Don’t call me “doc”

by Menninger Clinic May 14, 2010

A security guard where I work at The Menninger Clinic in Houston calls me “Doc” whenever I pass him by. Though I am not a doctor or even a clinician, I don’t correct him. It seems like a rude thing to do, so I let it go, nod, smile and move on. I don’t criticize […]

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Game changer: from bully to advocate

by Menninger Clinic May 7, 2010

I don’t remember getting bullied that much as a kid. I can think of a few instances, but nothing that scarred me or really resonates today. Unfortunately, I don’t have to think very hard to remember the one time I was part of a bullying group. My experience as a bully The details are lost […]

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Fighting stigma with love, respect and attachment theory

by Menninger Clinic April 28, 2010

I am partial to big ideas, general concepts that keep us properly oriented. And I’m more concerned with what’s important than what’s new. So I was captivated by a chapter entitled “Love and Respect” in New Zealand philosopher Christine Swanton’s book Virtue Ethics. Swanton draws from the eighteenth-century German philosopher Immanuel Kant, who declared that […]

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Why asylum shouldn’t be a dirty word in mental healthcare

by Menninger Clinic April 23, 2010

When I was growing up, I had never heard of “psychiatric hospitals.” But I had heard of “insane asylums”—there was one in a nearby town we drove by occasionally, in a big Victorian building, intimidating as I remember it. I didn’t know what “stigma” was either, nor did I know anyone who had been at […]

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Can a Burger King ad really perpetuate the stigma of mental illness?

by Menninger Clinic April 16, 2010

A few weeks ago, Burger King debuted a commercial featuring the King, its decidedly off-putting mascot, running amok through an office building, handing out the chain’s newest burger designed to make you feel like you’re not actually eating fast food. The King is chased by stereotypes:  a bowtied, labcoat-wearing psychiatrist with unkempt gray hair and […]

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Lost: helping parents cope with the death of a child

by Menninger Clinic April 13, 2010

Knock knock. Who’s there? A bereaved parent. (silence) Knock knock? Knock knock? Knock knock? Unfortunately, silence is often the response to a parent who has had a child die…silence or avoidance. The death of a child is something that hits too close to home; we don’t want to think that something beyond our control can […]

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PTSD: the pitfalls of stigma and stereotypes

by Menninger Clinic April 9, 2010

You’ve heard about them in the news, maybe seen them in an airport or sat next to one of them on a flight. You maybe a family member, neighbor, co-worker or friend with one of them. Who are they? They are our nation’s warriors, the men and women in our Armed Forces, individuals who make […]

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PTSD: just how common is it?

by Menninger Clinic April 1, 2010
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From Hollywood movies and media reports dating back to the late 1970s, you may have formed the impression that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is rampant among men and women who have been deployed to war zones. Remember Bruce Dern’s character in Coming Home?  Or characters in The Deer Hunter, Rambo: First Blood, or more recently […]

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Why I love Dr. Drew: part 2

by Menninger Clinic March 26, 2010

Yes, I still love him. No, that wasn’t me who was arrested recently for stalking him and threatening his family. In my previous post, I talked about how I think his shows (Celebrity Rehab, Sober House, etc.) perform a much-needed public service because they reach millions of people with powerful messages about recovery, the therapeutic […]

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How should people with mental illness be treated?

by Menninger Clinic March 16, 2010

In the event you run into someone you know has mental illness, do you whisper to him because you think people with mental illness are violent and easily excitable, or do you speak slowly because people with mental illness are probably not as smart as the rest of us? Consider this: With one in four […]

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