In 1972 Neil Diamond sang it in Song Sung Blue: “me and you are subject to the blues now and then” … four and a half decades later it is time to bring depression out of the shadows, “We simply got no choice”

I recently saw a stat put out by AFSP.org (America Foundation for Suicide Prevention) that stated mental health only receives about 36 million dollars a year in funding, whereas HIV/Aids receives 2.9 billion in funding. I said to myself, this can’t be right! So, I looked again, sure enough it was accurate, and to make matters worse, the funding is actually down. How in the world can funds be down for mental health issues, when suicide rates are on the rise? It defies logic. According to NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness):

  1. 1 in 5 adults, 43.8 million people, experience mental illness in a given year
  2. Approximately 1 in 5 youth aged 13-18, 21.4%, experiences a severe mental disorder at some point in their life. For 8-15 year olds, the estimate is 13%!
  3. Of the 20.2 million adults in the U.S. suffering from addiction, 10.2 million adults had a co-occurring mental illness. That is over 50%![1]

These numbers are staggering, and chances are you know someone or are yourself suffering with mental illness. So how in the world can funding be down when we have just scratched the surface of mental disorder stats? I came to a couple of conclusions:

  • Mental illness is a depressing subject. With all the negativity in the world, wouldn’t you rather think of puppies and babies? I know I would. People suffering don’t have that choice. They don’t have the ability to turn the channel, or check out another news feed to feel better. They are sick.
  • They are scared. To talk about mental illness makes it real. It means that something is really wrong, and it isn’t something you can just snap out.

So how do we change that? I started thinking about the color pink. Just by saying that color I am sure many of you thought of breast cancer awareness. Cancer is scary, and it takes many of our loved ones. About 1 in 5 women will develop invasive breast cancer and it is expected that 255,180 new cases will be diagnosed in 2017. These are terrifying numbers. Why can we talk about breast cancer and not depression? One word, Marketing! Susan G. Komen and other breast cancer organizations launched a terrific advertising campaign. It connected people with the pain breast cancer inflicts. They partnered with the NFL, NBA, NHL, and other major sports leagues, to help breast cancer awareness become a household word. They made it about your daughter, your mother, your sister, your best friend: and it worked. Susan G . Komen grossed approximately 420 million back in 2011, and it is estimated that 6 billion dollars is raised every year for breast cancer research.[2] Not all of those funds make it to the research lab, but 6 billion as opposed to 36 million is a monumental difference. If we break it down by person, only $0.82 is being spent on individuals with mental illness.

More people will be afflicted by mental health disorders than breast cancer, yet mental health receives very little in funding. You see, mental illness doesn’t discriminate, it is your son, daughter, mother, father, sister, brother, significant other, friend. Isn’t it time we changed that? Isn’t it time we said enough is enough? Isn’t it time we protected our kids, and fought for a cure for mental disorders? My son lost his battle with depression, I don’t want your kids, or your loved ones losing their battle. We can change this. Let’s think pink, we want to continue to battle breast cancer, but why don’t we think blue as well, and turn this around!

 

[1] www.nami.org, Mental Health by the Numbers

[2] www.marieclaire.com, The Big Business of Breast Cancer