Educate Yourself About Mental Illness
and Eliminate the Stigma
"The evil that is in the world always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence, if they lack understanding. On the whole, men are more good than bad; that however, isn't the real point, but they are more or less ignorant, and it is this that we call vice or virtue; the most incorrigible vice being that of an ignorance that fancies it knows everything...."
- Albert Camus -
The Plague
Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College, London -- Depersonalization Research Unit
One of the top research establishment for mental disorders in Europe. Awarded a substantial grant to establish the world's first ever research unit dedicated to the understanding and treatment of depersonalization. Research there has already yielded some important insights into this disorder.
Click on the site's "papers and articles" link to find an impressive collection journal articles on DP studies and clinical trials.
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Facebook Depersonalization Community -- Closed Group
Over 1,000 Members as of May, 2013
- To offer members links, tools and resources.
- To assist members in seeking knowledge.
- To display understanding in the hopes of preventing further isolation.
- To give one another hope, strength and optimism.
- To encourage overall member support.
Active Minds - A Critical Resource For Young People
Active Minds is a national 501(c)3 organization that empowers students to speak openly about mental health in order to educate others and encourage help-seeking.
Active Minds is changing the culture on campuses and in the community by providing information, leadership opportunities and advocacy training to the next generation. By developing and supporting chapters of a student-run mental health awareness, education, and advocacy group on campuses nationwide, the nonprofit organization works to increase students’ awareness of mental health issues, provide information and resources regarding mental health and mental illness, encourage students to seek help as soon as it is needed, and serve as liaison between students and the mental health community.
Through campus-wide events and national programs, Active Minds aims to remove the stigma that surrounds mental health issues, and create a comfortable environment for an open conversation about mental health issues on campuses nationwide.
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Minding Your Mind
“50% of children with serious emotional and behavioral disorders drop out of high school."
An offshoot of Active Minds featuring public speakers Jordan Burnham and Melissa Ann Hopely.
The Minding Your Mind Foundation leads initiatives that reduce the stigma associated with mental health issues among adolescents in middle school, high school and college. Our outreach programs enlighten students, families and educators about the warning signs of mental health issues that are so often masked by adolescent behavior. By promoting open dialogue at school and at home, these programs encourage young adults and families to seek the appropriate help.
Minding Your Mind’s primary objective is to improve the lives of adolescents with mental health issues by eliminating the negative attitudes and behaviors perpetuated by stigma of mental health problems. To this end, Minding Your Mind provides direct support and technical assistance to initiatives that advance public awareness, encourage treatment and promote recovery of mental health issues. Our priorities are in the following three areas:
- Exemplary youth and family-focused public education initiatives
- Promising research on early detection and prevention of mental health disorders
- Collaborative programming strategies among mental health organizations
No Kidding, Me Too!
"Our goal is to educate the public about the wonderful possibilities that exist when we break down the societal barriers which hold us all back because we treat those afflicted with mental illness differently; we label them and isolate them. What we passionately want to accomplish is to relieve the weight of millions of people who suffer this isolation."
Joey Pantoliano, Founder and President
Produced and directed by Joey Pantoliano, star of films such as The Matrix, Memento, Empire of the Sun, Risky Business, Canvas, and the television series The Sopranos.
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The DP Self Help Community Forum
A comprehensive resource for those suffering from depersonalization and/or derealization. This group was first established in 1997. Currently this may be the largest DP Support group in English on the internet. There are many forums allowing for different discussions, a large links section, and a chatroom.
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NAMI
NAMI is the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the nation’s largest grassroots organization for people with mental illness and their families. Founded in 1979, NAMI has affiliates in every state and in more than 1,100 local communities across the United States.
NAMI is dedicated to the eradication of mental illnesses and to the improvement of the quality of life for persons of all ages who are affected by mental illnesses.
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The Anxiety Panic Hub
An Aussie website: there are sufferers worldwide and DP support forums around the world.
“The focus of our website is Recovery. We have been teaching people how to recover from their panic attacks and anxiety, for over fifteen years.
Whether it be panic attacks and/or anxiety or an anxiety disorder such as Panic Disorder, Social Anxiety, Post Traumatic Stress, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or Generalised Anxiety Disorder, the various fears and symptoms keep people trapped no matter no matter how hard they try to break free.
Our approach to recovery from panic attacks, anxiety or an anxiety disorder is meditation and a mindfulness cognitive technique.”
Read an excellent description of the Interaction Between Panic and Dissociation.