DBSA President Sue Bergeson's Mental Health Blog

As people living with mental illnesses we know what the “S” word is. It’s our little secret, the way out we keep hidden from those who love us and those who treat us well.  Suicide. We tuck it away in the back of our minds; we bring it out and ask “when”, testing if today is “too hard”, ...

The events at Virginia Tech were so horrifying.  No one should ever have to face this type of tragedy.  And no one should have to live with the devastation this will bring to the thousands of people facing the aftermath. While we do not fully know what was going on with Cho Seung-Hui...

One of my friends and mentors, Peter C. Ashenden, once taught me a lesson about kindness that I hold onto and work on weekly. Peter is the CEO of Mental Health Empowerment Project out of New York and, before he joined the DBSA Board of Directors, he wrote an article called “Loving Kindness: Dea...

Right now, the headlines are filled with the autopsy results of Anna Nicole Smith. Her use of prescription medication to cope with her pain seems all too common a practice. I’ve met many individuals who have avoided street drugs or alcohol but who misused prescription drugs to a frightening ext...

A few months ago, I woke bolt upright in bed and panicked. Why in the world had I placed a huge bid on an online shopping auction site earlier that evening? What in the world possessed me to think I could not live without that particular item? What about the 20 other things I had recently unpac...