In 2019 over 50 million adults, over the age of 18, experienced some mental illness in the United States. That was equivalent to 1 in 5 adults. Of those, over 13 million (1 in 20) experienced a serious mental illness which led to severe impairment in certain daily activities. In 2016 nearly 8 million youths, aged 6-17 experienced a mental health disorder.
Of all those American adults who experienced a mental illness in 2019, it is estimated that less than 45% received treatment for their illness. For males, the rate of treatment was only 36.8%.
There are many factors which can affect the treatment rate for mental illness, such as lack of insurance and a shortage of mental health professionals, but one of the greatest reasons for lack of treatment is the stigma associated with mental illness. Stigma can lead to labeling and stereotyping, which causes many people to remain silent about their mental health struggles.
Have you ever used derogatory terms like “crazy,” “psycho,” or “wacko” to describe someone? How do you think you would feel if someone called you “psycho”? To avoid being labeled in this way, many people keep their struggles hidden, which is unfortunate, because the sooner someone gets help the better the prognosis for recovery.
Also, mental illness is often perceived as a character flaw or a sign of weakness. This kind of stereotyping might explain the lower treatment rate for men, since men are often expected to be “strong” and not show their emotions or struggles.
NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, launched a campaign several years ago which aims to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness. This StigmaFree campaign outlines 3 steps we can all take to help end this problem:
- · Educate yourself and others about mental illness
- · See the person, not the condition
- · Take action
I will address each of these steps in future blogs. Given that about 1 in 5 adults experiences a mental health disorder each year, it’s likely that you or someone you love will be affected by mental illness. Wouldn’t it be prudent, then, for you to find out as much as you can about mental illness and how you can help?
You can start by taking the NAMI StigmaFree Pledge here:
https://www.nami.org/Get-Involved/Pledge-to-Be-StigmaFree
You’ve already started working on the first step by reading this blog to educate yourself. Continue to follow my blog and share it with others to fulfill the second goal of step 1: educate others.
Source for statistics above: https://www.nami.org/mhstats
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