David Susman

Do’s and Don’ts for Media Reporting on Suicide

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Trigger Warning: This article discusses the public health issue of suicide and guidelines for responsible reporting of suicide in the media, but does not refer to specific methods of suicide or other details related to specific deaths by suicide. Even though I’m a mental health professional and issues surrounding suicide are an ever-present part of my work, I’m still astounded by how often the topic of suicide comes up in the media. It seems that hardly a week goes by …

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Learning to Enjoy the Present

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Stories of Hope: An Interview with Theresa Larsen This is part of a series featuring individuals who share their life experiences with mental health issues. Recently, I asked mental health advocate and author Theresa Larsen about her son’s mental health challenges and their effect on the family. Here’s our interview: DS: Tell us about when you first started noticing concerns related to your son’s mental health. How did these issues continue to affect him and your family before he received treatment? TL: I first noticed something was …

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Overcoming the “8 Reasons Why People Don’t Get Treatment for Mental Illness”

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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 …

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What Recovery Is (and What It Isn’t)

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After working for many years with people in all stages of recovery from mental illness and substance misuse, I’m no longer surprised to hear the frequent question, “Just what is recovery anyway?” While I have a pretty solid idea of how I view the concept of recovery, I’ve realized the term carries different meanings and assumptions for different people. So what is recovery? To answer that question, let’s not only look at what recovery is, but also what recovery isn’t. …

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Q & A on Mental Health!

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I was very pleased to be 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 stigma, self-care, mental health apps, and more. With Melanie’s permission, I’m reprinting her interview with me below, or you can link to the original blog post on the IBF …

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I Am Enough

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Stories of Hope: An Interview with Brian Cuban This is part of a series featuring individuals who share their life experiences with mental health issues. Recently, I asked mental health advocate and author Brian Cuban about his history of mental health challenges and about some of his current advocacy work. 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? BC: The first signal that …

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Singing the Praises of Music Therapy

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We’ve probably all had the experience of hearing a favorite song and how it immediately brings back thoughts, feelings and memories, both happy and sad. Music really is the universal language, and it has the power to move us deeply. But did you know that music therapy is a well-established treatment now often used to help individuals with mental illness or addiction? I was fortunate to be able to interview Jennifer Jarred Peyton, a board-certified music therapist and colleague in …

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You Can Thrive in Your Recovery

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Stories of Hope: An Interview with Rob Houston This is part of a series featuring individuals who share their life experiences with mental health issues. Recently, I asked Rob Houston about his history of mental health challenges and about some of his 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? RH: It was 1998. I had lost my job of 9 years; …

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