Susan J. Noonan, MD, MPH

Susan J. Noonan, MD, MPH, talks about signs of suicide and how to help the person in need. 

is a physician consultant and Certified Peer Specialist in the Department of Psychiatry at McLean Hospital and the Massachusetts General Hospital. She is the author of four books and a blog on managing depression, most recently 

Helping Others With Depression: Words to Say, Things to Do (December 2020)

. Dr Noonan offers peer counseling to fellow patients, including physicians and other professionals, and can be confidentially reached through her website at 

Videos

When deep, emotional pain exceeds logic, suicidal thoughts come to fruition. 

Wayward Thoughts

Susan J. Noonan, MD, MPH, talks about how finding a community and sharing experiences can help people going through an episode. 

When dealing with a serious mental illness, speaking out and sharing common experiences can help healing. 

Living Through an Episode

Susan J. Noonan, MD, MPH, talks about how supporting someone requires persistence, patience, courage. 

Caregivers Caring for Themselves

Susan J. Noonan, MD, MPH, talks how family and friends should support, listen, and refrain from judging when dealing with a loved one with bipolar disorder or depression.

Patients with bipolar disorder or depression want to feel normal. What can loved ones do to help? 

How Can Loved Ones Help? 

Susan J. Noonan, MD, MPH, talks how problems may seem less intense for patients with depression if they focus their attention on volunteering. 

Focusing on someone else's problems may be a great coping strategy for patients with depression. 

Volunteer Activity as a Strategy in the Healing Process

Susan J. Noonan, MD, MPH talks neuroplasticity, depression, and rewiring the brain at any age. 

For decades, it was thought the brain was a fixed structure, and not able to be renewed or regenerated, but science has since proved otherwise.  

Remodeling the Brain 

Susan J. Noonan, MD, MPH, talks the move towards the positive psychological model and how having a mental illness is not an all-encompassing experience. 

How does a patient feel about having a mental illness? 

What Mental Illnesses Mean to Patients 

Susan J. Noonan, MD, MPH, discusses how schedules can be vital for patients who struggle with day-to-day tasks. Her top tip is to keep to their set schedule, even when they do not feel like it.

Creating a schedule and keeping it can be a huge help to patients with anxiety or depression. 

The Importance of Routine

Susan Noonan, MD, MPH, talks about dealing with family over the holidays. Yes, there are toxic members of the family to avoid, but there are other relationships that can be mended. 

Toxic family members who belittle mental illnesses can fracture a family. 

Family Matters

Susan J. Noonan, MD, MPH, talks how withdrawing risks prolonging depression, how all alone time is not the same, and how patients can push themselves in small steps to socialize. 

Solitude is not the same as isolation. Is a patient isolating themselves and what can be done to help?