Business Week: The Analysis: Revelation Is Still a Risk

From Business Week:

Assess the situation before discussing depression with your supervisor and peers

In the 10 years since Diane Coutu came out to her current employer about her clinical depression, the only negative result she has experienced is her own occasional fear that her colleagues will react badly. So far, not one has.

Quite the opposite, Coutu, a senior editor at Harvard Business Review, has found supervisors and peers alike to be sympathetic and understanding. They make no big deal about her illness. And letting go of the secret has lifted a tremendous burden from her emotionally, making her job easier. Still, she concedes that the decision to go public doesn't necessarily make sense for everyone with depression.

Experts agree.

"It depends enormously on your employer's character and personality," says Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression (Scribner), a personal account of his own struggle with the illness and a study of depression in general. "Lots of people have their own madness, and that makes them uncomfortable with other people's illnesses."

Misunderstanding of the illness itself contributes to the risk of disclosing it. In her book Medical Myths That Can Kill You (Crown Publishers, 2008), Dr. Nancy Snyderman writes that many people still think of the need for antidepressants as a weakness. "We talk a good game about recognizing depression as a real illness, yet we still think people who suffer from it should be able to just 'buck up,'" Snyderman says. "You the employee really need to think this thing through before you tell your employer."

"If you feel your workplace in general is savage and backstabbing, you may not want to tell people about your depression," says Gabriela Cora, a psychiatrist and MBA who practices at the Florida Neuroscience Center in Fort Lauderdale.

Those who seek and receive successful treatment for a bout of depression aren't necessarily safe from workplace doubt afterward. "If you're up for promotion, there could be the legacy of people wondering, 'Is she going to have another episode?'" Solomon says.

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The Earth Times: Public Service Campaign Takes on Attitudes Trivializing Depression

The Earth Times: Public Service Campaign Takes on Attitudes Trivializing Depression

WASHINGTON, May 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In its latest effort to help Americans understand the seriousness of depression and the importance of seeking treatment, the Depression Is Real Coalition today distributed a groundbreaking series of PSAs titled, "It Is Depression" to media outlets nationwide. Spoken from the perspective of experts on the front lines of depression treatment, the PSAs urge the public to recognize that depression is a biological disease that can be as debilitating as other major illnesses like cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

One print advertisement from the campaign poses a provocative question that illustrates popular misconceptions about depression: "You'd never say, 'It's just cancer, get over it.' So why do some say that about depression?" The words appear to be written in chalk on a school blackboard."What people may not understand is that depression is not just a matter of being in a bad mood, or something that's in a person's mind. It's just like any other biologically-based disease. It has symptoms. It can be disabling, and even fatal," said David Shern, PhD, President and CEO of Coalition member organization Mental Health America. "In fact, depression is a condition that commonly co-occurs with chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease."

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UPI: 'Mad pride' gives voice to mentally ill

from UPI:
United Press International - May 10, 2008

NEW YORK, May 10, 2008 (UPI via COMTEX) -- U.S. residents suffering from mental illnesses have a new public voice, owing to the growth of so-called mad pride events, mental health professionals say.

Yale School of Medicine psychiatry lecturer Charles Barber said the growing mad pride movement represents a new generation's attempt to bring mental illness into the public eye without shame or remorse, The New York Times said Saturday.

"Until now, the acceptance of mental illness has pretty much stopped at depression," Barber said. "But a newer generation, fueled by the Internet and other sophisticated delivery systems, is saying, 'We deserve to be heard, too.'"

Molly Sprengelmeyer, who helped organize a mad pride group in North Carolina, said the events help challenge stereotypes of mental illness and improve the lives of those suffering from such illnesses.

"It used to be you were labeled with your diagnosis and that was it; you were marginalized," Sprengelmeyer told the Times. "If people found out, it was a death sentence, professionally and socially.

"We are hoping to change all that by talking."

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NYT: They're mad, and proud of it

from the New York Times:

By Gabrielle Glaser, New York Times
Published Thursday, May 15, 2008 4:35 PM

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In the YouTube video, Liz Spikol is smiling and animated, the light glinting off her large hoop earrings. Deadpan, she holds up a diaper to illustrate how much control people lose when they undergo electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, as she did 12 years ago.

In other videos and blog postings, Spikol, 39, a writer in Philadelphia who has bipolar disorder, describes a period of psychosis so severe she jumped out of her mother's car and ran away like a scared dog.

In lectures across the country, Elyn Saks, a law professor and associate dean at the University of Southern California, recounts the florid visions she has experienced during her lifelong battle with schizophrenia — dancing ashtrays, houses that spoke to her — and hospitalizations where she was strapped down and force-fed medications.

Like many Americans who have severe forms of mental illness such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, Saks and Spikol are speaking publicly about their demons. Their frank talk is part of a
conversation about mental illness that stretches from college campuses to community health centers, from YouTube to online forums.

"Until now, the acceptance of mental illness has pretty much stopped at depression," said Charles Barber, a lecturer in psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. "But a newer generation, fueled by the Internet and other sophisticated delivery systems, is saying, 'We deserve to be heard, too.' "

About 5.7-million Americans over 18 have bipolar disorder, which is classified as one of a group of mood disorders, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Another 2.4-million have schizophrenia, which is considered a thought disorder. The small slice of this disparate population who have chosen to share their experiences with the public liken their efforts to those of the
gay rights movement of a generation ago.

Just as gay rights activists reclaimed the word queer as a badge of honor rather than a slur, these advocates proudly call themselves mad; they say their conditions do not preclude them from productive lives.

Mad pride events, organized in at least seven countries including the United States, draw thousands of participants, said David W. Oaks, director of MindFreedom International, a nonprofit group in Eugene, Ore., which tracks the events and says it has 10,000 members.

Recent activities include a Mad Pride Cabaret in Vancouver, British Columbia; a Mad Pride March in Accra, Ghana; and a Bonkersfest in London that drew 3,000 participants.

Members of the mad pride movement do not always agree on their aims. For some, the objective is to destigmatize mental illness. A vocal, controversial wing rejects the need to treat mental afflictions with psychotropic drugs and seeks alternatives to the shifting, often inconsistent care offered by the medical establishment. Many say they are publicly discussing their struggles to help those with similar conditions and to inform the public.

"It used to be you were labeled with your diagnosis and that was it; you were marginalized," said Molly Sprengelmeyer, an organizer for the Asheville Radical Mental Health Collective, a mad pride group in North Carolina. "If people found out, it was a death sentence, professionally and socially. We are hoping to change all that by talking."

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