Mental Illness Awareness Week

HealthyPlace Mental Health Newsletter

Here's what's happening on the HealthyPlace site this week:

• It's Mental Illness Awareness Week
• Share Your Mental Health Experience
• "Parenting A Child With Mental Illness" On HealthyPlace TV
• From HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

It's Mental Illness Awareness Week

Well sorta. NAMI still supports Mental Illness Awareness Week. The federal government stopped officially recognizing it several years ago. One thing that caught my attention though are the initials of Mental Illness Awareness, M.I.A. In military speak, it stands for soldiers who are not accounted for as dead or alive and are put in a sort of no-man's land, "missing in action."

Working for HealthyPlace, the largest consumer mental health site, gives me a somewhat unique perspective. We touch the lives of more than 1 million people a month. From emails and comments left on the site, I can tell you there are many people with mental health problems who are missing in action. Maybe you are one of them?

There are people with Bipolar Disorder, ADHD, and Dissociative Identity Disorder who want to remain anonymous. We have people who are abuse victims and who self-injure who hide their scars and want to blend in.  And there are those with psychotic illnesses like untreated Schizophrenia who are lining the streets and alleys, neglected and alone.

All are out there "missing in action."

Mental Health Experiences

Share your thoughts/experiences on being MIA or any mental health subject, or respond to other people's audio posts, by calling our toll-free number (1-888-883-8045).

You can listen to what other people are saying by clicking on the gray title bars inside the widgets located on the "Sharing Your Mental Health Experiences" homepage, the HealthyPlace homepage, and the HealthyPlace Support Network homepage.

If you have any questions, write us at: info AT healthyplace.com

"Parenting A Child With Mental Illness" On HealthyPlace TV

Angela McClanahan, author of the "Life with Bob" parenting blog on HealthyPlace, is a voice for many of parents of children with bipolar disorder, ADHD or other mental illness. She shares the years of stress, fears and depression that she's endured caring for her now 10 year old son. That's on this week's HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show.

Watch the interview with our guest, Angela McClanahan, currently featured on the HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show website until next Wednesday; on-demand after that.

In October on the HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show

• Living with OCD
• Bipolar in the Workplace
• How to Manage Your Teenager

If you would like to be a guest on the show or share your personal story in writing or via video, please write us at: producer AT healthyplace.com

For all previous HealthyPlace Mental Health TV archived shows.

From HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

Your comments and observations are welcomed.

• Mental Health Treatment Anecdotes Are Not Evidence (Breaking Bipolar Blog)
• When Anxiety Attacks: The Impact of Panic on Society and You (Treating Anxiety Blog)
• No Small Victories in Managing Mental Illness (Life with Bob: A Parenting Blog)
• What Is Dissociation? Part 5: Identity Alteration (Dissociative Living blog)
• Letting Our Kids Be Themselves (The Unlocked Life Blog)
• Borderline Personality Disorder: Need For Patient Advocate (More Than Borderline blog)
• How Multiple Calendars Can Track Mood and Schedule (Work and Bipolar or Depression blog)
• Parents' Mental Illness Compounds Guilt
• What You Can Do For Mental Illness Awareness Week
• What Is Dissociation? Part 4: Identity Confusion
• When Your Social Life Hurts Your Wallet
• I May Have BPD, But I'm More Than Borderline
• Why Am I So Tired? Anxiety and Fatigue
• How am I? I'm crazy; how are you?

Feel free to share your thoughts and comments at the bottom of any blog post. And visit the mental health blogs homepage for the latest posts.

If you know of anyone who can benefit from this newsletter or the HealthyPlace.com site, I hope you'll pass this onto them. You can also share the newsletter on any social network (like facebook, stumbleupon, or digg) you belong to by clicking the links below. For updates throughout the week, follow HealthyPlace on Twitter or become a fan of HealthyPlace on Facebook.

back to: HealthyPlace.com Mental-Health Newsletter Index