In Crisis   Annmarie Timmins, age 9 (left), with her brother on vacation in Franconia Notch.     After the Monitor’s mental health series, “In Crisis,” was published last week, I got one reaction more than any other: Readers were surprised, some unconvinced, that 26 percent of New Hampshire’s residents have a mental health disorder. The statistic appeared in the second story of the series and came from a 2010 study by the Concord-based New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies. The percentage includes a range of diagnoses, from major depression to anxiety problems to bipolar disorder. “Didn’t 26 percent seem high?” a caller asked me last week. Not to…

Why Royce White Might be the Most Important Athlete Since Muhammad Ali   Royce White slams it down for Iowa State. (Flickr/Reese Strickland) Dave Zirin  February 13, 2013- This week, the most famous NBA player yet to play in the NBA finally took the court. Royce White, rookie forward for the Houston Rockets, suited up for their D-League team, the esteemed Rio Grande Valley Vipers. In eighteen minutes, he had seven points, eight rebounds and four assists.   But the bigger story was that White played at all. For months, the 21-year-old has been sitting out the season in protest: a rebel with a cause. White has been battling the…

Richard Lucas was diagnosed with panic disorder, a type of anxiety disorder, about five years ago. He now lives in Virginia and manages his condition with drugs and therapy. He first shared his story on CNN iReport.     Richard Lucas used to be a SCUBA instructor, but had to stop because of his panic attacks. He plans to return to diving By Richard Lucas, Special to CNN updated 9:03 AM EST, Mon February 11, 2013 STORY HIGHLIGHTS Richard Lucas was a healthy 25-year-old when he was diagnosed with panic disorder Lucas shares thoughts on how he and his loved ones deal with his condition "I will not allow anxiety…

December 19, 2012|By Deborah Serani      I  have mental illness. It's taken hours of talk therapy, months of finding the right dosage and timing of medication and years of learning how to live successfully with it. I've redefined how I think and feel and learned what kinds of people and experiences to limit or allow in my life. Now in my 50s I've come to know the textures of my mental illness and the wisdom that comes from living within its boundaries.     (Tribune photo illustration) I wasn't always so wise. There was a time when my illness overwhelmed me. Long ago my thoughts became muddled and foggy…

Amy shares her experiences of what it’s like to live with depression.   She has found the invaluable support from two close friends has helped her to keep going through some bad days when she felt like it was too hard to carry on. “I was diagnosed with depression when I was at college, after being bullied at secondary school, which caused me to have very low self-esteem and increased stress levelsaround exams. I have had very good support from my local GP since I first got my diagnosis; my GP is patient, listens to what I say and I don’t feel like I’m being rushed out of the door.…

  BEFORE his visit to Cowley Road, secret millionaire Arfan Razak had two rules written on the kitchen walls of his chain of restaurants. Number one: “Do things as I want them”. Number two: “See number one.” But after a humbling visit to three of Oxford’s homeless and mental health projects, he has added a third – “I am not always right.” The father-of-three is the latest entrepreneur to appear on The Secret Millionaire programme, which sees wealthy individuals go into impoverished communities and give them money.