THE MEDIA, MENTAL ILLNESS AND FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

Michelle will introduce herself and talk about her work within the media. She will also give a history of her previous work in gero-psychology and her passion for the chronically mentally ill in our country.

Michelle will also discuss:

• Her personal experience with mental and emotional problems within her own family and how effectively and ineffectively her own parents/siblings responded.

• General discussion regarding relationships within family and how dynamics of family are shifted when there is a family member struggling or recovering from mental illness.

• General discussion of media and the positives and negatives of media portrayal of mental illness; Michelle will take a look at the decades of history of media relating to mental illness and explain how perceptions have changed over the years.

• Will use popular media clips to highlight issues within family relationships and the responses to mental illness. Michelle will address ways to manage denial, blame, verbal abuse, minimizing and creating healthy boundaries with family members and friends.

Dr. Michelle Golland Bio

Dr. Michelle Golland is in private practice as a Clinical Psychologist in Los Angeles, California with a focus on issues relating to couples and individuals. She is also an expert in multi-cultural and community psychology. Early in her career she was the director of a day treatment center for chronically mentally ill older adults in Santa Monica California where she was first introduced to NAMI. It was during this time that she developed a deep passion for issues relating to how society deals with people who are disabled due to the severity of their emotional problems.

Dr. Golland is a national media psychologist and relationship expert and has appeared on CNN Larry King Live, Campbell Brown and The O’Reilly Factor on Fox News, HLN, ABC, and NBC. The media turns to Dr. Michelle Golland when they need an experts opinion on the psychological issues related to anything in popular media. She is also an expert and contributing writer on the popular website for mothers, Momlogic.com.

Dr. Golland believes that media can have a positive influence on the perceptions of mental illness and ways in which individuals, families and society deals with emotional and psychological issues.

Dr. Golland obtained her doctorate with honors in clinical psychology in 1998 from the California School of Professional Psychology in Los Angeles. She received her undergraduate degree from USC in 1993.