In my last article I talked about making a resolution for good mental health in 2008 and I listed what good mental health is. To summarize, good mental health is comfort and well-being in one's thoughts or emotions and the absence of a mental disorder. But in the case when there is the absence of comfort and a mental disorder is likely, medication may be your first and best approach to treatment. Now mind you, I am a clinical psychologist. I am not a psychiatrist, a physician who specializes in mental illnesses and neurological disorders and who prescribes medication (though New Mexico is one of the few states that permit psychologists to be credentialed to prescribe medication).

St. Joseph Community Health announced recently a major new initiative that will help women access crucial non-medical services for breast cancer.

Scheduled to open in early 2008, the Breast Cancer Resource Center will be a comprehensive, up-to-date place where women can get personalized help based on their unique situation. The Resource Center is designed to close the gaps in connecting women with breast cancer and their families to community resources.

Mistrust of the medical system too often keeps women in our community from seeking medical attention, even if they are experiencing symptoms, This is precisely why the Breast Cancer Resource Center exists -- to provide connections to needed services that respect a woman's culture, her community, and yes, her story.

If we surveyed people around the globe, without a doubt, we would learn that above 90% would say that they are presently experiencing some tense moments in their lives or have recently been through a stressful episode. As we alluded in a recent article, all stress is not “toxic”. However, we also implied that stress is probably a factor in contributing to the cause of many of our common diseases. We have long believed that stress contributes to the development of hypertension, obesity, heart attacks and other illnesses. In a separate article we implied that this is a factor in the development of some cancers.

Imagine suffering from excruciating pain and a high fever. Nothing you've taken medicinally seems to work. You are admitted to the local hospital where you undergo procedures that maintain the illusion you are being treated for your ailment. It isn't until after your death years later that your family learns that the treatment and procedures you were subjected to were both ineffectual and bogus. “The Tuskegee Study” is often cited as the benchmark for using impoverished and unwitting African Americans for medical experiments.