When I wrote the article ‘Eliminating the Word Schizophrenic’ I stated that schizophrenia was the most stigmatized of all the mental illnesses. Somehow, I forgot to consider dementia as the stigma that it bears runs much deeper than schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression combined.

Cognitive distortions change your reality in a negative direction, and are controlled by what you think about yourself and your world. Stigma is undoubtedly created by outside forces such as schoolmates, colleagues and the media. But I argue that a good portion of stigma stems from how we think about ourselves, how we describe ourselves and what faulty thinking patterns we have adopted to cope with mental illness. So identifying your cognitive distortions will help you fight self-stigma, which in turn fights social stigma.

It’s sad that it took the deaths of twenty children one month ago to open up the conversation about gun control in the US. It’s even sadder, that as the days pass from this tragedy, the national consensus is once again heading toward minimal firearm restrictions. The second amendment right to bear arms is getting in the way of a fundamental, universal right to attend math class without fear of getting shot in the face. It also diminishes the right to have your main teenage problem be lacking a date to the prom, and not the cold-blooded murder of all of your best friends in the cafeteria.

Combat PTSD, specifically PTSD resulting from having been in combat, was once the only kind of PTSD we thought existed. Of course, shell shock wasn't called PTSD at that time. We've come a long way in understanding that trauma (of all kinds) may result in PTSD. Melanie Davis, founder of the Love Your Veterans program, has specific advice for combat PTSD sufferers, and she's working hard to pass it along. 

This is part two of an interview where I explore the inner-world of Electroboy, Andy Behrman. Mr. Behrman speaks candidly about bipolar myths, combating stigma, mania, depression and everything in between. In part one, Mr. Behrman discusses bipolar mania, his use of drugs and alcohol, and hypersexuality.

This is a two-part series where I explore the inner-world of Electroboy, Andy Behrman. Mr. Behrman speaks openly about bipolar disorder, substance abuse, hypersexuality, the Electroboy movie, stigma and of course, his dream of being the first 'omni-sexual male' on Mars.

It’s become common-place to hear of a celebrity publicly acknowledging having a mental illness (Famous People With Mental Illness). Most people would view this as a positive step in the right direction toward the goal of eliminating the stigma surrounding mental illness. But others, myself included, believe that some of these disclosures are actually counter-productive and could even be contributing to mental health stigma.

If someone at a job interview explains a two year gap in their resume by mentioning chemotherapy, they will likely be heralded as a survivor and their chances at the job typically would not be affected.  But if the same person, with the exact same qualifications and manner of interacting explains a gap and mentions a psychiatric hospitalization, things may be a little different.

According to a recent study of 1.2 million people, the link between creativity and mental illness has been confirmed. I have believed this to be the case since reading the eye-opening book by Dr. Kay Redfield Jameson ‘Touched with Fire: Manic Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament’ back in 1996 and am endlessly pleased that such a comprehensive study with a large sample size has found comparable results to her initial hypothesis.

According to the New York Times, for every soldier who has died on the battlefields of Afghanistan or Iraq, 25 will die by their own hand.  This appalling suicide statistic should be more than enough to wake us up and start dealing head on with the epidemic of PTSD in the military.