Published in the Westchester Guardian, January 2013
I have a mental illness. Today, I can admit this, come forward, because I have a job, because I have family support and I have some degree of self-confidence and a small degree of financial security. I have some very good friendships. I receive quality professional therapy. I have some Faith. I am very fortunate and lucky and I try not to give a damn about what others (most but not all) may think. For now these fantastic supports enable me, but I do not know what tomorrow may bring and that scares the hell out of me. Most who suffer do not have any of these supports. After the Newtown tragedy more of us, the inflicted and even their families, may have even greater reluctance coming forward. The stigma has grown ever stronger.
How can we, especially our youth admit to these illnesses and be labeled, categorized for the rest of their lives? Imagine the peer pressure, the ridicule, the teasing our school children will face every day if they are “exposed” as having mental illness. (This lack of compassion is a sad reflection of our culture.) They and their families may face the battle alone and suffer alone. They will face the torturous pain in the secret of their dwellings. They may seek ways to ease the pain through self-medicating (alcohol and drugs) and isolation. And the illness is not the fault of their making. It is no one’s fault and what family is really prepared to face such challenges?
Every infliction on the brain differs greatly along the mental illness spectrum. Even individuals with similar diagnosis will differ greatly in symptoms, in treatment, in reflection, in resilience. We do not want to be labeled. We want to be assisted. We want to be cured, but we need your help. We would like to be seen as individuals with mental illness not as mentally ill individuals, for we have hope and potential just like others who suffer from biological and chemical diseases related to the human condition. Our illness does not truly define us.
The National Association on Mental Illness (NAMI) has the following sobering statistics:
- Twenty-five percent of adults experience a mental health disorder in a given year.
- One in seventeen adults lives with mental illness.
- Anxiety disorders affect 18.7% of American adults and frequently co-occur with depression and addiction disorders. (The total U.S. population is over 300 million)
- Suicide is the eleventh leading cause of death in the U.S. (See my article, June 9, 2011)
- Suicide is the third leading cause of death for people between ages 10 t0 24.
- Mayor depression disorder affects 6.7% of American adults.
- Twenty-four percent of state prisoners and 21% of local jail prisoners have a recent history of a mental health disorder.
- The percent of youth in the juvenile justice systems with at least one mental health disorder is 70%.
- Half of all lifetime cases of mental illness begin by age 14, 75% begin by age 24.
- Racial and ethnic minorities are less likely to receive proper access for mental health care and if accessible will receive poorer care.
- Male veterans are twice likely to die by suicide as compared to their American peers as per a July 2007 report.
Now more than ever society must come forward and reach out to us. We want, we need to be welcomed into the fold of our culture, but we need your help to live better lives. To admit to mental illness means to be labeled for a lifetime as being abnormal, dysfunctional even feared without concern and reflection of the individual’s condition, their abilities and capabilities and this must change!
We want to work. We want to contribute, to belong, to give. We do not enjoy being unconstructive members of our various communities. We do not enjoy being alone, doing nothing. Being involved is so important for self-identity, self-worth and self-respect. From society we need not only the material, but also the psychological and spiritual encouragement. Have faith in us and our faith in ourselves will grow; our Faith can overcome fate. We all must slowly reclaim the self, the soul and see the goodness inside the inflicted, not the cultural bias that has claimed the stigma for far too many years. That is what our various Faiths tell us.
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Glenn Slaby Blog