Acknowledging Mental Illness
Awareness Week
To the editor:
October normally evokes images of colorful foliage, harvest and Halloween. However, the month of October is also very significant for mental health, as October 3-9th is Mental Illness Awareness Week.
As part of the human condition, most everyone has moments of feeling down and out for a variety of reasons. However, imagine feeling like you’ve fallen into a black hole of despair and hopelessness, even though the sun is shining and there are no external reasons for your mental suffering. Imagine being totally convinced that someone is trying to poison you, and eating then becomes a terrifying experience. Imagine that you constantly hear voices saying horrible things to you that everyone else says “aren’t real.” Imagine having experienced trauma in the past, only to relive it through overwhelmingly vivid recall, very unexpectedly … over and over again.
For the one in 17 adults living with a serious mental illness, the above is not a case of imagining, but rather the reality of a disorder such as major depression, schizophrenia, and posttraumatic stress, to name a few of them. The results are social isolation, impaired functioning, broken relationships and self-destructive behaviors, such as addiction, that at the extreme lead to death.
Mental illness is a medical condition. Just like any medical illness, the range of symptoms and severity vary among individuals. It is also affecting a growing number of children and adolescents. Unfortunately, the lack of information and the societal stigma associated with mental illness are often barriers to acceptance and seeking out assistance.
However, effective treatment exists. Recovery is possible. Mental health services target the appropriate combination of interventions tailored to the individual: psychotropic medication, therapy, substance abuse treatment when addiction is also a problem, and case management services to address social, financial, housing, vocational rehabilitation, and other community integration needs.
But treatment works only if a person can access it. All of us have the ability to make a difference through increased awareness and advocacy for the protection of local and state mental health services not only for the benefit of the individuals and families afflicted, but for the well-being of our communities.
Community Integration Services AMHC