I’m a Twitter freak. Every day I keep track of what is trending in Twitter like what are my favorite brands, my commute and celebrities gossip and what’s happening in news. But today I got shocked to see #livingwithmentalillness #trending in USA. The National Alliance Mental Illness Twitter account gives so much information on mental illness and keeps people aware of how to deal with them too.
But this is really shocking to see that in this tech friendly world how so many people are going through this mental illness and we still have to carve the best way out. Just imagine living with mental illness how can you have a complete life?
How many people in USA have a mental illness?
As per reports , every year 42.5 million adult Americans which is almost 18 percent of adult population in United States suffer from mental illness such as depression, bipolar depression and many such terms. You may also say that nearly 1 out of 5 Americans suffer from mental illness every year. Around 450 million people suffer from such mental disorders which is the leading of all ill-health and disability worldwide.
How much will it cost to get rid of mental illness?
America loses $193.2 billion each year to get rid of this mental illness. Most youths and adults of age 18-45 are commonly hospitalized due to major depression, dysthmic disorder and bipolar depression which sometimes is a brutal act too.
National Institute of Mental Health says around 45 percent of mental illness goes untreated, estimating 45 percent of adults suffering from schizophrenia and 51 percent from bipolar disorder.
The report from World Health organization says , about 350 million people in this world suffer from depression which leading to disability.
Among roughly 40 million people, 15 million suffer from social anxiety disorder and 14.8 million from major depressive disorder and 7.7 million from post traumatic stress disorder.
According to a study of 14 countries, United States is found to be the country in mental illness of highest rate.
What stigma is associated with mental illness?
Negative attitude and beliefs towards people suffering from mental illness or someone making a remark to this category of people is the major stigma that can lead to discrimination and cause more hazards to people.
Proper treatment is required for people suffering from mental illness especially schizophrenia. If left untreated, then a lot of physical, emotional and behavioural problems can come up and affect the personal life of the person.
Here are some tips to reduce the mental illness stigma–
- Educate yourself properly and get aware of all the facts about mental problems.
- Having grown up with prejudice and judgemental thinking we need to take care about our attitude and behaviour.
- Be very careful about the words you choose while speaking.
- Keep focus on the positive minded people and educate others.
- Support people and do not allow the barrier of discrimination.
Having said this I would like to also mention that Japan is the least depressed country with less than 2.5 percent depression.
I just don’t end here- there is a lot more coming up for you to know how you can help stop the stigma related to mental illness?
