I am all for being happy. Who isn’t?  But the happiness industry? That’s another thing altogether.     The happiness industrial complex promises that bliss will be found when we get our eating, exercise, sleep, journaling, weight, complexion, clothing, and all our Christmas shopping exactly right, including remembering our own reusable grocery sacks. And beyond […]

This Monday, my dear friend, Jim Spool (AKA Grandpa Jimmy), will be ninety years old. Born on December 3, 1928, Grandpa Jimmy arrived on earth the same year that commercially available sliced bread was invented. Really. It was also in 1928 that scientist Alexander Fleming discovered a particular mold in his petri dishes that put […]

Everyone knows that thanksgiving is a compound word expressing the essence of this favorite American holiday focused on giving thanks. But did you know that beyond “thanks” and “giving” there are another 346 Scrabble-approved words we can make out of the letters in “thanksgiving?!” Here are a few of my favorites: It is my hope […]

It is football season in the United States. That means Friday night lights for families with high school kids, and weekends filled with games from the 5-year-old MightyMites to collegiate and professional rivalries that now don’t finish until late Monday evening. With growing awareness of head trauma in recent years, this season is also characterized […]

Isn’t that what we all want? To be healthy, and if healthy, enjoy long lives? So why should it be any different for someone with serious mental illness? But that’s not how it typically goes. The odds have it that individuals with serious mental illness (schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, bipolar disorder and major depression) […]

Having flown halfway around the world to get to Sydney last week, I decided that a visit to Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park was worth another 3-hour flight to the Australian Outback. A UNESCO world heritage site, Uluru is a sacred place for the local indigenous people. It is also perhaps one of Australia’s most iconic destinations […]

I am in Sydney for the Eating Disorders Research Society Meeting, an annual and global convening of leading scientists in the field. Having arrived a day before the program opened, I had the opportunity to spend a few hours walking along the famous stretch from Bronte to Bondi. As serendipity would have it, I got […]

I was walking home the other evening. Replaying the highs and lows of the day. Deep in thought. The activity on the street was barely a murmur in the background. Until my gaze fell upon an old, disheveled man wrapped in ill-fitting clothes and blankets who, with agitation and clear disorganization of thought, was pontificating […]

October 10th is World Mental Health Day. Every year this date calls our attention to a particular mental health priority. This year’s focus is Young People and Mental Health in a Changing World. The focus on young people is fitting given that half of all mental disorders begin by age 14 and given that suicide is […]

Imagine being diagnosed with breast cancer and being told that treatment services were not covered. Or maybe that half of the necessary chemotherapy sessions would be covered. The rest must be paid out of pocket. Or maybe that treatment is covered on paper but when you go to the list of in-service providers, you find […]