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Showing posts from February, 2017

Don't Speak - Self-Stigma and Mental Health

I’ve been asked twice to talk about my personal experience dealing with depression, anxiety and the use of genetic testing for mental health treatment. I became aware of this new test during a medication management appointment. My practitioner, a psychiatric advanced practice nurse, is an expert with psychopharmacology, and very knowledgeable about the latest treatments for depression.   After trial and error with many medications, we discussed pinpointing the best antidepressant for me, through genetic testing.   My interviews were featured on “Innovations”, a TV series on the Discovery Channel (watch here), and most recently, on a KYW-TV medical segment ( watch here ) during a six o’clock evening news broadcast.   Both times, I went through a lengthy internal debate about doing the interviews. There was serious trepidation about speaking publically concerning mental health. I’ve written several articles about depression, but it’s not the same as facing a li