Mental Health

Top 20 US Mental Health Organizations (Part 2)

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In a recent post, I listed the first 10 of my personal list of 20 top US-based mental health organizations. Now, let’s go over the other 10 organizations comprising the rest of the list. As I mentioned before, my informal criteria for including an organization on the list are: a) being well-established and credible; b) having goals of education and raising awareness; c) having a well-organized website with extensive resource links. Also, as with the first half of the list, the organizations aren’t …

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Top 20 US Mental Health Organizations (Part 1)

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It’s always a risky venture to do a “top 10” list. You invariably leave out some really worthy and wonderful entries, which may create some hurt feelings among the groups who weren’t included. Nevertheless, I’ll take that risk and offer not just 10, but 20 of the top mental health organizations based in the United States, in my humble opinion. In this post, I’ll cover the first 10 organizations, with a review of the remaining 10 in a subsequent post. My informal …

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How to Help People That Have Challenging Behaviors

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I’ve often been asked to address how to help a person with a mental illness or a substance misuse issue who is very symptomatic and who may be displaying unusual, disruptive or challenging behaviors. This is an important topic to address because the situation can be very uncomfortable and the person’s behavior may be unpredictable and could become potentially harmful to themselves or others. Let’s take a look at this issue and begin to understand some basic strategies to manage …

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Mental Health Awareness Q & A

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I was asked to be interviewed by Melanie Luxenberg, a mental health advocate and writer, who blogs for the International Bipolar Foundation. In recognition of Mental Health Week in Canada and Mental Health Awareness Month in the US, Melanie asked me to respond to several questions about mental health, stigma and support for people with a mental health condition. With Melanie’s permission, I’m reprinting her interview with me below, or you can link to the original blog post on the …

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It’s Time to Raise Awareness about Mental Health

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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 …

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

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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. …

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Alzheimer’s, Country Music and Love

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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. …

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Anger Management for Voters?

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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, …

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