Everyminute.org

I have a mental illness. Actually one out of every four Americans over 18 will suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.⁽¹⁾ My seasonal affective disorder is a mental illness that usually occurs in the winter when the daylight hours are shorter. My lack of exposure to daylight produces a biological effect resulting in depressive symptoms. Mental illnesses are complex brain disorders that are the result of a biological predisposition interacting with environmental factors. I would not be ashamed if I was genetically predisposed to cancer, so there is no reason for me to be ashamed of a mental disorder. Mental illness is not a character flaw.

But, because of the stigma involved with mental health, the despair of 57 million Americans⁽¹⁾ is only a whispered, timid murmur hidden behind closed doors. Therefore sufferers are underrepresented and unacknowledged resulting in an imbalance in our numbers compared to public attention and federal support. A strong voice needs to emerge, unify, and represent the quiet multitude organizing them into a force for social justice and a movement of change. The voice will demand to see the funding for mental illness prevention and treatment properly proportionate to the people it affects.

The lack of national priority for mental health is evident in our economy. Our mental disorders are estimated to cost America $150 billion every year⁽³⁾ Yet, Washington only plans to invest $1.4 billion in research in 2009.⁽²⁾ Not only is it a matter of improving quality of life and saving lives, it is a socioeconomic matter of saving dollars and improving society. As if investing to save lives isn't logical enough, it financially makes sense to address the problem rather than the symptoms.

Join us and declare your concern. Get your friends and family to join us. According to the Surgeon General, "Few families in the United States are untouched by mental illness⁽⁴⁾," but there is hope. It is time we begin envisioning a future when everyone with a mental illness will recover. Together millions of us can declare the immediate need for access to health care and the urgent necessity of increased research to cure and prevent mental illnesses bringing about a transformation in our mental health care system and a positive shift in national priority.

Jace Freeman
Communications Director