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 in 5 adults, 43.8 million people, experience mental illness in a given year
- 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%!
- 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
Yes I agree.
Thank you so much Betty!
This article is very well written and informative. There does need to be more done to help those of us with mental health issues, I myself have severe depression and anxiety related to my diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis (which also needs more funding) We deserve the same support, we can’t help how our brains function, having a mental illness does not make us less so why should our cause get less funding? Less attention? If there was more awareness there wouldn’t be such a stigma attached to the mental health community!! I’m so sorry for the loss of your son, my 15 year old daughters best friend just recently lost his battle with depression, he was bullied at school in a school system that protects the bully and shames the victim…
I am so terribly sorry for your and your daughter’s loss. This has to be so difficult for her. Has the school offered any type of counseling? Why can’t people see how bullying impacts our kids. I see so many schools that list a 0 tolerance policy, but it still seems to happen. That breaks my heart. Thank you for sharing your struggle. I am so sorry for what you are dealing with.
Denise – you are so very right about this! I know three people, absolutely wonderful people, who have taken their own lives due to PTSD, depression and mental illness. Two of them used the very psychiatric pills that were meant to treat them to end their lives. We cannot sit back and allow the stigma of mental illness to keep people from getting the proper help. It needs to be supported. It needs to be de-stigmatized. It needs to be funded. And it needs to be progressive. I am with you in this fight!
Thank you Melanie. I am so sorry for your loss. I agree wholeheartedly; we must remove the stigma and we absolutely need to provide people with the proper care. Breast cancer and prostate cancer rates have decreased due to funding. I believe we can do the same for mental health, the research just needs to be funded.
Great idea! Think Blue🎈💙 I completely agree with a need for marketing. I’ve thought the same thing about the pink campaign and how we need something similar for mental health as well. We need to open up, drop the stigma and realize that there are very few that HAVEN’T been touched by depression in some way during their lifetime. It’s an illness, like any other, and we need to start helping it instead of hiding it. God bless you and your hard work, Denise😘💙🎈