Should You Tell People You Have A Mental Illness?

HealthyPlace Mental Health Newsletter

Here's what's happening on the HealthyPlace site this week:

• Telling Someone You Have A Mental Illness
• Mental Health Experiences
• Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans
• From HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs
• Your Thoughts: From the HealthyPlace Forums and Chat
• I Didn't Know I Had Major Depression on HealthyPlace TV
• How Do You Prevent Suicide? on HealthyPlace Radio

Telling Someone You Have A Mental Illness

Over the last two months, our bloggers have written several articles on whether or not to disclose you have a mental illness.

• Disclosing Mental Illness at Work, or How to Get Fired (Part I)
• Depression Disclosure in the Workplace
• When Do I Tell My Boyfriend/Girlfriend I Have Bipolar Disorder?
• Publicly Living with a Mental Illness (video)

To be sure, it's a popular question we get from people coming to the HealthyPlace.com website. And it's not an easy one to answer.

It seems many of you are worried about the ramifications of disclosing your depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder to your employer or fellow employees. It's a tough decision; one that weighs heavily on the mind. Peace of mind vs. keeping a big secret. Maybe you need workplace accommodations? Oh sure! There are laws in place to protect you from job discrimination, but we know how employers can get around that.

Many also want to be honest and share their mental illness with family members and loved ones, hoping they'll be accepting and supportive. There are many kind people out there who will be. There are also many who won't be or aren't ready to be.

So should you tell people about your mental illness? I don't have an answer. I guess it just depends on what your needs are and if you're ready to accept the good or bad results that may stem from your disclosure. We all know the bad results (Read: "The Price of Being Bipolar in Public" and "Bipolar as Love Thief"). I'd like to hear from people who are glad they told someone about their mental illness. How about calling our "Share Your Mental Health Experiences" line, 1-888-883-8045? Tell us who you told and why, how you did it and how things turned out. It would be helpful to many people.

Articles on Talking About Your Mental Illness with Others

• Talking to Others About Your Mental Illness
• Telling Family and Friends You Have Bipolar Disorder
• How Do You Tell Someone You Self-Injure
• Sharing the News of Your Eating Disorder
• I Have Dissociative Identity Disorder: Disclosure DOs and DON'Ts
• Telling Others About Being Raped

Mental Health Experiences

Share your thoughts/experiences with any mental health subject, or respond to other people's audio posts, by calling our toll-free number (1-888-883-8045).

You can listen to what other people are saying by clicking on the gray title bars inside the widgets located on the "Sharing Your Mental Health Experiences" homepage, the HealthyPlace homepage, and the HealthyPlace Support Network homepage.

If you have any questions, write us at: info AT healthyplace.com

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Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans

Here are the top 4 mental health articles HealthyPlace Facebook fans are recommending you read:

1. Depression Is Not Sadness
2. Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) Forum
3. Disclosure at Work, or How to Get Fired (Part I)
4. Anxiety Wants You in a Box

If you're not already, I hope you'll join us/like us on Facebook too. There are a lot of wonderful, supportive people there.

From HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

I want to introduce you to two new bloggers, Alistair McHarg and Natalie Jean Champagne. Alistair is writing a mental health humor blog titled "Funny in the Head". Make sure to check out the video on his welcome page for a preview of what's ahead. Natalie, whose book "The Third Sunrise: A Memoir of Madness" is coming out soon, will be talking about the concept and practice of recovery from all types of mental health disorders.

Your comments and observations are welcomed.

• About Alistair McHarg, Author of Funny in the Head (Funny in the Head: A Mental Health Humor Blog)
• About Natalie Jeanne Champagne, Author of Recovering From Mental Illness Blog (Recovering From Mental Illness Blog)
• Depression is Not Sadness (Breaking Bipolar Blog)
• Disclosing Mental Illness at Work, or How to Get Fired (Part I) (Relationships and Mental Illness Blog)
• The Positive Mind: Is it Enough? (Mental Illness in the Family Blog)
• Your Climb Out of Abuse (Verbal Abuse and Relationships Blog)
• You Don't Look Sick! Anxiety as Invisible Illness (Treating Anxiety Blog)
• Health At Every Size (HAES): The Jess Weiner Controversy (Surviving ED Blog)
• Parenting a Mentally Ill Child--What If You're Crazy, Too? (Life with Bob: A Parenting Blog)
• Self Care in Recovery and Life (Debunking Addiction Blog)
• Depression as a Working Diagnosis (Depression Diaries Blog)
• Have a Mental Illness? Go to Jail (More Than Borderline Blog)
• On Repressed/Recovered Memory (Dissociative Living Blog)
• Self-Interest in Abusive Relationships
• Psychiatric Illness May Drive a Wedge Between Family Members
• Mixed Moods in Bipolar - The Most Dangerous Mood?
• Anxiety Wants You in a Box: Getting Out and Staying Well
• Families as Caretakers of Mentally Ill: Helpful or Harmful?
• When Do I Tell My Boyfriend/Girlfriend I Have Bipolar Disorder?
• Dear Daddy, I'm Crazy: Confessions From a New Bipolar

Feel free to share your thoughts and comments at the bottom of any blog post. And visit the mental health blogs homepage for the latest posts.

Your Thoughts: From the HealthyPlace Forums and Chat

On our Alternative Mental Health Forum Forum, kfe1ef is asking if anyone has any ideas for stopping the nightmares. "I have day dreams often about horrible things like being raped, beaten, killed, my daughter dying in different situations. Every time, I end up balling in tears from them." Sign into the forums and share your thoughts and comments.

Join us on the HealthyPlace Mental Health Forums and Chat

You must be a registered HealthyPlace member. If you aren't already, it's free and takes less than 30 seconds. Just click the "register button" at the top of the page.

At the bottom of the forums page, you'll notice a chat bar (similar to facebook). You can chat with any registered member on the forums site.

We hope you'll be a frequent participant and share our support link with others who may benefit.

I Didn't Know I Had Major Depression on HealthyPlace TV

One day, Ken tweeted us to say he had all the symptoms of Major Depression, but didn't know it was depression...until he was admitted to the hospital. How could that be? Watch this week's HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show. (I Didn't Recognize Depression Symptoms in Myself - TV Show blog)

Other Recent HPTV Shows

• Surviving A Long-Lasting Battle with Severe Depression
• Publicly Living with a Mental Illness
• Labeling and Medicating Our Mentally Ill Children

Still to Come in August on the HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show

• Relationships and Mental Illness

If you would like to be a guest on the show or share your personal story in writing or via video, please write us at: producer AT healthyplace.com

For all previous HealthyPlace Mental Health TV archived shows.

How Do You Prevent Suicide? on HealthyPlace Radio

Suicide prevention. People talk about it, but is preventing someone from committing suicide really possible? We discuss that with Robert Gebbia, Executive Director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. That's on this edition of the HealthyPlace Mental Health Radio Show. Listen to How Do You Prevent Suicide?.

Other Recent HealthyPlace Radio Shows

• How To Support an Adult Loved One with Mental Illness. Cindy Nelson has a sister with a serious mental illness, Schizophrenia. She says it's a delicate balance between being a caregiver and a sister.
• Food Addiction: The Link to Childhood Obesity. Our guest maintains food addiction is one of the leading causes behind childhood obesity. Dr. Robert Pretlow is founder and director of Weigh2Rock.com, an online weight loss system for teens and preteens used by clinics, hospitals and other institutions. Dr. Pretlow addresses the problem and provides solutions

If you know of anyone who can benefit from this newsletter or the HealthyPlace.com site, I hope you'll pass this onto them. You can also share the newsletter on any social network (like facebook, stumbleupon, or digg) you belong to by clicking the links below. For updates throughout the week,

• follow HealthyPlace on Twitter or become a fan of HealthyPlace on Facebook.

back to: HealthyPlace.com Mental-Health Newsletter Index