According to the National Institute of Mental Health, one in four adult Americans suffer from a diagnosable mental illness in a given year. What many people need to realize is that mental illness is treatable. Not getting diagnosed and treated causes more problems. You cannot will it away or ignore it. It will affect your life.
You cannot self-medicate with alcohol because that is just covering up one problem and creating a new one. It does not make you weak to admit that you need help. And, contrary to popular thought, taking an antidepressant alone is not going to "cure" what ails you. There are no magic pills!!
We have become a weak society in that we have a pill for everything. Sometimes we need medications but often, they are used as a crutch. We do not look for other ways to deal with whatever ails us and we think that medication is the answer. With many mental illnesses, medication is necessary but other treatments are supposed to go along with it.
Therapy, both individual, group or specialized, can help to overcome anxiety and depression. It is also essential for the treatment of ADHD, bipolar disorder, eating disorders and many other mental illnesses.
Coming to grips with what you cannot change is difficult. Once you accept that you have been diagnosed you need to learn how to cope with it. Educate yourself and educate others. Don't be afraid. There is support out there. It can be scary at times, frustrating and it is normal to feel all these emotions and more.
We need to take the shame away from mental illness. The stigma attached to mental illness comes from people's ignorance about the different disorders. We tend to fear what we do not understand. I guess it is just human nature.
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