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The blog has had about 75,000 views and has been read in 151 different countries since 2014. The posts reflect ideas about mental illness,health and life that can be debated and discussed so that we can come to a higher understanding of the issues. And, we have separated out mental illness from mental health because, despite their often interchangeability, they are distinct. Mental illness as a medical condition that disrupts a person's thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others and daily functioning. Just as diabetes is a disorder of the pancreas, mental illnesses are medical conditions that often result in a diminished capacity for coping with the ordinary demands of life. Serious mental illnesses include major depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and borderline personality disorder. In contrast, mental health is a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community. That is quite different from mental illness. Unfortunately there is a tendency to confuse these. Unfotunately, there tendency to talk about mental health issues and problems which are not the same as mental illnesses.
Über den Autor / die Autorin
David Laing Dawson worked and lived for many years as a psychiatrist in Hamilton, Ontario, specializing at times in Forensic Psychiatry, adolescents, and families. He spent ten years as Chief of Psychiatry at Hamilton Psychiatric Hospital and as Professor of Psychiatry at McMaster University.
A prolific writer, Dawson's works include Last Rights (1990; a runner-up for the Arthur Ellis Award), Essondale (1993), Assisted Living & Modern Times: Almost a Musical in 2 One-Act Plays (2015), Two Years of Trump on the Psychiatrist's Couch (2018), Love in the Time of COVID: Poems (2020). He also co-authors the blog Mind You: Reflections on Mental Health, Mental Illness, and Life.
An accomplished artist who has always painted, Dawson's paintings are currently shown at the Tutt Street Gallery in Kelowna. He lives in West Kelowna, B.C., with his wife and their two boxer dogs.
