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“In Wake Of Omaha Shooting, Mental Health America Provides Tips To Holiday Shoppers To Ease Anxieties”

Yes, you read that right.

At first, I thought maybe it was a bad joke or something.

But no, it’s not. In an effort to turn a tragedy into a PR opportunity, the organization formerly known as the National Mental Health Association figured it was a good time to issue a press release. To help ease holiday shopper’s possible anxiety.

It just feels… wrong. It’s a rare tragedy. Respect should be shown to those families who lost their family members. I mean, some of those families haven’t even buried the people who died in the tragedy. And then they open the paper to see something like this.

While I’m all for using a situation as a teaching opportunity, I think you need to do something more than just roll out your standard “how to cope with a terrible tragedy” set of coping tips article, with a new introductory paragraph to customize them to the specific tragedy. That seems so not what people want or need at a time like this.

We don’t need press releases to encourage us that it’s still okay to shop for Christmas. We need help for America’s troubled mental health system.

Read the article: In Wake Of Omaha Shooting, Mental Health America Provides Tips To Holiday Shoppers To Ease Anxieties

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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mental health » Blog Archive » Afraid of Mall Shootings Now? (12/9/2007)

    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 8 Dec 2007
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.