 |
 |
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/ __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos -- now, 100 FREE prints! http://photos.yahoo.com