Although many people know about mental illnesses many don't know much about the topic or where they stand with it. I think mental illness is something more people should care about. We should care about it because it can be harmful to those with it and those without it. One in five Americans and one in three Canadians has depression but possibly do not know, say Substance Abuse and Mental Illness Services Administration. Women are more likely to be depressed than men. “23 percent of women verses 16.9 percent of men” Conley. The rate of Mental Illness is more than twice as likely in young adults 18 to 25 than people older than 50.


A lot of people don’t know a lot about depression, anxiety, or schizophrenia. According to the article 10 little known facts about depression 65 percent of the time depression can be considered anxiety; nearly one-half of those diagnosed with depression are also diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Depression can make you selfish, persistently irritable, have chronic pain, distort your thinking and your mind can play tricks on you. Alcohol is a depressant, exercise is the easiest and cheapest cure for depression, and being depressed is something people don't choose. “Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older (18% of U.S. population). Anxiety disorders are treatable; about only one third of those suffering get treatment though. People with an anxiety disorder are three to five times more likely to go to the doctor and six times more likely to be hospitalized for psychiatric disorders than people that do not suffer from anxiety. Anxiety disorders develop from a complex set of risk factors, including genetics, brain chemistry, personality, and life events.” ADAA. “It is estimated that more than 2.7 million Americans now have schizophrenia. One of every hundred Americans will become a victim to schizophrenia. Three-quarters of persons with schizophrenia develop the illness between 16 and 25 years of age. It is unusual to get it before the age of 14 and after the age of 30. The most familiar symptoms of schizophrenia are hallucinations and delusions. Three-quarters of all persons with schizophrenia have these symptoms, although not all people who have these symptoms suffer from schizophrenia. The most common form of hallucinations is hearing things such as “voices”. Other forms of hallucinations include visions, touch, smell or taste. Sometimes persons with schizophrenia have “delusions of grandeur” which they take as persons, such as Jesus; they think they have been given an important task or message. Studies have indicated that 25 percent of those with schizophrenia recover completely, 50 percent are improved over a ten-year period, and 25 percent do not improve. The most effective treatments to date for schizophrenia are antipsychotic medications; studies indicate that these drugs are effective for 70 percent of persons with schizophrenia.” Wakefield, Margery.


It can be harmful to those with Mental Illnesses and those without it. People with depression people feel like they don’t belong in the world and are not worth living it. They can also have really strong emotions and strongly feel; which can lead to positive or negative actions. The most common thing people with schizophrenia have is they can hear and see things. They can sometimes hear people telling them to do things that are not right and see people leading them towards the wrong direction. “Anxiety is fear, and though everyone feels fear, people with anxiety experience it more frequently. It can cause short high bursts of stress” Is anxiety harmful. What they do with the stress can affect us. People who have these certain mental illnesses get affected as well. That’s how it can be harmful to us. When people bully others with Mental Illnesses that can affect what they do and how they feel. They feel differently and think differently sometimes. It’s not right to bully them for something they can’t help. So our actions lead to theirs; it all starts with us.

We can start acting as a school by making people more aware of Mental Illnesses. We can celebrate on Sunday October 6 until Saturday October 12; Mental Illness awareness week. Working as a school will help us to work as individuals on how we can help with this issue. If we work with kids in school with Mental Illnesses it will also help us to understand them just a little. That will help a lot because it gives us the opportunity to work with them and see that we are all different but not in a bad way. A lot of people make fun of those with Mental Illnesses of all ages. That is wrong, if those people have to work with them, they need to get along with them. They will then understand that there is nothing wrong with persons with mental illness. If we make those with Mental Illnesses feel welcomed, they can feel less stressed. That can stop a lot of future events as well. Like the event of “Adam Lanza”, he was bullied and appeared to be suffering from a mental illness. If we act as a school it can spread to the community and then society. “Be the difference you want to see in the world.” Mahatma Gandhi. That’s exactly what we need to do.


Although many people know about Mental Illnesses they don’t know much about the topic or where they stand with it. After reading this we can only hope that they can say their position on the topic with the given information. In hopes that with this information we can now understand a little of the three Mental Illnesses that were discussed, people can choose to care and make a difference. The gravity of Mental Illness is very important and not to be taken lightly. People should care, we should care. There are still many things that we don’t know about this topic. It has either not been discovered or it was not gone into depth within this article.