Welcome to my website. I’m a clinical psychologist, mental health advocate, writer, speaker, and administrator.
This site is focused on mental health, wellness and recovery from mental illness and substance misuse. My goal is to provide proven, science-based information and resources to offer support, hope and encouragement to persons in recovery and to those who care about them.
My other primary focus is mental health advocacy. By getting better informed and more involved in advocacy, we can all help make a difference to reduce stigma and to promote better mental health programs and services.
I also feature inspirational “Stories of Hope,” interviews with people who are managing their mental health challenges and share the lessons they have learned. If you would like to consider sharing your story with me, click here.
The material on this site reflects only my personal views and not those of my employer or any other group with which I am associated.
Catch up on my posts! Here’s a handy categorical index of more than 300 blog posts! See some of my featured articles below.
8 Reasons Why People Don’t Get Treatment for Mental Illness
It’s probably no big surprise that many people with mental health issues don’t readily seek treatment for their concerns. But how widespread is this pattern? A report by the World Health Organization reviewed rates of psychiatric treatment usage across 37 research studies. The findings are unbelievable. Between 30 and 80 percent of people with mental health concerns never receive treatment. From this analysis, the average non-treatment rates for specific disorders were: schizophrenia (32%), bipolar disorder (50%), panic disorder (55%), major
Why Raising Awareness About Mental Health Is Not Enough
Your car needs an engine to run, but without wheels, gas, and a driver you won’t get anywhere. The engine is necessary but not sufficient for the car to operate successfully. Your body needs lungs to breathe, but without a heart, brain and other organs you won’t survive. Your lungs are necessary but not sufficient for you to live. An Olympic athlete needs to practice their sport, but if they don’t show up and perform at the meet, they can’t
10 Great Films About Mental Illness
Since I’m a clinical psychologist, I’m often asked, “What are your favorite films about mental illness?” I’ve certainly seen many, many films over the years which depict various mental illnesses, and they range in quality from wonderful to horrible. The worst films perpetuate common myths and misperceptions about mental illness, including: People with mental illness are violent. Parents cause mental illness in their children. Psychiatric hospitals are dangerous, scary places filled with sadistic, uncaring staff. Strait jackets are still commonly
How to Support Someone During a Psychiatric Hospitalization
If someone you care about has been hospitalized related to a mental health condition, you may have found this situation confusing and overwhelming, and you may have felt you weren’t well-equipped to handle it. This can be even more stressful if it’s the first time you’ve ever faced this challenge. I worked for many years with patients and their families in psychiatric hospitals and I’ve found several tips and strategies that can make this difficult time perhaps just a little
5 Simple Steps to Reduce Stigma About Mental Illness
If you tune into any conversation about mental illness and addiction, it won’t be very long until the term “stigma” comes up. Stigma has various definitions, but they all refer to negative attitudes, beliefs, descriptions, language or behavior. In other words, stigma can translate into disrespectful, unfair, or discriminatory patterns in how we think, feel, talk and behave towards individuals experiencing a mental illness. If you begin to wonder where stigma comes from, that’s a complicated question. It’s almost like
Overcoming the “8 Reasons Why People Don’t Get Treatment for Mental Illness”
One of my consistently most popular posts is “8 Reasons Why People Don’t Get Treatment for Mental Illness.” In it, I described several common obstacles and barriers which often keep people from seeking or obtaining treatment for mental illness. This post clearly struck a chord with a lot of people, including those who have had negative experiences with treatment and family members trying to persuade their loved ones to seek help. You can read the original post here. I thought it
Thinking Outside the Box to Treat Serious Mental Illnesses
Chances are you may not be familiar with cognitive enhancement therapy, or CET. It’s a rehabilitation-focused approach which has been shown to improve thinking, memory, attention and other brain functions among individuals with schizophrenia or other serious mental illnesses such as severe depression, schizoaffective disorder or bipolar disorder. According to Ray Gonzalez, Executive Director of the Center for Cognition and Recovery in Cleveland, Ohio, CET is “physical therapy for your brain,” since it targets many of the common cognitive (thinking) difficulties seen among
“What Do You Know About NAMI?”
There are many wonderful mental health organizations doing great work all around the world. So, when you single one out for praise, you run the risk of displeasing all the others. I’ll take that risk, because I want to recognize the many fine efforts of NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (www.nami.org). NAMI is near and dear to my heart as I’ve had the privilege to work with my local and state chapters very closely for many years. Origins
Here are the values my content is based upon:
- Helpful: I strive to share information which can help others better understand mental health issues and hopefully take away something to manage their concerns a little more easily.
- Clear: If information isn’t clear and easy to understand, it won’t be very helpful. I’ve read far too many articles on mental health issues that are almost incomprehensible because of unclear or technical language. I want the information I share to be crystal clear and easy to use.
- Effective: There’s so much information out there about ways to deal with mental health issues that have absolutely no scientific evidence to back them up. I won’t write or talk about something unless I know there’s solid evidence that it works.
- Inclusive: I welcome and respect the unique contributions that people bring in terms of their culture, ethnicity, race, color, sex, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, nation of origin, age, religion, disability, and beliefs. I will never knowingly include or promote information which encourages bias, hate, racism, or discrimination.
- Encouraging: Talking about mental health issues isn’t easy. There is so much anxiety and fear about disclosing our personal struggles that it’s difficult to open up about them to others. I want to offer support and encouragement and say that it’s ok to talk about these issues.
- Hopeful: Coping with a mental illness can be incredibly difficult, but effective treatments are available and people really can get better. Not all the problems will go away, but quality of life can definitely improve and hope can be found again!
- Interesting: I really don’t want to be boring. You will zone out immediately if stuff is deadly dull. On the other hand, if information is engaging and interesting, you’re more likely to pay attention to it and get something meaningful from it.