WorldcrunchIrene Caselli is a multimedia reporter and writer, with two decades of experience in radio, TV and print, now focusing on early childhood, caregivers, and reproductive rights. She is also a senior advisor for The Early Childhood Reporting Initiative at the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. For a decade, she was a foreign correspondent in Latin America, reporting for the BBC and others. At Worldcrunch, she works as a senior editor and translator, putting to use the six and a quarter languages she speaks.
Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Jair Bolsonaro all share what seems a natural antipathy toward women — yet it is ultimately because they fear them. And with good reason: When women participate in political movements, they are more likely to succeed — which is bad news for authoritarianism.
Our Naples psychiatrist’s view on unrealistic social media standards, feeling inadequate, and the price of happiness.
Brazil’s Agência Pública reveals that Gettr, the social network run by Donald Trump’s former adviser Jason Miller, has sponsored conservative conferences in Brazil ahead of October’s presidential elections, which Steve Bannon has called the most important in South American history.
A father’s role is not to help the mother out, but to take on the “mental load” of knowing what needs to be done.
“Who do you think I am,” our Naples psychiatrist asks her patient, “a priest?”
A psychiatrist unpacks her relationship with driving, and her dad.
In the northern Italian region of Veneto, drought has forced half the municipalities to ration water resources. In contrast, the region’s Coca-Cola plant has upped production, using even more water that it gets for a cheap price.
“There’s still a pulse,” they told me, surprisingly.
Volcanic outburst about heatwaves and impossibility to cool off.
As the leaders of Turkey, Iran and Russia meet to discuss the situation in Syria, the West is closely watching Turkish President Erdoğan’s moves on Kurdish separatists in northern Syria, now that Moscow is focused on Ukraine.
Staying in a theocracy whose rulers subjugate women was not an option, but trying to get to destinations in Europe and beyond comes with unthinkable perils of its own.
“Do you realize that this changes everything for me?”
Ciro was waiting for me at the hospital entrance. He had been told the psychiatrist was coming. “Dottoré, please let me come up with you, I need to see him and tell him I love him.” Two days earlier, he had found his father lying in a pool of blood. He did not understand why […]
As successor to Angela Merkel, Olaf Scholz is facing a wealth of challenges at home and abroad. In the coming days, he faces key international summits while a domestic energy crisis begins to spiral. Is the new Chancellor up to the challenge?
All things LGBTQ+, from Peru, Morocco, NYC, Uganda …
The murder of Brazil indigenist Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips is shocking. Still, once looking more closely, it is not necessarily a surprise considering both the violence in Brazil and the situation in the rain forest under President Jair Bolsonaro.
Russians are besieging Severodonetsk, the eastern Ukrainian city, and urging troops there to surrender as they offer a shaky evacuation corridor for civilians. The siege and symbolism recalls the siege of Mariupol, which didn’t end well for Ukrainians.
While there are Moscow backers across Europe and even in the U.S., they mostly remain on the margins. In Italy, however, support for the Kremlin runs surprisingly wide, and deep.
Flipping through the pages of an old photo album with my nonna, I asked her, “Grandma, why were you all in black and white when you were young?” She replied, “The war broke out. One morning we woke up, and all the colors were gone.” Learn more about Worldcrunch’s exclusive Dottoré! series here.
Hatred cannot be cured.
Fifteen years ago, Francesco kept busy by scamming people. He was a regular visitor to the beaches of Terracina, south of Rome, where he was caught several times selling counterfeit Ray-Ban sunglasses. Then came the drugs, which fed a serious substance-induced psychosis and eventually he tested positive for HIV. It’s around that time that I […]
As a psychoanalyst, Wolfgang Schmidbauer has researched the psychological effects of war on children — and in the process, also examined his own post-War childhood in Germany. In this article, he warns that parents tend to use their experiences of suffering as a method of education, with serious consequences.
From St. Paul to St. Diego…
Russia may allow over-40s to enlist in military as resources are needed to step up the assault in eastern Ukraine.
A group of pro-peace German intellectuals published a letter asking the country not to deliver heavy weapons to Ukraine, but they’re missing the point completely. Germany needs to reinvent itself in order to face today’s challenges — and threats.
Turkey’s Erdogan puts up a veto, while Orban’s Hungary plays it coy. Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin throws a curveball.
Italy’s right-wing politicians are trying to ban surrogacy, as the pope pushes parents to have children and feminists are divided on the issue. On such a complicated issue, hard thinking and nuance have been in short supply.
A leading Swedish daily says the government will move toward a decision over the weekend, with the formal application coming as soon as Monday evening. This follows the announcement Thursday that neighboring Finland would seek membership in the Western military alliance, which both countries had long rejected to avoid provoking Moscow.
To each mental illness, its castle.
As Russian forces continue their offensive in Donbas without securing any significant territorial gains, the situation on the ground is growingly dire for civilians left behind. Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage. Sign up to our free daily newsletter. Ukrainian news website Livy Bereg reports on significant […]
“Who am I to be horrified by poverty while I have no means to offer relief, no alternative to show these people?”
Testimonies are emerging of civilians being evacuated from Mariupol and Lyman, as Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities continue. Meanwhile, the EU has revealed plans to enforce its sixth package of sanctions against Moscow.
The scenes of the welcoming of Ukrainian refugees in Italy have been deeply moving. I was particularly struck by the choral embrace in a Naples elementary school classroom of a beautiful child, happy but also embarrassed because he did not speak Italian. It brought me back to a story that Chiara, a young patient of […]
The Pope is being urged to “go to Kyiv,” and name Putin as the aggressor in the war in Ukraine. If he did so, the pontiff would renounce his own religious charisma, and ultimately sap him of his unique role and power as the ultimate messenger of peace.
One day a patient, after listing all his phobias, asked me: “Dottoré, be honest, who’s worse off than me?” “The ones,” I replied, “who say they aren’t afraid of anything.” ____________________________ Learn more about Worldcrunch’s exclusive Dottoré! series here.
Ukraine cannot win the war against Russia’s superior military power. But it can at least try not to lose it — with methods like those used in Vietnam or Algeria. Last week’s sinking of the Moskva warship was a perfect example.
“Dottoré, the reason why I am depressed is simple. But to explain it, I need an answer first. How much did you use to pay for a coffee?” “Over the last few years, it was 80 cents, then 90 cents, and now one euro.” “And what did you use to do with the 10 or […]
Instead of ending ICU treatment and allowing relatives to say goodbye peacefully, doctors often keep patients alive for too long. The pandemic has forced us to revisit eternal dilemmas and shown that Intensive Care Units are often unprepared to confront tough ethical questions.
Vladimir Putin badly needs a victory, and may be ready to unleash Russia’s deadliest assault to date. But Ukraine has its best fighters in the eastern region, fighting a war there since 2014, and may have several key tactical advantages.
Ever since journalist Marina Ovsyannikova protested on live Russian television against the war in Ukraine, her life has changed radically. Now that includes writing for leading German daily Die Welt. In her first article, Ovsyannikova explains what drove her action, how police have targeted her and why the Kremlin’s propaganda works on so many of her fellow Russians.