Over the past couple years I have stopped my clinical psychiatric practice after 35 years and have been searching for anything that will lessen the stigma and that will cause those with mental disorders to seek and receive treatment.

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.

It has been almost two weeks since Lindsay Lohan appeared on The Late Show With David Letterman and, even with last week's horrific events in Boston, ...

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.

I'm proud to live in America, and I love the fact that brave men and women support the military efforts of this country by keeping us safe. They should also be offered the proper health care and employment opportunities to get back onto their feet.

I have spent half of my life as a mental health advocate, and it's really refreshing to see how many people understand the need to talk about these issues. However, these problems won't be changed with conversation. They will be changed with action.

Until we fix the mental health care system and meet these issues head on, the problem will persist, and the results may be deeply painful.

Part of the message of the movie is that it takes a lot of mutual support for people to be their best selves, whether or not mental illness is involved. And that if we're not afraid of mental illness, and we don't try to hide it, we can help people manage their symptoms and live up to their potential.

Years after my trauma, I have come to realize that being different can be a blessing if you are willing to forge on. I have also found that talking and writing openly about my mental illness can help to shed the stigma for men and women.

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.

Mental illness can no longer be stigmatized as we hide our heads in the sand. Let's recognize that when well managed, symptoms can provide the color and nuance to our lives and shame has no place.

The requirement to discretely disclose individuals who are mentally ill and potentially violent could reduce stigma by helping to lower violence rates.

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.

I fear that the conversation about mental illness as it relates to the Connecticut tragedies will cause people who may have been on the verge of reaching out for the support they need to retreat. I fear that people who are struggling on the inside will struggle even more so alone.

Until we open up the conversation about treating mental illness and take away the shame that comes with it, to many suicide will still seem like the only way out of the pain that they are enduring.

We should start referring friends to good therapists, unashamedly, the way we would refer them to a good dentist. For now, I thank my own, and hope that others find their own path to wellness, no matter what anyone else says.

"Mental health" needs a new narrative -- a fresh, contemporary point of view about our daily lives and challenges.

While 21st century approaches to public health have increasingly focused on healthy living with diet, exercise, smoking cessation, and access to preventive health care, there is a growing evidence base to incorporate mental health into our nation's public health agenda.

As I was putting my last article together, I became really curious about why it seemed that almost all of the people who came forward and offered to share their personal experiences with me regarding anxiety were women.

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.