or traumatic brain injury. The ABLE Clinic focuses on children and adolescents, with deep expertise in learning differences, ADHD and autism spectrum disorder, now estimated by the CDC to affect 1 in 31 children.</span></p><p><span>All three clinics serve 91´«Ă˝ students, faculty and staff, as well as community members across the Front Range.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span>And all three share what </span><a href="/psych-neuro/renee-martin-willett" rel="nofollow"><span>ReneĂ© Martin-Willet</span></a><span>, assistant research professor and director of CU PATH, describes as a dual mission. They train the next generation of clinical psychologists while delivering evidence-based care to the community.</span></p><p><span>“We’re one of the top-ranked clinical psychology programs in the country,” Martin-Willet says. “We have fantastic student clinicians, and everything we do is based on the best, newest science.”</span></p><p><span>Like a teaching hospital or dental school, the clinicians are doctoral trainees working under close supervision. The model keeps standards high while expanding access. CU PATH charges about $2,100 for a comprehensive assessment, significantly less than the typical private-practice rate. The ABLE Clinic keeps fees similarly low and offers scholarships for families who otherwise cannot afford testing.</span></p><p><span>That affordability is not incidental. Research conducted by the ABLE Clinic found that children from the lowest-income families are evaluated for learning disorders at roughly half the rate of their higher-income peers.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2026-03/Raimy%20students.jpg?itok=miE-Ug7O" width="1500" height="1125" alt="Cece Di Bella and Mateo Chavez talking"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Undergraduate student Cece Di Bella (left) and clinical psychology graduate student Mateo Chavez chat in one of the Raimy Center's welcoming spaces.</p> </span> </div></div><p><span>“We could have increased our fees,” Chhabildas says. “We could have stopped seeing families on scholarships. But we have not done that because we feel like we’re here for the community.”</span></p><p><span><strong>Bringing research into the room</strong></span></p><p><span>What distinguishes the clinics, faculty members say, is how closely training is tied to research.</span></p><p><span>“Our students and faculty are working with world-class clinical researchers who are developing and testing the very evidenced-based treatments we provide,” says Raimy Clinic Director </span><a href="/clinicalpsychology/tina-pittman-wagers" rel="nofollow"><span>Tina Pittman Wagers</span></a><span>.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span>Pittman Wagers stepped into the Raimy Clinic director role seven months ago after 25 years on the faculty. She’s currently supervising doctoral students in behavioral activation, a gold standard treatment for depression developed in part by Sona Dimidjian, faculty member and director of 91´«Ă˝â€™s Crown Institute.</span></p><p><span>“When clients come to the clinic,” Pittman Wagers says, “they benefit from treatments that have been rigorously tested and are being taught by some of the same people who helped develop them.”</span></p><p><span>Martin-Willet traces a similar arc in her own career. As a doctoral student at CU, she trained under anxiety researcher Joanna Arch while working on one of Arch’s clinical trials. Later, during her residency at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) approaches she had learned proved essential for patients with brain injuries, amputations and cancer.</span></p><p><span>“That’s a very direct line,” she says, “from research at CU, to training in the clinic, to application with patients elsewhere, to better care in real-world settings.”</span></p><p><span><strong>More than a label</strong></span></p><p><span>Since opening in 2004, the ABLE Clinic has served more than 1,000 children and trained more than 80 doctoral students. Family feedback surveys consistently rate the experience highly. Last year’s average score was 3.86 out of 4.</span></p><p><span>But Chhabildas is quick to point out that the most important outcome is not the number.</span></p><p><span>A child assessed for dyslexia, for example, does not leave with a label alone. Families receive detailed recommendations for school accommodations, learning programs, tutoring approaches and strategies tailored to that child’s specific situation and needs. Equally important, the clinicians work to identify strengths such as verbal reasoning, spatial creativity, artistic abilities and social skills that can be cultivated alongside challenges.</span></p><p><span>One parent wrote to the clinic, “Since J has had her diagnosis from you, she feels empowered in a way she never has. You gave us a yellow brick road to follow.”</span></p><p><span>That sense of direction, faculty members say, is the real measure of success. For the young man writing from across five years of distance, it was the encouragement, twice over, that arrived exactly when he needed it. For J, it was the direction her family needed to support their child. In this moment of renewal for the clinics, with refreshed spaces, reopened doors and a commitment to keeping care within reach for every family, they remain steadfastly oriented toward helping people better understand themselves and leave with a path forward.</span></p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about psychology and neuroscience?&nbsp;</em><a href="/psych-neuro/giving-opportunities" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>91´«Ă˝'s clinical psychology training clinics give children, students and adults a diagnosis, a direction and a path forward.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2026-03/Raimy%20Clinic%20header.jpg?itok=KCnbvnwE" width="1500" height="636" alt="Toys and games on a red tabletop"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> <div>Top photo: 91´«Ă˝'s Raimy Center provides items to support children, teens and adults in the therapy process.</div> Wed, 04 Mar 2026 23:41:11 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6337 at /asmagazine Is the path to better mental health a walk in the park? /asmagazine/2025/02/05/path-better-mental-health-walk-park <span>Is the path to better mental health a walk in the park? </span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-02-05T10:03:19-07:00" title="Wednesday, February 5, 2025 - 10:03">Wed, 02/05/2025 - 10:03</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-02/sitting%20on%20bench%20in%20park.jpg?h=cac311d4&amp;itok=gB-p0hHB" width="1200" height="800" alt="woman sitting on bench near stream in a park"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1242" hreflang="en">Division of Natural Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/240" hreflang="en">Geography</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1163" hreflang="en">Mental health</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1218" hreflang="en">PhD student</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/686" hreflang="en">Research</a> </div> <span>Pam Moore</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em>91´«Ă˝ researchers Colleen Reid, Emma Rieves and their colleagues explored the potential impact of objective and perceived greenspace exposure on mental health</em></p><hr><p>If you or a loved one is struggling with mental health, you’re not alone. Roughly one in every five adults experienced symptoms of anxiety or depression over the past two weeks, according to a 2022 CDC <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr213.pdf" rel="nofollow"><span>report</span></a>. The good news is a better state of mind could be right in your backyard—literally.</p><p>Perceived greenspace exposure—which represents a person’s perception of the amount and quality of access to and time spent in nearby greenspace—may have a significant positive effect on certain aspects of mental health, according to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027249442400241X?via%3Dihub" rel="nofollow"><span>new research</span></a> from an interdisciplinary University of Colorado Boulder team.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-large"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-02/Emma%20Rieves%20and%20Colleen%20Reid.jpg?itok=3xkkIJhd" width="1500" height="1046" alt="headshots of Emma Rieves and Colleen Reid"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Emma Rieves (left), a PhD candidate in the 91´«Ă˝ Department of Geography, and Colleen Reid, an associate professor of geography, along with their research colleagues, found that perceived greenspace exposure <span>may have a significant positive effect on certain aspects of mental health.</span></p> </span> </div></div><p>With Associate Geography Professor <a href="/geography/colleen-reid-0" rel="nofollow"><span>Colleen Reid</span></a> at the helm, researchers from the Geography, Psychology and Neuroscience departments as well as the Institute for Behavioral Genetics and the Institute of Behavioral Science explored the link between greenspace exposure and stress, anxiety and depression.</p><p>Their study revealed a strong association between perceived greenspace exposure and reduced anxiety. Could better mental health be as simple as a walk in the park? Perhaps, says lead study author and geography PhD candidate Emma Rieves.</p><p>The relationship between greenspace and mental health “isn’t just about the greenspace that’s empirically there,” which they measured by aggregating the green pixels, representing greenspace, from aerial imagery, also known as objective green space. “The relationship is mainly influenced by aspects of green space that aren’t well captured by objective measures, such as the quality of the green space, how much time someone spends in green space and how accessible it is,” she says.</p><p><strong>Research in the time of COVID-19</strong></p><p>Reid started the study in late 2019, says Rieves, who arrived on campus to begin her graduate education in the fall of 2020. “It was weird,” she recalls. “But the [geography] department did a lot to facilitate interactions between students despite the restrictions that were in place at the time.”</p><p>Even before Rieves dove into the research project, she had personal experience with nature’s capacity to ease her mind, particularly during the early days of lockdown. “Being in nature definitely helped to combat some of the negative emotions you have when you’re stuck sitting in your house, doomscrolling and wiping down all your produce,” she recalls.</p><p>To determine the effect of greenspace exposure on the study’s research subjects, the team had to switch gears early in the data-collection process to account for the extra stress associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, says Rieves.</p><p>Once COVID-19 public health restrictions were in place, however, they added pandemic-specific questions to their mental health survey so that subjects could share the extent to which they were impacted by stressors such finances, resources and the possibility of infection. Their analysis could then control for pandemic-specific variables to more accurately identify the connection between mental health and greenspace exposure, says Rieves.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-02/sitting%20on%20bench%20in%20park.jpg?itok=uURZJ9DY" width="1500" height="1007" alt="woman sitting on bench near stream in a park"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>"If you feel like you’re surrounded by greenspace, it’s probably good for you,” says 91´«Ă˝ researcher Emma Rieves. (Photo: Josephine Baran/Unsplash)</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><strong>Is greenspace exposure a key to mental health?</strong></p><p>The researchers found that perceived greenspace exposure was directly linked to reduced anxiety metrics and had a borderline statistically significant relationship with lower levels of depression metrics. Meanwhile, objective greenspace exposure bore no statistically significant association with anxiety, depression or stress.</p><p>In other words, when it came to mental health, and anxiety in particular, objective greenspace exposure mattered far less than subjects’ perceptions of greenspace exposure.</p><p>“ Based on the presence of green pixels, a vacant lot full of weeds would register as having a high green space signal. But if you were there, you might not perceive it as a superabundant green space,” says Rieves. “We found that other factors, like the quality of the environment in this example, is more important to the mental health and greenspace relationship.”</p><p>At the same time, the findings revealed a positive association between socioeconomic status and both objective and perceived greenspace, where people with higher socioeconomic status had higher perceived and objective greenspace exposure.</p><p><strong>The takeaway</strong></p><p>While no one is promising that a walk in the woods is a magic bullet, getting out in nature is never a bad idea, says Rieves. And no matter what the pixels indicate, or how many minutes a day you spend around trees, the data indicate that people’s perceptions of their own greenspace exposure are important to unlocking better mental health, says Rieves.</p><p>“This study doesn’t prescribe any specific level of greenspace exposure needed to reap its mental health benefits, but if you feel like you’re surrounded by greenspace, it’s probably good for you.”</p><p><em><span>91´«Ă˝ scientists </span></em><a href="/psych-neuro/naomi-friedman" rel="nofollow"><em><span>Naomi Friedman</span></em></a><em><span> and </span></em><a href="/behavioral-genetics/samantha-freis" rel="nofollow"><em><span>Samantha Freis</span></em></a><em><span> contributed to this research.</span></em></p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about geography?&nbsp;</em><a href="/geography/donor-support" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>91´«Ă˝ researchers Colleen Reid, Emma Rieves and their colleagues explored the potential impact of objective and perceived greenspace exposure on mental health. </div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-02/walkway%20in%20park.jpg?itok=5OaEr2zc" width="1500" height="597" alt="cobbled walkway through trees in park"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Wed, 05 Feb 2025 17:03:19 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6066 at /asmagazine Professor aims to comfort, protect students in wake of Club Q killings /asmagazine/2023/02/14/professor-aims-comfort-protect-students-wake-club-q-killings <span>Professor aims to comfort, protect students in wake of Club Q killings</span> <span><span>Anonymous (not verified)</span></span> <span><time datetime="2023-02-14T15:58:04-07:00" title="Tuesday, February 14, 2023 - 15:58">Tue, 02/14/2023 - 15:58</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/article-thumbnail/artboard_1_23-02-17-02.jpg?h=89e32d72&amp;itok=D2pIB-hJ" width="1200" height="800" alt="image of a multi-colored umbrella to represent the LGBTQ+ community"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1162" hreflang="en">LGBTQ+</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1163" hreflang="en">Mental health</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/448" hreflang="en">Women and Gender Studies</a> </div> <span>Orla McGrath</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default 3"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em>Kristie Soares, assistant professor of women and gender studies and co-director of the LGBTQ Certificate Program, outlines resources, safe spaces and people’s varying experience of grief</em></p><hr><p>On Nov. 19, 2022, five people at Club Q in Colorado Springs died in a mass shooting, renewing debate about the gun-violence epidemic and domestic terrorism, but there was another dimension to this shooting: Club Q is a well-established and beloved LGBTQ+ club in the Colorado Springs area.&nbsp;</p><p>Many members of the LGBTQ+ community have been left feeling scarred, fearful and violated, and with a lack of protections in place for this community, some wonder how LGBTQ+ students on campus process the event and find helpful resources and safe spaces.&nbsp;</p><p>Though the question has no simple, definitive answer, Kristie Soares, assistant professor of women and gender studies and co-director of the 91´«Ă˝ LGBTQ Certificate Program, hopes to start an open conversation on the campus about LGBTQ+ violence and provide students with support networks in a time of great pain.&nbsp;</p><p>“Most importantly, there is no correct way to feel after Club Q. You should feel you have space to cry, scream and get angry,” Soares added. “Emotions can’t be processed in a right or wrong way.”&nbsp;</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-medium"> <div class="ucb-callout-content"><div class="image-caption image-caption-"><p> </p><div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/article-image/soares2019-2.jpg?itok=FK0JHEyr" width="750" height="1064" alt="Kristie Soares, assistant professor of women and gender studies and co-director of the LGBTQ Certificate Program"> </div> <p><a href="/wgst/soares" rel="nofollow">Assistant Professor Kristie Soares</a>&nbsp;is&nbsp;working on an oral history project that explores the role of Latinx disc jockeys in the development of disco and dance music in 1970s New York.</p></div></div> </div><p>Soares focuses their work in queer Latinx media and queer of color critique, specifically media representations.&nbsp;</p><p>“It’s interesting to examine not only negative stereotypes in media, but also how unintentional representation can become something radical, like when a character is written as cisgendered but becomes a queer character within the fanbase of a piece of media,” Soares said.&nbsp;</p><p>The LGBTQ+ Studies certificate program is interdisciplinary, meaning that students can take classes outside of the department to meet requirements, which opens up a wide range of courses and topics to study.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>“As long as the course has more than 50% LGBTQ+ content, we approve that for the certificate. This includes classes with a large independent project component if you choose to do a project about LGBTQ+ issues,” Soares said.&nbsp;</p><p>The program is approaching its 30-year anniversary in 2025, but Soares said interest in the certificate has spiked in recent years.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>“We’re in a really exciting and scary time for queer and trans people, and in some ways these very negative issues have reinvigorated people’s interest in studying the LGBTQ+ community and taking that with them into government and public-policy jobs,” Soares said.&nbsp;</p><p>Soares is working on a manuscript titled Playful Protest: The Political Work of Joy in Latinx Media and is passionate about “the ways that joy can be a response to severe trauma and state-sanctioned violence in marginalized communities.”&nbsp;</p><p>“There’s something very queer about joy,” Soares said. “We have a strong history of queer and trans people connecting joy to politics—Stonewall was an uprising, but it was also a bar where people were dancing and enjoying themselves.” (The Stonewall uprisings were a series of protests in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, in response to police crackdowns on gay and lesbian bars.)&nbsp;</p><p>Reflecting on the reactions to the Club Q murders on campus, Soares said joy and fear naturally go hand in hand, and there is room for all emotions.&nbsp;</p><p>“Recognize that this is a violation, and we don't currently have the protections that we need to guarantee that this won’t happen again—it is not unreasonable to be out in LGBTQ+ spaces and be scared.”&nbsp;</p><p>Soares emphasizes that there is no one correct way to grieve in these moments: “There are normative systems put in place related to grieving that just don’t fit for marginalized communities—when trauma is not the exception anymore, that grieving process is going to be more constant.”&nbsp;</p><p>“Despite this reality, there are many ways on campus to find safe spaces to feel emotions and talk to one another,” Soares said. She believes community spaces are the key to this; such spaces can be nightclubs but also knitting circles, book clubs or text chains.&nbsp;</p><p>“The great thing about these spaces is the joy that comes with them—it’s OK to laugh at something funny on a text chain or watch silly movies even though we are in a world in some ways defined by homophobia, transphobia and the trauma that comes with it—that’s a part of the experience of being queer and trans,” Soares said.&nbsp;</p><p><a href="https://queerasterisk.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Queer Asterisk,</a> a group of queer mental health professionals in Boulder, is a great place to start when accessing resources, she said. The group offers free digital support groups to process emotions and build connections and can connect students with free therapy.&nbsp;</p><p>On campus, students can find an array of resources and communities. “We have the <a href="/cisc/pride-office" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Pride Office</a>, which is a student services focused center, and the academically focused certificate program. These are all great options for returning students, students new to Boulder and students who may not have spent a lot of time on campus due to the pandemic and are still searching for their community here,” Soares said.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"> <div class="ucb-callout-content"><p> </p><blockquote> <p><i class="fa-solid fa-quote-left ucb-icon-color-gold fa-3x fa-pull-left">&nbsp;</i> </p><p>That’s the great thing about the CU community—there is faculty you can reach out to who are working on these issues but also identify as part of the community."</p><p> </p></blockquote> </div> </div><p>“We also have clubs like the Gay Student Alliance and Queer People of Color; both great places to make friends and find the joy that is so important in these times.”&nbsp;</p><p>Clubs and centers will individually host events, and there is also a&nbsp; TRANSforming Gender Conference on March 18-19, which will draw people from around the country and include discussions and workshops. Faculty gathered last year to do a panel discussion on their experiences as trans/non-binary folk in higher education, Soares said.&nbsp;</p><p>“That’s the great thing about the CU community—there is faculty you can reach out to who are working on these issues but also identify as part of the community. This can be really helpful, too,” Soares adds.&nbsp;</p><p>Grief is an ongoing process, one without a straightforward path. “When our day-to-day safe spaces are violated, that can be devastating. In those moments, it is even more important to find community,” Soares said.&nbsp;</p><p>“You do not need to go through this, or any other traumatic events, alone.”&nbsp;</p><hr><p><em>A full list of resources can be found on the<a href="/lgbtq/2022/11/21/lgbtq-support-and-resources" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> LGBTQ+ resource website</a>.&nbsp;</em></p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>Kristie Soares, assistant professor of women and gender studies and co-director of the LGBTQ Certificate Program, outlines resources, safe spaces and people’s varying experience of grief.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Off</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/feature-title-image/16x9_23-02-17-02.jpg?itok=-rBo38cr" width="1500" height="844" alt> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Tue, 14 Feb 2023 22:58:04 +0000 Anonymous 5543 at /asmagazine