Jayson Blair

I spend a lot of time reading, devoting, consuming the ideas of others, whether they come in the form of books and blogs, magazines and television programs, newspaper articles and music. My taste in blogs run from If You're Going Through Hell, Keep Going , a thoughtful personal blog on mental health by a professional writer, Jim Romenesko's blog , which keeps me up-to-date on the latest happenings of my friends in my former profession and Gawker , the entertaining New York gossip blog that would be dangerous to read without one cocked eyebrow of disbelief. Recently, a random e-mail landed in my box from a pastor who writes a blog that touches on a topic that is dear to my personal story: the all-too-often unnecessarily twisted, and sometimes treacherous, intersection of spirituality and mental health treatment. It's nice to see someone with a mental illness in a leadership position within a large religious domination to come out and speak about their struggles. It has made ...

Sometimes I have to remind myself that there was time when I thought that there was no mental illness in my family. Sometimes I have to remind myself that there was a time when I thought that mental illness was not a part of me. Sometimes, I do, have to remind myself that I once saw mental illness as a sign of weakness. I have to remind myself that my views didn't change once I had my first encounter with mental illness or even a diagnosis. They evolved over time, where I began to see mental illness as a disease like diabetes, just as crippling, but with the upside of giving me perceptive and some talents I probably would not have otherwise had. In recent lectures to college students on journalism, I have brought up the story of my friend from high school. The story is instructive about why I got into journalism - to help people, and I think that, as I say, while "it is hard for people to process the idea, to internalize the notion, that I once was so much like them" that...