About Mental Health

Living in the shadow of mental illness

September 21, 2002
©2002 - The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

Once in a while a jewel arrives on my desk, disguised as a book.

Such is the case this week with "Gentle Mercies" by Hal Haralson.

Subtitled "Stories of Faith in Faded Blue Jeans," the short-story collection is what I call a quick read. It's quick for me to read because I couldn't put it down until I had finished it.

Haralson's stories are varied and often poignant. These glimpses from his life journey are particularly important because much of his adult life has been lived in the shadow of mental illness, bipolar disorder.

All too many people still view mental illness as something a person brings on himself rather than a physical problem that requires medical intervention. As in heart conditions and other physical ailments, mental illness varies in intensity and symptoms.

Some believe that mental illness is a sign of moral failure, demon possession or evidence that the person is not a Christian. The stigma attached to mental illness is still a difficult burden for families of individuals who struggle to find good health.

Unfortunately, clinical depression often is equated by the uninformed as something the afflicted could snap out of. Families typically do not recognize the deadly signs. Sometimes, doctors don't recognize the severity of the depression.

Suicide is often the result.

Haralson tried suicide. He had been a pastor about 10 years when the illness struck.

After shock treatments over a six-week period in a state mental hospital, he emerged shaken and convinced that he was no longer to be in the ministry.

A friend who was an Episcopal priest visited him after he was released from the hospital, telling him, "Hal, I have two things to say to you. One, be of good cheer. Two, everything is going to be all right."

Haralson said, "It was as if God said to me through Ed, 'I have been here all along. I will never leave you or forsake you.' I didn't know that day where God would lead, but I knew that I would awaken each morning thankful for a new day, and thankful that my bedroom was not a padded cell."

His ministry had not ended; it just took a different form.

He became director of personnel and public relations for Montgomery Ward, a job that was a perfect fit for his skills. After two years, at age 33, and with three children, he decided to go to law school.

That too, he later learned, was a God thing, since the fall of 1968 when he applied at the University of Texas was the only year that the university did not have three times as many applicants as openings for its law school because the Vietnam War had taken so many undergraduates.

Haralson gives an abbreviated account of his illness, but the theme of the book is about finding joy in facing the challenges of daily life.

Stella Mullins; Former President and CEO, Mental Health Association in Texas
"Through your years of work with the Mental Health Association in Texas, the MHA Austin Area, the National Association for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, and the Texas Foundation for Psychiatric Education and Research, you have brought heart and faith to the mental health advocacy movement.

Your gift of being able to guide people with mental illnesses through recovery and back into productive lifestyles has helped hundreds of people regain their dignity. You were one of the first to see that acceptance and encouragement through mutual support were the missing elements in caring for people who have mental illnesses. You have seen many souls through dark and lonely times.

Your original work as the founding chair of Family and Individual Reliance, FAIR, resulted in people coming together in groups all over the state to help one another cope, get strong, and experience a sense of solidarity as they faced similar challenges. Now, with the Linnie Pierce Awards, you have created a means by which mental health consumers and advocates can be recognized and rewarded for their contributions.

What an exciting adventure you have had. What a good job you have done.

The Mental Health Association in Texas salutes you."

With great affection,

Stella Mullins and Your Friends at the Mental Health Association in Texas

Eli Lilly Welcome Back Awards
Submission by the Mental Health Association in Texas for
Hal Haralson, J.D.
We, as a society, are making incredible gains in removing the stigma, guilt and shame that used to routinely be associated with depression. However, our progress in destigmatizing depression has been much more effective for women than for men. Unfortunately, most men who have depression still suffer silently, not understanding that their pain and discomfort is a real, treatable illness. In part, this may be due to the fact that so few men who have experienced depression have been willing to come forward and talk openly about their illness and the possibility of effective treatment.

Fortunately, Hal Haralson, an accomplished lawyer practicing in Austin, Texas, did not allow stigma or shame to keep hi from telling his story in an effort to help others, particularly men, recognize and seek treatment for their illness. A native of West Texas and a farmer’s son, Hal grew up in an environment where depression was not a common term and certainly not one used by men to describe their emotional state. However, after he was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder in the late 1960’s, Hal chose to use his experiences to educate others about depression and to encourage individuals to seek help.

Hal has become a well-recognized spokesperson for depression, helping to dispel the myth that depression is a “woman’s disease.” By talking candidly about his diagnosis and treatment, Hal has helped to put a new face on depression, showing that it is not only a real illness, but also an illness that strikes “real men.” He has done this on local, state and national levels. In his hometown of Austin, Hal became President of the local Mental Health Association. In this capacity, he spoke often to the public, to providers and to business leaders about the importance of mental health and about his own experiences with depression. As he became involved with the state and national levels of the Mental Health Association, Hal continued to share his story with wider audiences.

Not only did Hal seek to improve the attitude of the public toward depression by sharing his story, he also worked avidly to improve the conditions of people who experience mental illness. As the first chair of the Family and Individual Reliance (FAIR) mutual support committee, Hal traveled across Texas organizing consumers and their family members. These groups were an important first step in creating an opportunity for education, mutual support and advocacy around mental illness. Many of the individuals associated with the original FAIR groups have gone on to become powerful advocates for people with mental illnesses. Their ability to speak out about their experiences is due largely to Hal’s willingness to take the first important steps by sharing his own story and encouraging others to do the same.

Hal has given both his personal and professional time to advocate for people with mental illnesses, sometimes as a class and where needed through individual interventions. As an attorney, he has often provided free assistance to people with mental illness who require help negotiating the public and private systems of care or who simply need a strong advocate to look out for their interests. His professional success and his civic involvement have provided Hal with many opportunities to be in the spotlight. In each of these occasions, he has used the opportunity to promote mental health and to talk frankly about depression, its symptoms and the availability of effective treatments. In 1986, his achievements were recognized by the National Mental Health Association, who awarded him the Clifford Beers Award for his services to improve conditions for and attitudes towards persons who experience mental illnesses.

While many individuals have made remarkable progress in increasing the public’s understanding of depression, too few have been professional men capable of reaching out to their counterparts and eradicating the misperception that depression doesn’t belong in their ranks. Hal has worked tirelessly and effectively to eliminate this misperception and to disseminate accurate information to not only a wide audience, but an audience that is often not included in our discussions about depression.