We still have to rely on DSM to diagnose illness, but thanks to Dr. Insel the end of that state of affairs is a step closer. The identification and treatment of mental illness is about to leave the realm of psychiatry and enter the science of neurology.

If we had a chronic illness, no doubt we would tell our friends and welcome their support. If we were hospitalized for cancer, we would want our family by our sides to rally for our health. Mental health is no different, and deserves equal treatment.

My life seemed glamorous and promising: I was in my 20s, living in Paris and Normandy, spending my days training in ballet, modern dance, and jazz, and spending my evenings clubbing with VIP actors, models, and athletes. There was just one little problem: I was killing myself.

A tragedy like Sandy Hook can tend to solidify people's fears and prejudices about mental illness. So it is of vital importance that we, as a community, re-dedicate ourselves to eliminating the stigma that affects 1 in 4 people in our country.

Mesmerized by the coverage of the Newtown massacre, I could not get this tune (from my younger days) out of my head. More carnage. Only this time, even younger children -- not even young men, but innocents who would never come of age.

Changing the conversation about mental health means making care for mental health as matter of fact as going to get treatment for asthma or a broken leg. What good sense that makes. But even those of us who aren't currently suffering from mental health problems stand to gain.

Bud Clayman, the subject of a new movie about thriving with and despite mental illness, has given us a message of hope. But for those that look beyond Bud and his family, we are left with the inescapable task of making what was possible for him possible for everyone so afflicted.

This May marks the 63rd anniversary of Mental Health Month, but the problem of mental illness requires greater attention as a major 21st-century public health challenge.

If you call your sadness, irritability, loneliness, disappointments, and overwhelm "the mental disorder of depression," does calling all that pain make it "the mental disorder of depression"?

"Why are there so many disorders today?" Those seven words, or a variation of them, surface a few times a week.

A hand that spontaneously buttons and unbuttons your shirt against your will. The inability to recognize your own mother’s face. The belief that you...

I don't know when I decided to call it a nervous breakdown. Some can't even have this conversation because it would mean looking at things they're trying not to see. I know how they feel because two years ago, I was one of them.