David Susman

It’s Time to Raise Awareness about Mental Health

by

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. It’s a great time to get involved in promoting greater understanding of mental health issues and helping those who are dealing with a mental illness. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, encourages individuals and organizations to take the “stigmafree pledge.” It has three parts: Learn about mental health—educate myself and others See the person not the illness—strive to listen, understand, tell my own story Take action—spread the word, raise awareness, make a difference …

Read more

10 Easy Ways to Root for the “Mental Health Team”

by

As I was watching our state championship high school basketball game, I couldn’t help but notice how enthusiastic and organized the supporters for each team were. I’ve seen this happen time and time again over the years in all different types of sports venues. So I thought, “Why can’t we show this same level of enthusiasm in our support for people with mental health concerns (or any number of other personal challenges in life)? ” Then it dawned on me. We can. …

Read more

Finding Meaning in My Life

by

Stories of Hope: An Interview with Kelly Davis This is part of a series featuring individuals who share their life experiences with mental health issues. Recently, mental health advocate Kelly Davis graciously offered to share about her personal mental health challenges and her current activities. 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? KD: My story is pretty messy, which I think is a lot more …

Read more

Thinking Outside the Box to Treat Serious Mental Illnesses

by

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 …

Read more

Alzheimer’s, Country Music and Love

by

It was a classic love story. 1981. A talented, attractive dancer meets a successful, handsome singer on a blind date. Love at first sight, marriage, three beautiful children, and happily ever after. Flash forward thirty years to 2011. The now iconic singer and his family announce he has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, a common cause of dementia. Sound familiar? The famous singer, songwriter and guitarist is Glen Campbell, arguably one of the most popular US country artists of all time. …

Read more

Learning a New Way of Living

by

Stories of Hope: An Interview with Belinda Bennetts This is part of a series featuring individuals who share their life experiences with mental health issues. Recently, author and coach Belinda Bennetts graciously offered to share about her personal mental health challenges and her current activities. Here’s our interview: DS: Tell us about your first awareness of concerns related to your mental health. How did these issues continue to affect you before you sought treatment? BB: From the age of about five I became aware that I was ‘different’ to others. I …

Read more

Anger Management for Voters?

by

Guest Blog by Joan Cook, Ph.D. It’s hard not to feel all the anger spilling out at presidential election campaign rallies, particularly from the fans of Donald Trump. As a psychologist who’s spent a lot of her professional life working with combat veterans, I’m very comfortable with intense trauma-related anger. But the causes and effects of sustained anger among voters are less clear to me. Anger is a normal, healthy emotion. It becomes problematic when it is experienced too frequently, …

Read more

Your Life Is Worth Fighting For

by

Stories of Hope: An Interview with Allison Williford This is part of a series featuring individuals who share their life experiences with mental health issues. Recently, I asked author, blogger and advocate Allison Williford about her own mental health challenges and what’s she up to now. 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 and those around you before you sought treatment? AW: I was 16, in …

Read more