Everyone in the world is affected by mental illness in some way. Whether you have mental illness yourself or if you have a friend or family member who does, mental illness touches all of our lives.
The stigma against mental health remains extremely oppressive. Diagnosed or not, 18.6 percent of Americans aged 18 or older — or 43.7 million people — have experienced mental illness in the past year, according to the National Institute of Mental Health Critical to this conversation are three points:
- People who suffer from a mental illness can indeed be respectable.
- There is treatment available.
- With the right diagnosis, medication and therapy, most individuals with mental illness can live normal or near-normal lives.
May is Mental Health Awareness month, so I thought I would share with you some more statistics. There are 5.7 million bipolar Americans, according to the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance. Sixty percent of us are addicts. See the infographic below from Mental Health America for more.
