It is so amazing how organizations are popping up all over the world helping us join forces to tackle mental health diseases.  I was privileged enough to speak in Athens, Greece a few years ago about iFred’s rebranding depression work, and learned from countries around the world just how important it is we work together to solve our greatest challenges.

I’ve just recently been asked to join their advisory board, and continue to be amazed and impressed by the work of all throughout the world.

It was celebrated across the U.S. when we were able to get mental health parity law passed.  I don’t by any means intend to minimize this work – but do we realize that what we accomplished was to treat the brain in a similar fashion to the heart, liver, and intestines?  Should we really have to fight that hard for that?  Those that were involved in the legislation understand the intense work, dedication, and challenge this simple piece of legislation involved – and unfortunately the rest of the world is so far behind us in many different ways.

Recently I told someone I thought they could benefit from therapy, because they were having a series of issues in their life.  I was surprised when I heard the response ‘But I don’t have a mental illness.’  It shouldn’t surprise me, as a big part of my life’s work is rebranding depression and the associated stigma, but still for some reason the comment left me with my jaw to the floor and raised the question:  Do people really think you have to be diagnosed with a mental illness to benefit from therapy?

I was pondering what to say back when I read an excerpt from “A Practical Guide to Meditation and Prayer” by J. Douglas Bottorff.  It is literally the most brilliant advice I have read in quite some time that helps articulate why anyone can benefit from therapy.  Do me a favor; read it a few times, and just sit with it for a bit and let me know how it resonates.

It reads: 

This topic has been really bothering me this week, primarily because of the story of the potential book burning in Florida that caused riots and outrage all across the world this past weekend.  CNN’s behavior, in one way, reminded me of the downfall in my ADHD in that I get fired up about something, get out there talking about it, and don’t always think through the consequences of my actions.

This impulsivity was really highlighted first with the balloon boy when I was trying to get a story published on depression but couldn’t get word in because he was all over the screens.  It literally shocked me that there was high drama about the balloon boy event, but it didn’t have such catastrophic consequences.  This weekend’s coverage did.

I am considered a marketing ‘expert’, so I’ve spent a lot of time studying, (re)branding and marketing products and people.  When I first started the nonprofit iFred, my idea was to rebrand the disease state (depression) into something that focused on the positive, hopeful, joyous state that could be reached once you recognize and treat depression.

It seemed pretty obvious to me that if we portray depression or other mental issues as ‘hopeless, depressing, and disturbing,’ we are not going to get much positive attention or resources.

Dr. Amen and SPECT Imagery - visit www.amenclinics.com

If you are not familiar with Dr. Amen, he has done quite extensive work on ADHD / ADD and the brain. He has eight clinics, and an extensive collection of scans that can show how different brains look using SPECT imaging.  It is truly fascinating.

There are many critics of his work (as with anyone’s work) but I believe it is pioneering. The more we are able to capture images in the brain / determine the differences between a healthy brain and an unhealthy brain, the sooner people will understand that there should be no shame associated with different conditions affecting the brain.

Can anyone relate?

My diagnoses is ADHD without the Hyperactivity, and I always have wondered what, exactly, is the difference between ADD and ADHD, and how do we know which one fits us? So I did some investigating into the two different yet similar diagnoses, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Attention Deficit Disorder, and attempt to clear up any misconceptions here.

ADD was the first term in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), it was in the DSM-IIIR  (the letters represent the ‘volume’s, so IV comes after III, and the R stands for Revised).  They reclassified it in the DSM-IV as ADHD (Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder.  So you may see it either way.

Hi all, and thanks so much for reading.  I have to say when I first thought about writing this — I thought NO WAY would I be able to handle it! Write about ADHD on a weekly basis, multiple times a week, when I already have way too much on my plate?

But then I thought it would be good for me, you, and I had a lot to share about the subject. So I am going to try to do it — and tell you how I do it, so this blog in itself will be a learning tool for the both of us.  It got off to a bit of a rocky start as I already lost the password to my blog account, so I had to retrieve my password already!