Even though the economy is showing some signs of recovery, America's psychological state is still in the slumps, if what we're searching for on Google...

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.

As we watch how Ms. Zeta-Jones manages her illness, there may be much to learn from someone so talented -- so successful, and yet ill -- about how to not let bipolar disorder, or any mental or addictive disease, derail or destroy a life or a family.

Nikki Myers is an accomplished yoga therapist, addictions recovery specialist, and somatic experiencing practitioner. In 2004 she founded Yoga of 12-Step Recovery (Y12SR).

Many of the women thought yoga was just for the thin, or the super-athletic, or suburban housewives. Once they realize yoga is available to everyone, they get excited.

This is an interview with John Morgan, an Army veteran in recovery from alcohol abuse. John's yoga service began on Veterans Day 2012 at a treatment center in eastern Connecticut for veterans, active duty personnel, and dependents.

At a moment when mental health is so much at the forefront of the minds of Americans and our media, it seems time, again, to try to understand the damaging views so commonly held about people with mental illness.

Many routine but important medical services today are far more convenient to obtain than they were a generation ago. So how could these types of conveniences transfer to mental health services?

Communities need specially-designed psychiatric emergency departments. Private insurance companies should provide more and better community care for persons with psychiatric problems, and more community alternative programs for persons in emotional distress should be developed.

These days, we talk incessantly about living well and achieving life balance, yet we wear masks to hide our pain. No matter who you are, true wellness can never be achieved behind these and without facing our pain and stressors.

Is there anything that can be done by the field of mental health to reduce the rare incidence of murders by people with serious mental illness?

Life is and can be incredibly stressful. If we do not have the tools we need to handle that stress, our emotions can get the best of us. When our distress level becomes elevated, rational thinking (being able to clearly see all of our options) ceases to exist.

Within most adult folks there is an inner wisdom that would offer great assistance in resolving the impasses of our life. Therapy is about accessing our inner, innate wisdom, not replacing it with someone else's.

"It's time to offer yoga electives in social work and other helping professional degree programs (for nurses, therapists, special educators, first responders, etc.). These professionals and their clients will benefit from an education in the foundational principles of yoga healing."

Given the fact that we'll never know the motivations and emotions of the killer, the only way to find our balance after such an event is to consider honestly how it has affected each of us as individuals.

Our poor handling of mentally ill youth as they enter adulthood is a sad comment on our society. People with mental disorders are not a voting block or disenfranchised group who hold special appeal to our politicians.

There have been 29 mass shootings in the United States between the events of April 20, 1999 at Columbine High School and the Dec. 14, 2012 tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School. I propose these shootings were, in part, a health care issue.

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.