Enjoy!

This week at Mental Health Notes, I praised Britney Spears and Kellie Pickler, pointed you in the direction of Ingrid Newkirk’s video about One Can Make a Difference, gushed on and on about why I love being a mental health blogger, and participated in Blog Action Day 2008.

Regarding mental health advocacy, the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance has posted DBSA e-Update October 2008 (lots of good stuff in there!) and the new Mrs. United States, Dr. Gariane Gunter, is dedicating her reign to raising public awareness of mental illness.

In the world of mental health news, the World Health Organization is warning that our global financial crisis may increase mental health problems (that’s a real no-brainer), Governor Timothy M. Kaine (of Virginia, and, is it just me or do I mention him a lot?) wants to cut $86.6 million from mental health, health, and human resources agencies, and WSJ’s Health Blog reports depression is one of the top reasons for missing work (and Gov. Kaine wants to cut funding?).

Here at b5media’s Health & Wellness Channel, October’s theme day was just one of the things we were busy with!

• Mary Emma Allen featured one of my comments about nursing homes in The Positive Side of Nursing Homes for Alzheimer’s Patients.
• Kristen King of Lively Women is holding a contest to win – you’re not gonna believe this – an Epson WorkForce 600 All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer! Actually, she has TWO, so your odds of winning just increased. The deadline is October 20, 2008 at 11:59:59 p.m. ET (that’s tonight, folks!). (Kristen also has an interview with Leslie Haywood up. Leslie is the creator of Grill Charms and has just released The Pink Collection which will help raise money for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
• Mark made a good point about God and his non-puppeteerism (not a word, I know, forgive me) at A Dozen Steps.
• Kristina Chew started a discussion about legislation dealing with insurance coverage for autism treatment at Autism Vox.
• Angelique wants to know how much time you dedicate to self-loathing.
• At Eating Fabulous, Ruth Schaffer talked about using St. John’s Wort as an antidepressant.
• At Healthbolt, Liz Lewis has a round up of contests for your perusal.
• Grace Ibay has listed five tips for taking stock of your medicine cabinet.

Image: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Monday Sanity: Better Late Than Never

It seems veteran American Idol contestant Kellie Pickler has joined the long list of celebrities who’ve struggled with mental health issues, and the slightly shorter list of celebrities who’ve actually spoken publicly about those struggles.

According to Yahoo! TV, Pickler discusses depression, antidepressants, emotional wreckage, and an overall “crumbling” of her personal life in an upcoming People interview.

Although Bucky Covington, Chris Daughtry, and Taylor Hicks were my season five faves, I always liked Kellie Pickler, and now I love the fact that she’s openly talking about her mental health. Like I said with Britney, it’s a great way to promote mental health awareness and bust stigma.

Image: PicApp.com

Post from: Blisstree

Kellie Pickler Discusses Depression With People