To find out more about mental-health issues facing Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, I interviewed John Bair, a clinical psychologist at the North Chicago Veterans Hospital.
(Full disclosure: He also happens to be my cousin’s father-in-law.)
Click here to listen
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Q: What age groups do you mainly work […]

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As you probably know by now, a graduate of Northern Illinois University (65 miles from Chicago) opened fire on a campus lecture hall Thursday, killing five students and then himself and injuring 17 others.
So far, we don’t know a motive or any connection between the gunman and his victims. We do know that he was […]

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Lying to your mental-health professional is bad enough - but in recent weeks, at least one patient went even further.
A man in New York City hacked a psychiatrist to death at her office in a gruesome attack with a meat cleaver. He also seriously wounded the woman’ s colleague, although police aren’t sure if the […]

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In honor of Valentine’s Day, here’s a great post from Therese Borchard at Beyond Blue, which she got from the husband of Heather B. Armstrong, better known as “Dooce.”
Mr. Dooce eloquently describes how he wanted to “fix” his wife’s postpartum depression but had to understand he couldn’t. He also turned to therapy for himself and […]

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A recent study by four universities puts a twist on the old adage that money can’t buy happiness: When people aren’t happy, they don’t seem to care how much things cost.
My classmate Andrea Bartz notes that even temporary sadness leads people to spend more than they normally would on ordinary items.
Jennifer Bechdel at World of […]

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That was my first reaction when I read about a survey by Mental Health America that ranked Utah last among the 50 states and the District of Columbia for mental health.
I was stunned because when I think of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the predominant religion in Utah, I picture […]

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After the Virginia Tech tragedy last April, in which a mentally ill student killed 32 classmates and faculty members before taking his own life, colleges and universities nationwide revisited their policies on mental-health care and coverage.
My classmate Erin G. Edwards reports on a program run by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill that recruits […]

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The Chicago Tribune Magazine shares the story of a twentysomething Chicago man who joined the Army, served in Iraq as a medic, came back with severe post-traumatic stress disorder and went AWOL.
Eugene Cherry says he got minimal mental-health care during his time in Iraq. He had to skip appointments with military doctors when missions came […]

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Considering how expensive and scarce mental-health care can be in America, it seems counterproductive to waste time lying to your counselor.
But John D. Grohol over at World of Psychology says he’ s met many people who do.
He lists 10 common reasons, including embarrassment, fear of being reported or judged, and need of a coping mechanism.
Although […]

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Child abuse and genetics have been mentioned before on this blog as contributors to mental illness - but never in the same story, until now.
A new study suggests that having certain gene variations helps people avoid depression as adults even if they were abused or otherwise experienced “extreme stress” as children.
Those without the variations have […]

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