Which is the “Normal” group?
55% of people in the USA are projected to be diagnosed with any mental illness or disorder at some point in their lifetime
Yet, of those diagnosed, few receive care.
% receiving care among those with any mental illness, identifying as:
44.8%Receive Care Overall
49.7% Women
36.8% Men
32.9% Black
23.3% Asian
33.9% Hispanic or Latino
50.3% White
43% 2 or more
This World Mental Health studyfound America in first place, and while it’s not one to celebrate, much of our global family can relate:
% projected to be diagnosed with any mental illness or disorder at some point in their life, among countries included in study
55.3% - USA
55.2% - Columbia
48.9% - Ukraine
48.6% - New Zealand
47.5% - South Africa
47.2% - France
42.9% - The Netherlands
37.1% - Belgium
33% - Germany
32.9% - Lebanon
29.7% - Israel
29% - Spain
26% - Italy
24.4% - Japan
Which is the “Normal” group?
Thinking back to Day 2, we know that for stigma to exist (self or public), there is 1 - stereotype, 2 - prejudice, and 3 - discrimination. But it’s clearly very normal for us or someone close to us to experience any mental illness or disorder. In fact, it’s a minority of people in the USA who are projected to never receive a diagnosis of any mental illness or disorder. So what gives?
The World Health Organization constitution says: "Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
That’s all it is! And difficulties are normal.
We have no stigma when brushing our teeth or eating a balanced mix of food or going for a walk. We don’t all wait until we have cavities or high blood pressure or muscle loss to take care of our health, and more of us should take care of our mental health proactively too!
What Can I Do Now?
1 - Reflect on how you think about mental health, is it something “other” or a normal part of your health routine?
2 - Access to care is a major barrier to receiving care (as on the first slide, many more people need it!). State and Federal Law is very important, and advocacy is critical. Learn how you can help and with what bills from NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness)
https://namimass.org/current-policy-priorities/
https://www.nami.org/Advocacy
1 - “Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of mental disorders in the World Health Organization's World Mental Health Survey Initiative.” Ronald C Kessler, World psychiatry: official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) vol. 6,3 (2007): 168-76.
2 - “Mental Illness Statistics, Mental Health Services — SMI” National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, January 2021
3 - “Mental health: strengthening our response” World Health Organization, Fact Sheets, 30 March 2018
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