Two excellent articles recently in the NY Times

Posted by Julie K. Hersh on 4 July 2011 | 2 Comments

Tags: NY Times, Marsha Linehan, guns, mental illness

I am officially taking a few days off - but there have been two excellent articles in the NY Times recently.

One is about the "coming out" of psychologist icon Marsha Linehan. She talks about her struggle with mental illness when she was in her late teens. I am so happy that Dr. Linehan has spoken about this. We need more people who are high functioning to admit their struggles with mental illness to give others hope. One of my most frustrating moments at the American Assn of Suicidology was when a presenting psychologist leaned over to me and said "I attempted suicide in my teens, but don't tell anyone. it will ruin my career." Whoa. How can someone truly expect their paitients to be open about their mental illness if the "healer" can't admit the truth. I hope Linehan will set a new standard for honesty.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/health/23lives.html

This other article makes me a little crazy - pun intended. I can't believe that someone will allow a person to have a gun when that person recently attempted suicide. The system seals medical records so judges can't make intelligent decisions about this matter.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/us/03guns.html?_r=1

also had a great review in the American Journal of Psychiatry:

http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/168/7/754

Okay - now I am officially signing off for awhile - please enjoy your 4th of July - I will!!

Julie