May is Mental Health Awareness Month, an important opportunity to recognize the needs of those with mental health issues and the ways in which those who struggle with them, both affected individuals and loved ones, can access help. Unfortunately, the mental health-related information and advice that circulates in May is often overwhelmingly focused on short-term mental health conditions like anxiety and depression, issues that today are highly treatable and far less stigmatized than they were even a few years ago.

However, there is a small subset of those experiencing mental health issues that are often overlooked, even during Mental Health Awareness Month. This includes the 10 million adults in the US living with serious mental illness, meaning a mental, behavioral or emotional disorder resulting in serious functional impairment, which substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities. Serious mental health diagnoses include schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, acute anxiety and related illnesses.

As a mental health attorney who counsels families of loved ones with serious mental health issues, I always seek to advocate for these individuals, whose needs and realities too often go unseen and/or are misunderstood. With that in mind, and in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, I’m sharing the following 10 often-overlooked realities of those struggling with serious mental illness.

These include:

While the complexities inherent in serious mental health illnesses—and the fear often surrounding them—make the conditions incredibly challenging to discuss, silence does a tremendous disservice to those who are contending with these conditions day in and day out. This May, let’s make sure our conversations include those with these hard-to-discuss, challenging issues so that they, and their families, know they aren’t alone.

QOSHE - 10 Realities for Those Living With Serious Mental Illness - Carolyn Reinach Wolf
menu_open
Columnists Actual . Favourites . Archive
We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close
Aa Aa Aa
- A +

10 Realities for Those Living With Serious Mental Illness

24 0
30.04.2024

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, an important opportunity to recognize the needs of those with mental health issues and the ways in which those who struggle with them, both affected individuals and loved ones, can access help. Unfortunately, the mental health-related information and advice that circulates in May is often overwhelmingly focused on short-term mental health conditions like anxiety and depression, issues that today are highly treatable and........

© Psychology Today


Get it on Google Play