• It is estimated that as many as 2.8 million Americans suffer from severe mental illness.



• One in every five Americans is affected by mental illness.



• Mental illness fills more hospital beds than cancer, lung and heart disease combined.  The #1 reason for hospital admissions nationwide is a psychiatric disorder.



• Recent research indicates severe mental illness such as schizophrenia and manic depression (bipolar disorder) are biochemical caused brain diseases.



• Serious mental illness affects every aspect of an individual’s life.  It disrupts a person’s ability to think, feel and relate to others or their environment.



• People with mental illness are at higher risk for homelessness.  They encounter more barriers to employment and tend to be in poorer physical health.  Extreme poverty and social isolation are very common complications.



• While there are no known cures, treatments are available which can substantially reduce the symptoms of this illness and enable those affected by them to meet the challenges of daily living.



• People who do not understand mental illness often fear, avoid, or mock those who are affected.  The resulting alienation, isolation and added depression become secondary symptoms with which the individual must cope.



• People who have psychiatric disabilities are “normal” people suffering from illnesses of the brain—illnesses that are treatable.



• Some well-known people who suffered from severe mental illness are Abraham Lincoln, Beethoven, Thelonious Monk, Van Gogh, Sir Isaac Newton, Winston Churchill, and Michelangelo.

Source: Adapted from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, Arlington, VA.

Click here for more information about mental illness:  info@guildincorporated.org