When was the last time you sat around with your friends, perhaps sharing a pizza or at a study group meeting, and talked about depression? Or schizophrenia? Or any other mental illness? Chances are that not many of you have. And yet studies show that if you are sitting with four of your friends, one will have a mental illness at some point in their lives.
College can be a trying experience. It represents the first time many adolescents are living away from home, family and friends and experiencing new academic and relationship stressors.
Sometimes this stress can become overwhelming and leave students not knowing what to do or where to turn. Some start having thoughts and feelings never experienced before and as much as they would like to chalk it up to being in college, it is too much to handle alone. Still, they can't talk to anyone about it -- at least not without feeling ashamed. And as hard as suffering from a mental illness is, not talking about it makes it worse.
The silence surrounding mental illness masks the extent to which people are affected. Twenty percent of Americans suffer from a mental illness. In many cases the cause is biological, and in no case is it anyone's fault.
Yet despite these facts, there is still a stigma associated with being mentally ill. As such, many are afraid to admit that there is something wrong and get help.
Talking about mental health issues and working to remove the stigma can make having depression or an eating disorder as noncontroversial as coming down with the flu. Becoming educated about the signs and being able to recognize symptoms will make you more able to help yourself or a friend. Mental illness is highly treatable, and with the right kind of help many people go on to live healthy, successful lives.
The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill has launched a week long campaign to educate the public about mental illness. Bringing NAMI's message to Penn's campus with our very own Mental Health Awareness Week, which started Monday and runs through tomorrow. The week's activities have thus far included an academic panel discussion, a movie screening and lunchtime discussion sessions.
Our keynote speaker tonight is author Lizzie Simon, whose work was recently featured in Time magazine. Simon is a young adult living with mental illness. She embodies the key principles behind this week -- dedication to talking about mental illness, in particular her bipolar disorder, and communicating that is possible to have a mental illness and be a successful individual. This week's emphasis is on students actively helping other students become educated about mental illness.
Many student groups are coming together to bring this week to the Penn community. It is through this wide range of organizations that we hope to spread awareness about mental illness, its symptoms and treatment. As a group we stand to support those who want to know more about mental health. Our goal is to work toward eliminating the various stigmas surrounding mental health issues on this campus.
For detailed information about the events, visit the Open Minds web site at: http://dolphin.upenn.edu/~openmind/ or stop by our display area in the lobby of Houston Hall. We hope you have enjoyed the activities of Mental Health Awareness Week so far, and we look forward to seeing you tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the Terrace Room of Logan Hall. We encourage you to talk, learn and listen to all the messages this week has to offer.
Alison Malmon is a College senior from Potomac, Md., and president of Open Minds.
