Go, Tipper! Absolutely agree with her comments. See it all
the time, especially since I work in the field. Also
interesting is the new, politically correct, nomenclature.
I no longer work in the specialty of mental health, but
rather "behavorial health science", where my patients are
now called "clients". Feel like a lawyer...    Carole---


 janet paterson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:> Mental
illness still carries stigma, Tipper Gore says>> WASHINGTON
(June 7, 2000 9:33 p.m. EDT> http://www.nandotimes.com) -
Tipper Gore said Wednesday> the "shame and stigma" she felt
before seeking treatment> for depression too often stops
young people from getting> help. She did not elaborate on
her own treatment and> whether it continues.>> A year after
a White House conference on mental health> that drew wide
attention to her own experience, Mrs. Gore> helped launch
an advertising campaign aimed at teen-agers> and young
adults.>> The wife of Vice President Al Gore, the likely
Democratic> presidential candidate, has said she was
treated for> clinical depression at some point after the
1989 car> accident that nearly killed their son Albert,
then 6. She> has also said the family sought counseling
after the> accident.>> "I think I felt the same stigma that
everybody feels, and> that is that we treat diseases of the
brain, illnesses of> the brain, differently than other
organs in the body,"> Mrs. Gore said in an interview.>> The
cable television station MTV will air three public> service
ads that urge young people to recognize mental> problems in
themselves or others, and get help.>> "For some reason
there is more shame and stigma attached> if you have that
kind of an illness, and we want to> eradicate that," Mrs.
Gore said. "It's unfair and> discriminatory and it's
particularly unfair, I think,> that young people feel
this.">> The vice president and President Clinton have
both> praised Mrs. Gore for going public with her treatment
a> year ago. It was an unusually personal revelation for>
Mrs. Gore, who generally remains protective of her>
family's privacy despite decades in public life.>> Mrs.
Gore has been reluctant to elaborate on her> situation -
either by providing details of her initial> treatment or
discussing whether she has had related> problems since.>>
An aide cut off a question Wednesday about whether there>
has been further treatment, and Mrs. Gore did not address>
the issue. Later, spokeswoman Camille Johnston said Mrs.>
Gore is not in treatment now. Johnston also said Mrs.> Gore
"would put her health first," to seek treatment if> she
felt she needed it now, even in the glare of her> husband's
campaign.>> Mrs. Gore pointed to suicide statistics among
young> people - it is their third leading cause of death -
and> studies that show 51 million Americans suffer some
sort> of mental problem as evidence of the danger in
denying or> hiding mental illness.>> "This is a medical
disease like other medical diseases,> and it's subject to
diagnosis and treatment," she said.>> Mrs. Gore's mother
suffered from depression, and she said> she has watched for
signs of it in her own four children.>> "If you have cancer
in your family, if you have diabetes> in your family, no
matter what you might have in your> family, if you have
depression in your family or some> sort of mental health
illness in your family then you> should look for that to
perhaps show up," Mrs. Gore said.> "It may not, but you may
have more of a proclivity.">> Asked whether her children,
who are in their teens and> 20s, would be ashamed to get
help for a mental problem,> Mrs. Gore did not answer
directly.>> "All members of the younger generation feel
less stigma> associated with it," Mrs. Gore said. She cited
frank> comments Wednesday from a young MTV veejay, Ananda
Lewis,> who said she has suffered from mild depression and
went> through counseling with her mother as a teen-ager.>>
"That was very courageous," Mrs. Gore said. "I think it>
shows that young people feel freer, they understand these>
illnesses much better than perhaps our generation or the>
older generation.">>> By ANNE GEARAN, Associated Press>
http://www.nandotimes.com/noframes/story/0,2107,500213247-500300821-501660726-0,00.html>>
janet paterson> 53 now / 41 dx / 37 onset> 613 256 8340 /
PO Box 171 Almonte Ontario K0A 1A0 Canada> visit my website
"a new voice" at: http://www.geocities.com/janet313/

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