NAMI is dismayed by the President’s FY 2018 Budget, which would slash funding for programs that deeply affect the lives of people with mental illness.
I read a lot of books. Reading is both my passion and my hobby. A single day without a little bit of time for reading, for me, is an imcomplete day. Lately, I’ve noticed mental health seems to show up in a multitude of the books that I’ve been reading, within all different ge...
My most treasured item is a blue, acrylic sweater my mom knit me. It has a horse on the back and my nickname in block letters on the front: GEN. I only wear it once a year to keep it from fading and falling apart. I didn’t always treasure my mom. When I was younger, I ...
Sometimes it may feel as though obtaining access to good mental health care requires herculean efforts. But throughout the country, there are examples of community mental health programs that are helping to change this. This effort has been catalyzed by initiatives suc...
From when I was 17 until I was 30, I would go to the mental health center and tell the doctors and social workers that I talk to myself, I can’t relate to people and I have a lot of grandiose thoughts. And they kept telling me I had low self esteem, and that I needed to s...
Fifteen years ago, when our son began experiencing early signs of psychosis, options for help were scarce. In order for him to receive treatment of any kind, he had to be considered a danger to himself or others. He reached that threshold when he was 18, and how did the...
I was told recently that I have the power to save lives. I felt both humbled and excited by these words. As the NAMI San Diego Peer Recovery Programs Coordinator, I meet, individuals, who, like me, live with mental health challenges. Having a robust and positive mental hea...
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 ...
NAMI has partnered with the APA’s SMI Adviser program to produce the Medical Mind Podcast series featuring NAMI Chief Medical Officer Ken Duckworth in conversations centered around experiences with bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder and early psychosis.
You’ve likely heard someone say that “children are resilient.” Historically, parenting and child psychology books have touted that young people have the ability to overcome and “bounce back” from hardship and trauma. However, as someone who experienced childhood trauma, I...
America is in a time of transition. And any major transition—whether in politics or in our personal lives—is often accompanied by a range of emotions. Just log into your Facebook or scroll through Twitter, and you’re likely to be flooded by alarming headlines and heated...
Picture one of those slow motion videos of a tennis ball being hit by a tennis racquet and coiling inward before being released back to its original shape as the ball projects through the air. That’s what mental resiliency is: the ability to “bounce back” from conflict ...
As a lifelong resident of Mississippi, I have experience with hazardous weather—extreme humidity, triple-digit temperatures, tornadoes, thunderstorms and hurricanes. Even though we know that these threats are possible, there are some things we can never be fully prepared f...
Being diagnosed with bipolar disorder may cause some people to feel worthless, hopeless and on edge. They may also experience an increase in stress, anxiety and depression as they go through this significant life change. One way to deal with these feelings is to practice ...
Although low self-esteem is not categorized as a mental health condition in itself, there are clear links between the way we feel about ourselves and our overall mental and emotional wellbeing. U.K.-based charity, Teenage Minds , defines self-esteem as “how a person fe...
I remember when I was seven, my Great-Uncle Benji said to my parents, “Allison needs a dog.” It was at that time, my life changed. I was a very quiet, reserved kid, but dogs brought me out of my shell. They were with me during good times, painful times and major life ev...
“Signed, sealed, delivered, I’m yours” is not just the chorus in President Barack Obama’s favorite song that makes you want to dance. It’s what took place Dec. 13, when President Obama signed mental health reform into law as part of H.R. 34, the 21 st Century Cures Ac...
While no marriage is easy—as evidenced by the 50% failure rate in United States—challenges stack up when a mental health condition is added to the mix. The prospect of dealing with a lifelong, life-threatening condition can be overwhelming. The diagnosis of bipolar disord...
Together, we are a movement. Our movement explains what it really means to experience mental illness. Our movement shows people experiencing mental illness that they are not alone and there is hope. While it’s a slow process, our movement is becoming louder and more pers...
Heather Von St. James is an 11-year survivor of malignant pleural mesothelioma . Heather encountered many unexpected challenges after defeating cancer and outliving her original prognosis of just 15 months to live. She experienced uncertainty of how to rebuild her life af...