Our Common Struggle A Personal Journey Through the Past and Future of Mental Illness and Addiction By Patrick Kennedy and Stephen Fried Patrick Kennedy, son of Senator Ted Kennedy, was a congressman from Rhode Island when he drove his car into a police barrier in front of the US Capitol in 2006. At the time…

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"books" (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Stiller Beobachter Books, Books, and More Books Sometimes the perfect book is difficult to find. Once, for example, I needed a book that would talk about duel diagnosis.  Duel diagnosis is what happens when the person has both a mental illness and an addiction.  I needed to read about it.  I needed to…

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Mental Illness – Brain Disorders instead of  Behavior Disorders I just recently reviewed a TedxTalk from Thomas Insel, the director of the National Institute for Mental Health. The title of his talk was “Towards a New Understanding of Mental Illness”. This talk took place in January of 2013.  It is still valuable for us as…

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"South Dakota Capitol Building" (CC BY-SA 2.0) by samirluther   Our Talk with the Governor Several members and I had a chance to meet with Governor Dennis Duagaard while he was in Brookings in July for “Capital for a Day.” This a program setup by the Governor to get him out into the community during the year by…

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