I’ve been sober for four years, and for someone who’s just out of college, that makes me somewhat of a black sheep among my 20-something-year-old peers. One of my least favorite things to hear is: “I can’t imagine not drinking. I would just be so bored . ” Part of t...
Estimates show that about 25% of U.S. adults have a substance use disorder. Even among those in recovery, very few are open about they’re substance use. Too often, the feelings of shame and stigma experienced by those with substance use disorders make them reluctant to ...
The smile that’s always on my face is a new look for me. Sure, you’ll see me smiling in pictures from past years, but if you look beneath the surface, if you look into my eyes, you’ll see the hurt and the pain I felt for so long.
Today, NAMI joined more than a dozen of the nation’s leading mental health organizations in calling for specific additions to the next stimulus package to address the profound mental health implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.
I’m a helper. Over the years, I’ve supported those living with serious and persistent mental illness, people with substance use disorders and survivors of rape and other traumas. Each day, people come to me with their biggest worries and their biggest wins. They look to...
I arrived at the psychiatric hospital in June of 2019. I had struggled for years with major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder, and they both worsened after having my two kids. Leading up to the hospitalization, I had been abusing my anxiety medication (...
July is Minority Mental Health Awareness Month , and I wanted to take this opportunity to explore a particularly difficult season in my life: the years my mom served time. As a quick background, my mom has always been as much of a friend as a mother, and before this p...
For most of my life, I was associated with a label—usually one I didn’t place on myself. In my youth, I was the pastor’s daughter. As a young adult, I was the head of worship and arts. When I married, I was known as an NBA wife. All I knew were labels. They dictated ...
I have been sober and stable on medication for my bipolar since June 2012. Some days are great and some days are an uphill battle just to eat and leave the house.
I am 54 years old and I struggled with the intense pain and chaos of borderline personality disorder for decades…I felt that I was too old to heal.
Editor’s note: The Los Angeles Times recently published a story about NAMI’s new national board president, Keris Myrick. The reporter, Anna Gorman, has since received many comments from readers. Here is one of them. Thank you so much for your article featuring Keris...
How do you define wellness? Probably something along the lines of eating well and exercising. But wellness also applies to your social, environmental, spiritual, financial and intellectual wellbeing. Wellness has the ability to increase both the quality and length of life...