September is an important month for suicide prevention. World Suicide Prevention Day (September 10, 2016) and National Suicide Prevention Week (September 5–11, 2016) provide us with opportunities to encourage people who are struggling with suicidal behavior to seek help, to assist friends, family members, and helping professionals in supporting individuals who are struggling with suicidal…
Using data from a survey that screened more than 46,000 Americans for depression, researchers found evidence that the condition is not properly diagnosed in many people. And even when diagnosed correctly, depression often goes untreated. This is not good, at all. There needs to be better treatment options, and there needs to be less stigma…
No one wants to be affected by child sexual abuse. No one wants it as part of their own personal experience. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen every day. One in 10 children will be sexually abused before they turn 18 years old. Childhood sexual trauma affects a person forever. It can be a…
Talking about my mental disorders made me feel like an outsider If faced with a toothache, I went to the dentist. When my vision wasn’t perfect, I paid a visit to my optometrist. So, when my mental and emotional well-being was off-balance, my natural reaction was to visit a doctor specializing in this category: a…
“You do have worth. You will overcome this. You won’t be sad forever.” There is always hope for someone struggling with depression, Rabe said. “People are resilient human beings, and they can do so much more than they think they’re capable of.” Also, remember that “how hopeless you feel does not correlate to whether you…
When Meg was 12, her mother, Annie, found herself unable to look at her. Seeing her daughter made Annie feel unsettled, at times almost angry. At first, she couldn’t figure out why. “And then, Meg turned 13 and suddenly, everything slid into place for me,” Annie says. “I found myself thinking, ‘She’s so tiny. She…
