The Many Colored Beast

 

 “I embrace the many colored beast. I grow weary of the torment, can there be no peace? And I find myself just wishing that my life would simply cease.”  4+20, Stephen Stills

A respected colleague and co-worker recently taught me something important: the first week of October is Mental Illness Awareness Week, sponsored by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, NAMI. Mental illness has had a big and direct impact on my own tribe and circle, so the news piqued my interest enough to send me off into the electronic ether in search of current news articles about the week-long observance. I found none on Google... bupkis. So, I learned a second important thing this week: not only does mental illness viciously kill, or nearly kill, scores of people; it somehow does so with impunity by flying under the radar of the ubiquitous info-sphere.

Consider the following list of facts provided from a general information page found on the National Alliance on Mental Illness, NAMI, web-site:

• Serious mental illness costs America $193.2 billion in lost earnings per year.

• Mood disorders such as depression are the third most common cause of hospitalization in the U.S. for both youth and adults ages.

• Individuals living with serious mental illness face an increased risk of having chronic medical conditions.

• Adults living with serious mental illness die on average 25 years earlier than other Americans, largely due to treatable medical conditions.

• Over 50 percent of students with a mental health condition age 14 and older, who are served by special education, drop out; the highest dropout rate of any disability group.

• Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the U.S. (more common than homicide) and the third leading cause of death for ages 15 to 24 years.

• More than 90 percent of those who die by suicide had one or more mental disorders.

• Although military members comprise less than 1 percent of the U.S. population veterans represent 20 percent of suicides nationally. Each day, about 22 veterans die from suicide.

“Mental Illness: Facts and Numbers,” National Alliance on Mental Illness, NAMI, nami.org

It’s pretty clear that prevalence, morbidity, and mortality make mental illness a formidable health problem of the first rank, easily worthy of focused attention and research funding in the learned circles of professional healthcare. It’s not. A leading killer of teens and young adults, and the killer of twenty two military veterans every day right here in America, is surely worthy of regular mention above the crease, and on the nightly news. It isn’t. The lack of proper levels of news coverage and of professional attention to the dilemma of mental disorders speaks volumes about the influence of stigma attached to this important group of diseases.

Stigma is defined as a symbol of disgrace or infamy as in; “And the Lord set a stigma upon Cain.” Stigma is a recognized barrier to the effective treatment and study of many serious health conditions: AIDS, mental illness, leprosy, tuberculosis, venereal diseases, and, more recently, human papillomavirus... just to name a few. Consider that NAMI has a special practice subgroup called Stigmabusters that dedicates its entire existence to efforts in combating the role that stigma plays in blocking the effective treatment of mental illness. Matthew Quick, the young author of the novel turned movie, The Silver Linings Playbook, observes; “The problem with the stigma around mental health is really about the stories that we tell ourselves as a society. What is normal? That's just a story that we tell ourselves.”

A recent scholarly report examines this problem of stigma:

“The prejudice and discrimination of mental illness is as disabling as the illness itself. It undermines people attaining their personal goals and dissuades them from pursuing effective treatments,” says psychological scientist Patrick W. Corrigan of the Illinois Institute of Technology, lead author on the report. “One does not work long on mental health issues before recognizing the additional hardships caused by stigma,” write Former U.S. First Lady Rosalynn Carter, Rebecca Palpant Shimkets, and Thomas H. Bornemann of the Carter Center Mental Health Program in a commentary that accompanies the report. “These problems continue today,” they add, “in the form of poor funding for research and services compared to other illnesses; structural forms of discrimination; and widespread, inaccurate, and sensational media depictions that link mental illness with violence.”

“The Impact of Mental Illness Stigma on Seeking and Participating in Mental Health Care,” Patrick W. Corrigan, Benjamin G. Druss, Deborah A. Perlick, October 2014 vol. 15 no. 2 37-70

Popular folklore and religious literature have both routinely demonized mental illness; mythologizing what we poorly understand, and dictating “the story we tell ourselves.” The dangers of embracing the baser demons of our own human nature, (those many colored beasts), include the revelations; pestilence, famine, and ignorance. Stigma is born of the latter. By the grace of ignorance what we don’t know can: hurt us, allow us to hurt ourselves, and allow us to stand idly by while others get hurt. Our best talisman as caregivers against the effects of these lesser demons is sculpted from the many new things we learn and apply. Such is the case with an improved general knowledge of mental illness. This underscores the importance of yearly observances like Mental Illness Awareness Week, and of the recognition of noble groups like Stigmabusters. Verily, better the devil you know, than the devil you don't.

References:

“Mental Illness: Facts and Numbers,” National Alliance on Mental Illness, NAMI, nami.org

“The Impact of Mental Illness Stigma on Seeking and Participating in Mental Health Care,” Patrick W. Corrigan, Benjamin G. Druss, Deborah A. Perlick, October 2014 vol. 15 no. 2 37-70

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