In 2011, we've watched Lindsay Lohan, Charlie Sheen, Senator Andrew Weiner and Amy Winehouse (among others) turn fast-paced careers into train wrecks.

Winehouse's problems with drug and alcohol abuse, violence and other self-destructive behavior were regular tabloid fodder and the subject of public scorn until her death July 23, 2011.

I wonder if she would have died so young if her personal indiscretions didn’t become international news. 

It pains me to see artists, who create perhaps the highest form of human expression through their craft, derail their careers and their ability to do what they do best. Their contributions serve the greater good of all in the form of beauty, entertainment and inspiration.

We don't realize that for many, the greater the...

Dear Lindsay,

You are at the crossroads of a defining moment. You are free to leave your gilded cage. Will you soar? Or will you splat against the window pane? Will your story be told as is Drew Barrymore's -- a story of triumph, accomplishment and esteem and (dare I say) joy? Or will your life story become an obituary about a life that might have been?

The choice is yours. Yes, Lindsay, how you author, direct and act in your life story from this moment on is entirely up to you.

Life happens for you, not to you. You -- yes YOU -- create the experiences in your life whether you realize it or not. This isn't about blame, shame, guilt or even credit. Those are judgment words and judgment is toxic to the human spirit. You did not get up out of bed on day wondering how you could screw up your life and then do just that...

It was one of those typical holiday 'What up?" calls. Joe answered the phone upbeat and talkin' turkey. Dogs were barking in the background. 

Actor Joe Pantoliano is a busy man these days. We all know of his film work and his Emmy award for his role as Ralph Cifaretto in “The Sopranos.” What isn't as well known is his personal mission to remove the stigma of mental illness.

In his role as founder of No Kidding, Me Too!, Joe just returned from Toronto where he gave the keynote speech for the Canadian Psychiatric Research Foundation's Annual Silver Dinner.

More on NKM2 in a minute.

Our conversation that day centered on his NKM2 documentary that shares the stories of people hiding behind the stigma of a mental disorder. He’s on a...

Some say Sandra Bullock was the last to know, blind to husband Jesse James' trysts and titillating tabloid fodder.

Jesse turned a blind side to the effects of his addiction to self-sabotage -- if not his reputation, certainly his marriage.

The media in their frenzied kabuki dance and all of us who have been voraciously chewing on the story have turned a blind side to the additional pain and suffering we're imposing on these two talented individuals -- members of our tribe.

Yes, if Jesse intended to have a long and happy marriage with Sandra, he made some woefully misguided choices.

No one gets up out of bed in the morning and asks, "Gee, how can I eff up my life today?"

Like a drug addict or...