Dealing With Mental Illness

By Maceo Keeling –

Mental illness very often occurs without being talked about in our community.

Instead we make jokes about yellow buses and folks who we think are “weird” or “a little off.”

How many times have we heard a comment like, “I don’t know what’s wrong with that boy, all he does is sleep!” Or perhaps you’ve heard, “Don’t call her, all she does is eat and lay up in that house.” You may even know someone who is always complaining or tends to be irritable and experience mood swings.

There could be many explanations for these behaviors. Stress from life changes, or going through a rough patch in life, can cause these behaviors. There might also be a family history of mental illness, low self-esteem, military-onset PTSD, or another traumatic life experience. Depression, drug and/or alcohol abuse, and physical abuse can contribute to many of the behaviors mentioned above.

It is a little-known fact that 7% of Americans experience depression during a year. That number means as many as 22 million people experience depression during the course of any year. The most unfortunate thing about these statistics is that the illness, going undiagnosed and untreated, remains unresolved.

Mental illness can often progress in the same manner as any other kind of illness. If diagnosed early they can be managed and lead to successful outcomes for the individuals and their communities and families; if left undiagnosed, they simply worsen.

Why do we allow ourselves to suffer in silence?

Many of us have a deep fear of the dentist’s chair, but if we get a toothache we blast through our fear and go. We don’t harbor shame because we have a cavity; in fact we let everybody know how bad it feels. If we presented with appendicitis or a broken bone, we’d tear the hinges off the doctor’s office door or the emergency room to get treated immediately. We are not embarrassed, shamed or ridiculed for our specific ailment.

Not so with mental illness.

I won’t embarrass myself with the details of my ignorance about the topic. I will, however, share what I have learned from NAMI.

This is simply abuse. A person with a mental illness, diagnosed or undiagnosed, is still a person. We don’t malign a person who has a toothache and says they just won’t brush their teeth. We don’t suggest that people are lazy, weak, or lack character because they take a day off from work to get medicine for a migraine.

Life happens, and sometimes life really gives us a real licking in the process. Things get so challenging that we sometimes throw up our hand in frustration. We face trials and tribulations that can leave us asking if life is worth living at all.

But we do have choices. We must choose to help each other or bury each other. We can choose to care for each other of choose the casket.

We have incredible resources available to us in the organization known as the National Alliance on Mental Illness. They offer services to anyone with a mental illness and/or addiction. Anyone with post-traumatic stress syndrome, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, addiction(s), eating disorders, depression, anxiety—you or a friend or family member—or someone who just needs someone to talk to about those problems, can get help from NAMI: they will understand what you are going through.

Even Asheville Police are trained for unique situations where someone may need help instead of a hassle. The Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) trained officers work closely the Comprehensive Care Center and NAMI to bring compassion to the family of people who have mental illness and addiction. When you have someone in crisis and need police intervention, be sure to ask for a CIT-trained officer.

For more information, contact the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Western Carolina. The center is located at 356 Biltmore Ave. The telephone number is (828) 505-7353

Make the Call!

We don’t have to be great to get started, but we do have to get started to become great!

The Conscious Call radio program airs every Monday at 11:30 a.m. on WRES-FM 100.7. In a collaboration with the radio program, the Urban News will help keep readers informed about events, programs, news, and the progress of The Conscious Call. The opinions and statements made in this column are solely the opinions of the author and not necessarily those of the Urban News.