Category Archives: Social Impact

May Is Mental Illness Awareness Month

Mental illness is a far more common affliction than most people realize. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), about twenty percent of the US population experiences mental illness symptoms each year. That’s one in five people. About … Continue reading

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Toxic Positivity

I have often railed against those who have tried to encourage me by telling me to “think happy thoughts” or who tried to pump sunshine by telling me how wonderful life is.  It was as though they thought I wasn’t … Continue reading

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The Canary in the Coal Mine

In the old days, canaries were used in coal mines to warn of poisonous gas.  If there were any gas, the birds would stop singing and drop from their perches; they’d be the warning that conditions were harmful.

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Think Happy Thoughts

During the years of suffering bipolar disorder, I have had endless people tell me to “think happy thoughts,” or to “snap out of it,” “cheer up, other people have it worse,” and on and on and on. It is as … Continue reading

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Responsibility

Learning that I suffered from a mental illness changed how I regarded myself.  I had considered that my behavior – the unpleasant stuff – was mostly because, for some reason, I was just an asshole.  I didn’t like that idea; … Continue reading

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Disaster Areas

Every so often a tornado or other disaster strikes, killing several people, injuring many more. It’s heartbreaking to see images of these people, traumatized, homeless, some having lost loved ones, some having lost everything they had. You can’t see these … Continue reading

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Prozac, Starbucks, and Me

Near me is a sheltered care residence for the mentally ill. They don’t need to be confined, but they need help. My wanderings often take me past this melancholy place.

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Out of the Closet

There is a stigma attached to mental illness. People who would never ridicule a person with a physical disability, think nothing of making fun of someone suffering from psychiatric illness. The reasons are numerous and complex, but admitting to having … Continue reading

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The Lives They Left Behind

That is the title of a book about the inmates of a mental institution – who they were, what became of them, based on the institution’s records and the luggage the patients brought with them and never retrieved.

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Love

I have learned a great deal from my cats. Some of these lessons were about love.

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