The Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM) is a dictionary that defines and classifies all mental health disorders. First published in 1952, the DSM is used by everyone from clinicians to pharmaceutical companies to policy makers. Since its inception, the DSM has been revised only four times — one such occasion was in 1980 when homosexuality was no longer defined as a mental disorder. In the fifth edition, another big change may come to the DSM. Autism is up for a redefinition which could potentially reduce the number of people considered "autistic" by half.

What is mental illness, and what causes it? Can it be mere stress? Recreational drug use? A cheating girlfriend? A vitamin imbalance?

Mark Vonnegut proposed all these possibilities in his 1975 bestseller “The Eden Express.” A memoir of counter-culture, coming of age, and living with schizophrenia, The New York Times said it was "required reading for those who want to understand insanity from the inside."

We started the conversation over the weekend, asking,

"How do you keep your peace of mind? Have you been able to find good therapy for mental health issues?"

We then heard from Newsweek's health reporter Kate Dailey, and Harvard psychologist, Richard McNally, who chimed in yesterday with their expertise on mental health. However, we received such an overwhelming response from all of you, that we felt the need to tackle the topic for a second day, and hear what you had to say.

Today on the show we talked about the stigma associated with mental health issues. But stigma isn't just discrimination or disdain for people with mental health issues. In fact, some of the experts I've spoken to say they've seen that type of stigma disappearing in the past few years. What remains is more insidious: the idea that a mental health problem as something that happens only to other people.

50 million Americans will suffer from a mental health issue this year. But only a quarter of them will seek treatment from a mental health professional. And one in three mental health consumers in the United States report being turned down for a job once their psychiatric status became known.

Share your story: How do you maintain your peace of mind? Have you been able to find good therapy for mental health issues?

With 50 million Americans suffereing from a mental health issue this year, we find out how you, our listeners, keep your own peace of mind.

Campbell from Seattle says:

"For years I struggled with depression. My efforts to control it involved everything except medicaiton. I believed I could cure it myself. I worked hard and honestly in therapy... After many more years, I was still depressed. The same therapist convinced me to give anti-depressants a try. The medication worked beautifully... I am a huge proponent of therapy, but medication absolutely has a place in treatment."

In June, 32 members of the U.S. Army took their own lives. That's a sharp uptick compared to the first five months of 2010, when the number of suicides in the Army was actually down thirty percent, from the same months in 2009. What happened in June? 

BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster hits the two month mark this weekend. Since April 20, oil has been gushing into the Gulf, wreaking havoc on the thousands who make a living from those waters. Natural disasters, like Hurricane Katrina, leave residents devastated but able to begin repair once the crisis passes. The current nightmare has lasted two months, and the oil already in the Gulf will cause longterm environmental damage even once the well is capped. What kind of toll do these unknowns take on people's mental health?

The use of hallucinogens such as 'ecstasy' or mushrooms to address psychological disorders tends to be met with opposition and an automatic association with the drug culture of the 1960s. But scientists from around the world will gather this week in San Jose, Calif., for the largest conference on psychedelic drugs to be held in the U.S. in four decades. They will discuss whether these drugs can help patients suffering from depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress syndrome, and other psychological problems.

Clark Martin is a retired clinical psychologist; he was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 1990 and has had multiple metastases and treatments since then.  What follows is his description of receiving a single high dose of psilocybin, the active component of psychedelic mushrooms, under the auspices of a study conducted at Johns Hopkins.

Overview

This is a study for cancer patients who are experiencing depression secondary to everything associated with their cancer. Participants are highly screened and receive several days of counseling with the two experienced researchers who are present through out the treatment day. You are lying on a couch with eye shades and headphones (classical music). In my case, the experience can be roughly divided into three phases.

Last week, we were struck by the shocking story of a six-year-old girl in Oregon whose death has been labeled a suicide. We wondered: Is it really possible for a first-grader to suffer from suicidal tendencies? And to deliberately take her own life?

Dr. Susan Clancy believes that for young children, sex abuse is oftentimes more confusing than it is traumatic at the moment that it’s happening. In her new book "The Trauma Myth: The Truth About Sexual Abuse of Children — And Its Aftermath," she argues that more victims would come forward if we stopped framing sex abuse as terrifying and violent, and instead acknowledged that child victims often love and want to please their perpetrators.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who allegedly killed 13 people and wounded 29 others during a shooting spree at Fort Hood in Texas last week, is an Army psychiatrist, trained in treating combat stress in soldiers. That has raised questions about how the job of counseling affects military health professionals. Olga Peña, managing editor of The Killeen Daily Herald, joins us with the latest from Fort Hood. Bret A. Moore is a clinical psychologist who served in Iraq for 27 months; he left the Army in 2008 for a number of reasons, among them the growing possibility of burnout. He says that mental health workers in the Army, like all soldiers, are not required to seek counseling, but they do have the choice to seek help if they wish. Nelson Ford is the CEO of LMI Consulting and a former undersecretary of the Army.  He says the Army is doing a fine job of improving its response to mental health problems.

The World Health Organization said last week that within the next 20 years, depression will become the largest health burden on society. But treatment for mental health is often underfunded, despite the fact that it drastically affects productivity in many countries.  We talk to Professor Cary Cooper, who teaches psychology and health at Lancaster University in Britain. We also speak with Dr. Shekhar Saxena, program manager of the WHO's Department of mental health and substance abuse.

 

The story of Jaycee Dugard's abduction is disturbing enough for adults, but what about kids? How do you explain and interpret such a horrific and frightening story to a child? We're joined this morning by Linda Blair, a child psychologist and author of the book “Straight Talking."

President Bill Clinton negotiated for the release of American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee from North Korea. After months of imprisonment on charges of entering the country illegally and being sentenced to 12 years of hard labor, the two were whisked away in a private jet with the former president. When they stepped off the plane at Burbank airport and reunited with their families, their journey ended in one sense, but their road to recovery just began. To understand what lies ahead for them, The Takeaway speaks to two therapists who specialize in helping people recover from psychological trauma. Dr. Yael Danieli is a clinical psychologist and trauma specialist and Dr. Anthony Feinstein is a professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto, and author of "Journalists Under Fire: The Psychological Hazards Of Covering War."

A new study reveals a surprising cost of rising unemployment: during a recession, murder and suicide rates increase. The solution? Support groups. Here to tell us more is study co-author David Stuckler, a sociologist fellow at Oxford University. Stuckler is joined by American Chet Kaminski, currently an accountant who this past spring was compelled to join a social unemployment network after eight months without a job.

You can read the study about the public health affects of job loss by checking out the journal article in this week's issue of the medical journal, The Lancet.

More details are emerging about the soldier who allegedly killed five of his fellow servicemen in Baghdad on Monday. Sergeant John M. Russell had recently been relieved of his weapon by commanding officers. On Monday though, that didn't matter. Russell reportedly wrestled a weapon from an officer who was escorting him away from a mental health clinic. He then went back to the clinic and opened fire. The incident is raising tough questions about mental health in the military, and shining a spotlight on how military authorities have dealt with these incidents in the past.

We’re taking a look today at the history of soldier-on-soldier violence in the U.S. military with Paul Springer, a professor of history at the United States Military Academy at West Point. We're also speaking to Major Dena Braeger, Executive Officer to the Dean of West Point. She’s a social psychologist who served in Iraq from 2003 – 2004.

Wilburn Russell, John Russell's father, discusses the incident.

Five U.S. service members were killed yesterday by a fellow soldier on an American military base in Baghdad yesterday. The soldier was later taken into custody. The center where the shooting occurred offered counseling services to soldiers seeking assistance and was considered a safe place for most servicemen. The killings appear to be the single deadliest episode of soldier-on-soldier violence among U.S. troops since the invasion six years ago.

Approximately one in six soldiers returns home with signs of post-traumatic stress. At least 140 soldiers committed suicide in 2008, according to the Army, a considerable increase compared with the 115 cases reported the previous year and the 102 documented in 2006. The number is the highest since the military started tracking suicide data in 1980. The Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force also reported an uptick in suicides last year.

For more on this tragedy and the military's reaction, we turn to Ernesto Londono, The Washington Post's Baghdad correspondent.

For more information on the shooting, watch the video below.

In the middle of this economic upheaval there are children across America learning new words like: "recession" and "foreclosure" and "layoff." While parents struggle to keep jobs, keep homes, and put food on the table, kids are learning to cope with the economic times, too. Helping kids handle the emotional upheaval of trying times is Denise Daniels. She is the co-founder of the National Childhood Grief Institute and she has turned her attentions on helping children through these trying economic times. She partnered with publisher Scholastic to create What Can I Do?. Also here to help us understand how the economic crisis is affecting children is our friend, Mrs. Janet Kunkel, a fifth grade teacher in Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania.

Here is Denise Daniels' video from "What Can I Do?":

Plus: Watch Femi Oke host a roundtable with middle school students in Brooklyn, New York, about how they're dealing with the recession: For high quality video, click the "HQ" button.