I am retired. And I love retirement. I love lingering over breakfast in the morning and taking on the daily challenge of the New York Times Wordle and Connections games. I love having the time to travel, to read, and to stuff myself with buttery popcorn at the movies on Discount Tuesdays. I love the freedom to stay in my house on snowy days and curl up under a warm blanket.
At the same time, I am aware that work to improve understanding of mental health conditions, which was a focus of my professional career, is still needed. Therefore, I have sought opportunities to continue to contribute to that work as a volunteer with Mental Health Connecticut (MHC). In addition to serving on its Development Committee, I have been invited to share my thoughts and experiences via regular contributions to the MHC blog. [Of course, being an academician—yeah, one of those—I had to look up the origin of the term “blog” before I could contribute to one. If my internet sources are to be believed (always a bit of a worry), “blog” is a shortened form of “weblog,” reportedly introduced in 1999, when “weblog” was rephrased as “we blog.”]
As I invite you to follow my weblog, I should give you a little information about myself that will, hopefully, reassure you that I have the background to write knowledgeably about mental health matters.
Let me start with a little of my personal background. My father, who is the one responsible for passing along our palindromic first name, directed programs for youth at the YMCA. My mother had what today might be described as a “bleeding heart.” She held the belief that society should be judged by the way it treats its most vulnerable citizens. I believe I absorbed good values from both of them.
Professionally, I have been a college professor for my entire career, teaching students in Psychology and training future Clinical Psychologists, first at the University of Rochester (NY), then at George Mason University (VA), and finishing at the University of Hartford. In addition to teaching, I also provided psychotherapy and assessment services to people with a variety of mental health issues.
The more I worked in mental health, the more I became aware of how many misconceptions about mental health and mental health conditions pervade our society and how damaging some of those can be. In particular, I have been concerned about the stigma that often surrounds mental health problems and the ways that mass media may misinform and perpetuate that stigma. I have studied, spoken, and written extensively about these issues, including the publication of two books. One (Media Madness) is about media images of mental health conditions, and the other (Telling Is Risky Business) discusses what people with mental health conditions reported, in surveys and interviews, about their experiences of stigma. Neither produced the James Patterson-level of fame and fortune to which authors aspire, But I think the books did expand public knowledge of mental health conditions and stigma. And my mother liked them. Spoiler Alert: I will be addressing the topics of these books in future blog entries.
I also have been involved in off-campus efforts to overcome misconceptions and reduce barriers to help-seeking. For example, I have served on the Advisory Board of the Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellowships, the Public Education Committee of the Mental Health Association of Northern Virginia, and the Stigma and Mental Illness Section of the World Psychiatric Association. Here in Connecticut, I have served on the Board of Directors of The Connecticut Legal Rights Project and of NAMI Connecticut before volunteering with Mental Health Connecticut.
This blog, I hope, will be another way that I can contribute to public understanding of mental health and mental health conditions. My hope is that my “mental health musings,” as the blog is titled, will be informative and useful to readers with an interest in mental health. I hope you will log in for my next installment, in which I will be discussing the term “mental health” and what it does and does not mean.
Please Note (because everything has to have disclaimers these days):
This blog is not intended to be an advice column, a form of online therapy, or a referral source. I will be happy to receive suggestions for blog topics and I may include resources related to the issues presented, but I will not be responding to individual questions or comments. In addition, I do not speak for Mental Health Connecticut. MHC, as well as other mental health professionals and organizations, may have differing opinions than those I express.
Otto Wahl, Ph.D.
MHCT Development Committee Member