Month: October 2016

Why Raising Awareness About Mental Health Is Not Enough

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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 …

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Shatter the Stigma

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Stories of Hope: An Interview with Ellie Herman This is part of a series featuring individuals who share their life experiences with mental health issues. Recently, I asked graduate student and mental health advocate Ellie Herman about her history of mental health challenges and about some of her current activities and future plans. Here’s our interview: DS: Tell us about when you first started becoming aware of concerns related to your mental health. How did these issues continue to affect you before you sought treatment? EH: I’ve always put a …

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Fighting Opioid Misuse and Chronic Pain

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Guest Post by Amanda Merchant, Ph.D., Lisa Willner, Ph.D. and Jonathon Cole, Ph.D. Psychologists who treat those with chronic pain are well aware that living with daily pain for months or years on end can take a significant toll. Being limited in daily activities due to pain can lead to loss of job and livelihood, reduced ability to care for and interact with others, loss of leisure-time activities, depression, irritability, anger, loss of concentration and sleep disruption. Whether the pain …

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