Mental Health Awareness Week

February 12th, 2012

As many of you might be aware of, it is Mental Health Awareness Week. A mental illness is defined as: “any disease of the mind, which causes alterations in thinking, mood or behaviour, associated with significant distress and impaired functioning over an extended period of time.” A mental illness can fall into the categories of: anxiety disorders (affecting 12.2% of the population), mood disorders (affecting 8.3% of the population), schizophrenia (which affects 1% of the population), personality disorders (which affects approximately 9.1%), and eating disorders (which affect about 3% of people, mainly women). The complex interaction of genetic, biological and environmental factors is what causes one to develop a mental illness. Mental illness affects one’s educational achievement, career opportunities, and the formation of personal relationships.  The effect of having a mental illness extends throughout an individual's life.
The fact of the matter is that 1 in 5 Canadians suffer from some form of mental illness. That is 20% of all the people residing in Canada. This is a substantial number that will only continue to increase as the years go by. Mental illness does not care about gender, race, socio-economic backgrounds, etc... It targets random people at random times. 
I find that mental illness is one of the most overlooked issues in Canadian society. We place all of our focus on issues such as taxes and politics; we end up ignoring the problem at hand. The total cost of mental illness in 1993 was approximately 7.3 billion dollars. However, recent studies have shown that the cost has only increased with each passing year, going from 7.3 to 14.4 billion dollars within the last 9 years. Furthermore, the stigma attached to mental illnesses presents a barrier, not in the diagnosis and treatment, but also to overall acceptance of mental illnesses in the community.
One of the reasons why mental illness is so ignored is because many people are embarrassed or ashamed to mention that they are suffering from a mental illness. This should not be the case. I find that just because you have a mental illness does not imply that you are “crazy”, “psychotic” or “mental”. It means that your brain chemistry is abnormal, which is the result of most mental illnesses. It does not make you any less of a person by having a mental illness. In fact, it actually makes you stronger in a way. However, because of the fact that there is discrimination and stigma associated with the concept of mental illness, it results in stereotyping, embarrassment and fear of judgement.  They force a person to remain quiet about their mental illnesses, which ultimately causes them to delay seeking help for their mental illness.
A 2008 poll found that only 50% of Canadians would tell a friend that a family member has a mental illness while 72% would disclose a cancer diagnosis. This proves that the topic of mental illness is sensitive amongst most people and produces debates.
Mental illness has also targeted teenagers and youth in particular. The onset of most mental illnesses occurs during adolescence and young adulthood. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15- to 24-year-olds, accounting for 24% of the total number of deaths.  In 2007, 508 youths committed suicide in Canada, with many more attempting it. This number is both frightening and unacceptable. No teenager, or person for that matter, should ever have to go through such a painful ordeal. This mainly reflects these statistics because of the fact that there are not many programs that support youth that have mental illnesses that teenagers do not have anyone to turn to. In addition, studies have shown that more than 90 per cent of people, including youth who try to take their life have a pre-existing mental health disorder such as depression, schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder. Other factors which contribute to suicide and mental health disorders are issues with home/social/school life, trauma and substance abuse problems.
In the two cases of Daron Richardson and Jamie Hubley, it reflects two teenagers who took their own lives as a result of bullying. A force that has played a big role in shaping today’s youth into who they are now. It affects a child so deeply that it affects their sense of self and how they are perceived in the eyes of society most of the time for the worst.
Daron Richardson (daughter of former NHL hockey player and Ottawa Senators assistant coach Luke Richardson) was a 14 year old girl who was perceived as a normal teenager. She was smart, popular and a talented artist. However no one knew that behind all of that, there was a girl that was so scarred from being bullied that it had taken over her life. As a result in November of 2010, Daron took her own life. 
Another teenager who went through a similar experience was a boy named Jamie Hubley. He also took his own life just months ago. The only difference between the two was that unlike Daron, Jamie was being bullied on account of the fact that he was gay. Every day he struggled with depression and the pain of being bullied. People at school tormented him day after day, until on October 14, 2011, Jamie committed suicide. 
These kids were not any much younger than me. It just scares me that anyone can have this happen at any time, without any sort of support system to help them get through the ordeal. Now, because of this rapid increase of suicides throughout the past five years, there have been more programs developed such as Youth Net and The Zone for teenagers in crisis.
Mental Health Awareness has always been an issue very close to my heart, as I myself do suffer from depression, as well as Social Anxiety Disorder, OCD and mild Selective Mutism.
 I know how hard it is to live with mental illness. Every day is a struggle, a battle, a fight. Mental illness is so powerful, that it can take over your life in an instant. You feel so alone and scared that you don’t know who or where to turn to.  As a matter of fact, I have on multiple occasions had thoughts of suicide and self-harm. I had every reason to at the time; however the only thing that stopped me from doing so was the fact that I had people around me to support me. This included my family and close friends. I now look back and think if I had committed suicide, how it would affect the people around me, even those who I did not know very well. I then considered what I would be missing out on: my High School graduation, University, having a family of my own. All of these things were the reasons why I wanted to keep living, so why did I even think that suicide would rid me of all my problems. It would only cause them. 
In addition to this, in the summer of 2011, one of my (and my mother’s) dear friend’s committed suicide. He was only 40 years old. We worked together in an animal rescue deployment. We worked with him for approximately 3 months helping rescue animals and rehabilitating them. My mother in particular worked with him the most. However, one day we received a horrifying call informing us that he had taken his life. At that moment it felt as though my life had just stopped in its tracks. It is one of the worst feelings you could ever feel. It fills you with feelings of shame, guilt, anger and sadness. You feel guilty that you were unaware of what was happening. You feel shame that you couldn’t help them when they needed it. You feel anger as you think “Why did you do this to us? Why did you leave us?” Finally, the sadness and ever longing sorrow lingers in your soul for months, even years after the fact. This is a feeling that no one could ever get over or recover from. 
Also, people who I knew directly had also had people they knew recently commit suicide.  It`s just so hard to believe that someone could be so depressed that they would be serious enough to take their own life. This just proves how powerful the forces of mental illnesses, in conjunction with external factors such as bullying and traumatizing social experiences can really be.
One benefit about this is that most mental illnesses are treatable. Forms of treatment include medications such as anti-depressants, behavioural therapy and hospitalization (in severe cases). However, not all treatment works for everyone. This is why visiting a family physician or nearest mental health clinic is necessary before undergoing any treatment. 

And remember this, if you are in a crisis and feel like everything is working against you. You are not alone. There are people who are there for you, even if you do not think so. You are stronger than you’ll ever know.  

Here are some resources that you can turn to for help (mainly if you are in the Ottawa/Quebec area):

• Kids' Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868
• Youth Services Bureau's 24/7 Crisis Line (Eastern Ontario): 1-877-377-7775 Email: crisis@ysb.on.ca
• Ottawa Crisis Line: 1-866-996-0991
• Quebec Crisis Centre: 1-866-277-3553
• SuicidePrevention.ca
• Ottawa Distress Line: 613-238-3311
• Kids Help Phone 1-800-668-6868
• Child, Youth and Family Crisis Line for Eastern Ontario 1-877-377-7775
• Eastern Ottawa Resource Centre: 613-741-6025
• Mental Health Crisis Line (for ages 16 and up) 613-722-6914
• Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa 613-260-2360
• http://www.doitfordaron.com/mental-health-resources
• http://www.ontario.cmha.ca/family_resources.asp?cID=4808 



*Statistics and Definitions from the Canadian Mental Health Association