As I have talked about in previous blog articles, the
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is a wonderful resource for those
dealing with mental illness. They are terrific
in terms of education and information.
They provide support. But for
me, the most important thing that they provide is acceptance. In every interaction with NAMI, I feel respected.
I feel heard. I don’t feel judged. And that means that I never feel scared to
call them for support. That, in and of
itself, is the reason that I so respect the organization. The reality is that for a person with mental
illness, finding people that truly understand what mental illness is can be a
hit or miss proposition. I have been
spoken down to by people who equate mental illness with lack of
intelligence. People are frequently
condescending to me because “everybody gets sad”. I have tried to get support from friends and
family who don’t understand what having a mental illness is. I have found that they are just
humoring me when I try to explain what mental illness is.
So, when I really need to speak to someone who ‘gets it’, I know that
NAMI is there. It really is an amazing
feeling.
I find myself looking at all sorts of materials as I write
these blog articles. I search out other
blogs, newspaper articles and all sorts of factual materials about mental
illness. So, this weekend I found an
explanatory brochure put out by NAMI.
Having read many explanations about what mental illness is, I can tell
you that I think this is a clear explanation.
Here is the link to finding the brochure online: http://bit.ly/134GRNz
The other reason that I found this so
important is that they stick to factual explanations about many mental illnesses, including OCD, PTSD, and other conditions that you may not have a
clear understanding of. The
explanations are short and sweet, so you aren’t going to be left feeling like
you had too much information thrown at you. It is also trustworthy information,
compiled by medical professionals. So,
if you are looking for some information that is clear and easy to digest, look
up this brochure. I truly hope it
helps. Let me know.
Now, on to what I found in the brochure. The first thing that jumped out at me was a
short discussion about numbers. Every
time I look at information regarding numbers, I am struck by how widespread
mental illness really is. Of course, they
repeated that one in four adults has a significant mental illness in any given
year. That is 60 million people. Think about that. Then they discussed the numbers suffering
from SERIOUS mental illness. They place
those numbers at one in seventeen. Now,
when we say serious, we are talking about things like schizophrenia, bipolar
disorder or major depression. Then they
threw in one that I didn’t know. Did you
know that one in ten children suffers from a mental or emotional disorder? I didn’t know that. What does that say about the difficulties of
raising those children? Or handling them
in school? Another set of interesting
facts: Up to 25 million Americans suffer
from major depression. And women are 70%
more likely to suffer from depression than men. (We don't really know why.)
But for me, the most shocking statistic was this one: Only one in three of the adults and one out
of two children actually receive treatment for their condition. In this statistic, we are talking about
DIAGNOSED children and adults. As NAMI
says, there isn’t a coordinated system to obtain the kinds of treatment
needed. That includes the medical
treatment and medication, the case management and therapy. It can also include other kinds of supportive
services because appropriate treatment is very individual. That is sad.
Mental illness is treatable.
Creating a treatment plan and following up with appropriate care is
important to maintaining productivity and allowing people with a diagnosed
mental illness to function.
Now on to one of the final ‘statistic’: As NAMI notes, depression can lead to
impairment in daily functioning. This is
certainly significant and understandable. In addition, it can also lead to death. Suicide is the l0th leading cause of death in
the United States. Want to make a
difference in the lives of the mentally ill? Maybe looking at available
treatment would be the first step. What
would it be possible for us to accomplish?
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