When a representative from Meryl L. Moss Media Relations, Inc. approached me about reviewing Ingrid E. Newkirk’s latest book, One Can Make a Difference: How Simple Actions Can Change the World, I didn’t hesitate to answer with an enthusiastic ‘yes!’.

Ingrid Newkirk, did you say? But isn’t she the founder of PETA? What’s PETA have to do with mental health?

Well, PETA really has nothing to do with mental health, directly (unless you count that whole thing with the letter to Britney Spears’s parents, the brain scan they offered Sharon Stone, the occasional mention of a pet’s mental health and the mental health-related horrors captive and lab animals go through, and their information about animal hoarders and the mental health of animal abusers), but the book – rather, the messages within the book – could have everything to do with your mental health.

Within One Can Make a Difference are over 50 essays written by celebrities, activists, leaders, doctors, and private citizens. Well-known figures like the Dalai Lama, Kevin Bacon, Sean Astin, Reverend Al Sharpton, and Russell Simmons all contributed personal essays about some event, person, or spark of genius that prompted them to take action and make a difference in the world. Lesser-known individuals who could be your next door neighbors, your grocery store clerks, or your postmen shared the stories of how they stood up and took action to make differences in their communities.

I was very interested in Brigitte Bardot’s story of depression and attempted suicide, and how she wholeheartedly believes throwing herself into animal activism saved her life. I felt like I knew things about The Beatles that my mom doesn’t when I read Paul McCartney’s essay about how his father introduced him to the bass, music was a journey of self-discovery for him, and how he and John often accidentally discover chords that led to some of the world’s favorite songs.

Moby’s advice to be who we are all made of stars and to avoid taking ourselves too seriously is advice I’ve been known to dole out myself, and good ol’ Willie Nelson’s tale of how he became interested in and started promoting bio-fuel pleased me almost as much as his cover of Dave Matthews Band’s “Gravedigger.”

It’s inspiring to read the personal stories of people – famous or not – who’ve been struck with inspiration and said, “You know what? This is what I want to do. This is the difference I want to make. So, watch out.”

The essays of the well-known people show us just how these people came to be where they are, as well as how they’ve used their fame and fortune to positively impact the world, and the essays of the private citizens remind us that we don’t have to be rich and famous to make concrete, important changes.

Advocating for what we believe in feels good. Making positive changes, whether they influence the street we live on or the entire world, feels good. Not for selfish reasons, but because we are taking action to change something with which we didn’t agree. We are taking action to make our environment a better place for everyone.

I’d recommend One Can Make a Difference to everyone. I am recommending it to everyone. It’s a ridiculously easy read, and because it’s a compilation of many short essays (just a few pages long), it’s something you can read at your own leisure without losing your place or forgetting the plot.

I have a feeling the “plot” isn’t something you’ll soon forget, anyway.

For more information about One Can Make a Difference, including how you can order the book and even nominate someone you think has made a difference, visit PETA’s official One Can Make a Difference page.

If you’ve already read the book, feel free to let me know what you think about it in the comments. Or, if you’re currently one who is making a difference, feel free to share that, too!

Image: Amazon

Post from: Blisstree

Book Review: One Can Make a Difference

This post is part of Celebrity Health Week at the b5media Health & Wellness Channel. For more information about Celebrity Health Week posts here at Mental Health Notes, visit Introducing Celebrity Health Week: Celebrities And Mental Illness.

In this Celebrity Health Week post, we’ll take a look at some celebrities who have either reportedly attempted suicide, or who have completed suicide.

Please note that I am not an authority on celebrities and mental illness, nor am I an authority on celebrities who have committed suicide. For a celebrity to be on this list, he or she or a spouse or reliable family member must have publicly discussed – verbally or otherwise – his or her suicide attempt or completion, or, in the case of the deceased, professionals must have addressed it later on.

Read on.

Halle Berry, actress, discussed her attempt at suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning with Parade.

Drew Carey, comedian, actor, and game show host, discussed his depression and two suicide attempts – one at the age of 18 and another in his 20s – with Nancy O’Dell of Access Hollywood.

Robert Van Winkle, aka Vanilla Ice (Ice Ice Baby!), reportedly attempted suicide twice in 1994 after struggles with drug abuse, depression, and being dropped from his record label.

Drew Barrymore, former seriously troubled child star turned seriously successful actress and producer, attempted suicide during her early teenage years.

Gary Coleman, actor, disclosed two suicide attempts by sleeping pills in a 1993 Geraldo interview.

Brigitte Bardot, actress, reportedly attempted suicide twice.

Johnny Cash, country music singer, attempted suicide in 1967.

Walt Disney, Academy Award-winning film producer, screenwriter, director, animator, voice actor, and entrepreneur, reportedly attempted suicide in the early 1930s.

Eminem, aka Marshall Mathers, rapper, reportedly attempted suicide in the mid 1990s.

Kim Mathers, Eminem’s two-time ex, reportedly attempted suicide in 2000.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, author, reportedly attempted suicide.

Judy Garland, actress, reportedly attempted suicide in the early 1950s. Some speculate her accidental death by overdose was actually suicide.

Billy Joel, musician, reportedly attempted suicide in the early 1970s.

John McCain, the potential next President of the United States, reportedly attempted suicide during Vietnam.

Mindy McCready, country music singer, reportedly attempted suicide twice.

Sinead O’Connor, musician, reportedly attempted suicide in the late 1990s.

Yoko Ono, artist, musician, and John Lennon’s widow, reportedly attempted suicide in the 1960s.

Ozzy Osbourne, the Prince of F@&*#%g Darkness!, reportedly attempted suicide several times as a teenager.

Jack Osbourne, the Prince’s son, frankly discusses his depression, alcohol and substance abuse, and suicide attempt in his book 21 Years Gone: The Autobiography.

Lee Harvey Oswald, John F. Kennedy’s assassin, reportedly attempted suicide when he failed to gain Soviet citizenship.

Edgar Allan Poe, writer and poet, reportedly attempted suicide in the late 1840s.

Lou Reed, musician whose parents confined to a mental hospital to “ward off” homosexual behavior, reportedly attempted suicide.

Donna Summer, singer, reportedly attempted suicide.

Elizabeth Taylor, actress, reportedly attempted suicide.

Tina Turner, singer, reportedly attempted suicide in the late 1960s.

Sid Vicious, former Sex Pistols bassist, reportedly attempted suicide in 1978. Vicious died of a drug overdose in 1979.

Hank Williams, Jr., singer and son of Hank Williams, Sr., reportedly attempted suicide in the 1970s.

Owen Wilson, actor, reportedly attempted suicide in 2007.

Sadly, the following celebrities completed their suicides:

• Kurt Cobain, musician and lead singer of Nirvana.
• Ernest Hemingway, writer.
• Margaux Hemingway, actress and Ernest’s granddaughter.
• Terry L. Long, Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman.
• Marilyn Monroe, actress. (Though this is speculated.)
• Sylvia Plath, poet.
• Freddie Prinze, actor and father of Freddie Prinze, Jr.
• Anne Sexton, poet.
• Hunter S. Thompson, journalist and author.
• Vincent van Gogh, artist.
• Virginia Woolf, writer.

For more detailed lists, check out the NNDB’s lists of suicide attempts and suicide as causes of deaths.

In the meantime, stay tuned for more information about suicide, as well as my letters to a few of the people discussed during Celebrity Health Week.

Image: Newscom

Post from: Blisstree

Celebrities And Suicide