American Culture When I Disclosed
In January of 2017, Donald Trump was the President of the United States. Mass violence was on the rise. And the media coverage was brutal for people like me. Mental illness only made the headlines in negative way.
For example, the woman who killed four (4) people and injured several more by driving her car into spectators in 2015 at Oklahoma State University’s homecoming parade. The woman’s attorney argued that she suffered from a mental illness and was experiencing psychosis at the time of the crash. I am not being critical of the coverage—-it was accurate. But at time, this is the only time mental health made the headlines. There was nothing to offset the unfortunate stories about violence.
I am the first attorney in America in my generation of lawyers to publicly disclose a mental health condition. I later learned about other attorneys who disclosed earlier in their legal careers. For example, in 2009 Dan Lukasik disclosed and published a website, lawyerswithdepression.com, the first website of its kind in the United States. Also, entertainment attorney Terri Cheney published her memoir in 2008 titled, “Manic”, which detailed her experience with bipolar.
Also, I found an article published September 13, 2016 in ESPN the Magazine about Urban Meyer, who was the head football coach at Ohio State University at the time. The article was written by Brandon Sneed. The article summary states:
“Chasing Ambien with beer to sleep. Forty-pound weight loss. Chest pains. To stay in football, Urban Meyer had to address his mental health. Now, to help America tackle the issue, Ohio State’s head coach opens up in a B/R Mag exclusive.
Citation: Brandon Sneed, “I’m Not the Lone Wolf,” September 13, 2016, http://thelab.bleacherreport.com/i-m-not-the-lone-wolf/
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