May is Mental Health Awareness Month!

Do you know what a Serious Mental Illness (SMI) is? 

• A mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder (excluding developmental and substance use disorders);
• Diagnosable currently or within the past year;
• Of sufficient duration to meet diagnostic criteria specified within the 4th edition of theDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV);
• Resulting in serious functional impairment, which substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities.

One in four adults in the United States, approximately 61.5 MILLION people, experience mental illness in a given YEAR. Over 13 million Americans live with a serious mental illness: 2.4 million with schizophrenia, 6.1 million with bipolar disorder, 14.8 million people with major depression, and 18.1 with anxiety disorders. Of those, 9.2 million have co-occurring disorders (more than one diagnosis).

Pretty scary, right? You might even think - that is a lot of crazy people in this country! Don't call them crazy though, that isn't really nice. I know, because I am one of the 9.2 million with a co-occurring diagnosis. I have Major Depressive Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. I saw my first therapist as a pre-teen. I have been suicidal. I have been a walking wreck. But I am not now. I am well, in remission. Because of organizations like NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) and insurance (shout out for Kaiser Permanente Behavioral Healthcare) and family and friends who love me not despite of my illness but including my illness. Big difference there.

So why should you care about Mental Health Awareness Month? Well... being aware is a good thing. Being aware reduces stigma and being aware increases understanding. It also can save money: SMI costs $193.2 billion (with a B - $193,200,000,000.!!!) annually just in lost wages. I don't know about you but I could have so much fun with all those zeroes... even if you lopped a few off, I could still have fun. So if you don't care about mental Illness because it is the educated, empathetic thing to do, care about it because it saves a lot of moolah!

I got my statistics from NAMI's Facts and Numbers cheat sheet, read it, you will learn something, I promise. And smile at someone who is frustrating you or offer a literal or figurative hand to someone obviously struggling. Because even if someone is mentally ill (not crazy, don't forget to drop that word from your vocabulary), they are someone. Someone like me who laughs and cries and loves. Someone who works hard and appreciates naps and loves the sound of the ocean. Because I guarantee you that you know someone like me and that your kindness will be appreciated more than you could know.

Oh, one more important thing... Green is the color of Mental Health Awareness, which is why I am typing in it and wearing it, too!