Guest Post: Mental Health Awareness Month- Interesting Information

Happy May Day!!! It is officially the first day of May and that means it is mental heath awareness month. Unfortunately, many people are unaware that May is mental health awareness month.

It saddens me that the media (as whole) does not make it a major deal like they (the media) do in October when it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Don’t get me wrong we need education on Breast Cancer as well as other cancers however mental health deserves just as much attention as other health issues, such as cancer.

People like myself fight the stigma of mental illness on the daily basis. Discrimination is a major issue for those of who struggle with a mental illness and it is also something our loved ones have to deal with as well. No one and I mean no one deserves to be discriminated against because of an illness they struggle with or loved one struggles with.

Here are some facts I got from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) website:

PREVALENCE OF MENTAL ILLNESS

• Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the U.S.—43.7 million, or 18.6%—experiences mental illness in a given year.¹ 
• Approximately 1 in 25 adults in the U.S.—13.6 million, or 4.1%—experiences a serious mental illness in a given year that substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities.²
• Approximately 1 in 5 youth aged 13–18 (21.4%) experiences a severe mental disorder in a given year. For children aged 8–15, the estimate is 13%.³
• 1.1% of adults in the U.S. live with schizophrenia.⁴
• 2.6% of adults in the U.S. live with bipolar disorder.⁵
• 6.9% of adults in the U.S.—16 million—had at least one major depressive episode in the past year.⁶
• 18.1% of adults in the U.S. experienced an anxiety disorder such as posttraumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and specific phobias.⁷
• Among the 20.7 million adults in the U.S. who experienced a substance use disorder, 40.7%—8.4 million adults—had a co-occurring mental illness.⁸

SOCIAL STATS

• An estimated 26% of homeless adults staying in shelters live with serious mental illness and an estimated 46% live with severe mental illness and/or substance use disorders.⁹
• Approximately 20% of state prisoners and 21% of local jail prisoners have “a recent history” of a mental health condition.¹⁰
• 70% of youth in juvenile justice systems have at least one mental health condition and at least 20% live with a serious mental illness.¹¹
• Only 41% of adults in the U.S. with a mental health condition received mental health services in the past year. Among adults with a serious mental illness, 62.9% received mental health services in the past year.⁸
• Just over half (50.6%) of children aged 8-15 received mental health services in the previous year.¹²
• African Americans and Hispanic Americans used mental health services at about one-half the rate of Caucasian Americans in the past year and Asian Americans at about one-third the rate.¹³
• Half of all chronic mental illness begins by age 14; three-quarters by age 24. Despite effective treatment, there are long delays—sometimes decades—between the first appearance of symptoms and when people get help.¹⁴

CONSEQUENCES OF LACK OF TREATMENT

• Serious mental illness costs America $193.2 billion in lost earnings per year.¹⁵
• Mood disorders, including major depression, dysthymic disorder and bipolar disorder, are the third most common cause of hospitalization in the U.S. for both youth and adults aged 18–44.¹⁶
• Individuals living with serious mental illness face an increased risk of having chronic medical conditions.¹⁷ Adults in the U.S. living with serious mental illness die on average 25 years earlier than others, largely due to treatable medical conditions.¹⁸
• Over one-third (37%) of students with a mental health condition age 14­–21 and older who are served by special education drop out—the highest dropout rate of any disability group.¹⁹
• Suicide is the 10^th leading cause of death in the U.S.,²⁰ the 3^rd leading cause of death for people aged 10–24²¹ and the 2^nd leading cause of death for people aged 15–24.²²
• More than 90% of children who die by suicide have a mental health condition.²³
• Each day an estimated 18-22 veterans die by suicide.

I hope that I will be able to continue to educate people on mental illness for the rest of May and beyond. I hope to share more of my personal story to give hope to those who a struggling with mental illness and show them that recovery is possible. Recovery is not easy but it is possible.

I also hope to discuss current laws in regards to mental health and pending bills that are being discussed in the House as well as the senate. One of which is Murphy’s Bill. All of what I hope to discuss is dependent on how busy life gets. Life being busy is partly why I haven’t  been able to blog the last month and half. I love blogging and sharing my recovery with others as well as educating others. I hope to blog again at some point this weekend with more educational material if not more of my personal recovery story.

Please do not forget to educate people on mental illness and make people aware that May is mental health awareness month. Peace Out!!

Contributor:  Gertie’s Journey

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