October 1st through the 7th is marked as Mental Illness Awareness Week. Mental illnesses include ADHD, Anxiety Disorders, Autism, Bipolar Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Depression, Eating Disorders, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, PTSD, Schizophrenia and many others.
The National Alliance of Mental Illness provides statistics behind mental illness and the numbers are truly shocking. Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the U.S.—43.8 million—experiences mental illness in a given year.
Many of these adults turn to medication to curb the effects of the symptoms associated with carious mental illnesses. Among the 20.2 million adults in the U.S. who experienced a substance use disorder, 50.5{99cd714f394079a7f0ed2eb1518dd31342ff3ceb5b6c267c3ad8acd5b5a7d66b}—10.2 million adults—had a co-occurring mental illness.
Although the entire month of May is dedicated to Mental Illness Awareness, some things can be exceptionally difficult during the fall and winter months. There is always help to those that may need it through a phone call, text or email with the contact information below.
To learn more about mental illnesses, the signs, ways to get involved or donate visit: www.nami.org