Mental health partnerships 990

Source: Nong Vang/Unsplash “[W]e all have darkness inside of us and some of us are better at dealing with it than others.” - Jasmine Warga A sudden and intense interest in our president since his agreement to the North Korea Summit took me to South Korea because of a book I edited (Lee, 2017) on him.  In Seoul, a top-ranking television and radio program that is credited with impeaching a president and imprisoning two former ones invited me to share observations.  Almost immediately, a suggestion came up that South Korea should appoint a panel of mental health experts to advise its president on the upcoming negotiations.  Now, a possible conference between North and South Korean mental health professionals is in the works. A similar scenario is difficult to conceive of in our country.  Not only does impeaching a president for mental impairment seem distant, as does imprisoning the same and the president before her for corruption, but even imagining … [Read more...] about Mental Health in the Public Sphere

In the context of Mental Health Awareness Month, authors of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, a book of which I am the editor, gathered in Washington, DC (Lee, 2018).  A topic of discussion was how the American Psychiatric Association (APA) attempted to silence psychiatrists.  It did so through the amplification of an obscure rule called “the Goldwater Rule.”  Based on a one-time, 1964 lawsuit that caused public relations problems for the APA, the APA had established a guideline that prohibits diagnosing public figures without a personal examination and without authorization.  Even though it was more a political compromise than an ethical issue, it was reasonable enough.  But on March 16, 2017, when the APA turned the rule into a gag order two months into the Trump administration (APA, 2017), I was alarmed enough to convene an ethics conference over it that eventually led to the book.  I compared the APA’s move to what its professional … [Read more...] about Mental Health Experts Claim Their Right to Speak

Source: Natashilo/Shutterstock Life often requires us to ask, and answer, tough questions — to make hard choices between two opposing options. Shakespeare’s "to be or not to be" is probably the most famous, and fundamental, example. But once we have chosen to be, the challenge remains of how to be. From a mental health perspective, one’s success in navigating life depends in part on which questions one chooses to engage. Some questions are more important than others. If you’re on the roof of your burning house, the question of what will happen to the flower garden underneath when you land in it is less important than the question of what will happen to you if you don’t jump. Here are a few of the useful, basic questions one might benefit from asking as one tries to figure out this dance of life: To Act or Not to Act? An important choice we often face in the mental health space is between action and inaction. We can move or stay still. We can … [Read more...] about For Sound Mental Health, Ask Good Questions (Like These)

So you have or plan to have a BA or BS in Psychology (or a related field) and you want to have a career in mental health. You might think that you are out of luck and that the only way you can be involved with mental health issues is if you go to graduate school. This is simply not the case. Remember, just because all of the people you deal with in psychology in college have gone to graduate school doesn’t mean that there are not jobs for those with a BA or BS; there are career opportunities for you. (To check out specific career paths in mental health area with a BA or BS check out careersinpsych.com.) As for the current post we want to be clear about some important steps you can take to put you in the best position for a psychology-related job with your BA or BS. Keep in mind that you will be competing with others for a job, so it is important that you stand out from the crowd. Source: dschap/pixabay 1. Take certain courses besides your typical … [Read more...] about 9 Steps to a Career in Mental Health with a Bachelor’s

The USA and the UK share many features.  One is a language.  Another is that they are both among the richest nations on earth.  They also share a darker side: both are highly unequal societies. The USA is more unequal than any European nation, and the UK is the most unequal nation in Europe. Worse: this is growing larger as, it must be said, it is in many other Western nations. In the USA, the richest 1 percent have seen their incomes increase by around 200 percent since 1980, and there has been a particularly sharp increase since 2000, whereas for the bottom 20 percent it’s 40 percent, with only about 20 percent since 2000. The top 1 percent now has about a fifth of the total income: an average salary of around $6.7 million. For the bottom 90 percent, it’s $34,000. The UK is not much better. After a period of relative equality in the post-war years, the top 10 percent now earn 45 percent of the total income, and the bottom … [Read more...] about The Scandal of Inequality and Its Effect on Mental Health