When it comes to the subject of physical health, most people in 21st century America aren’t shy about admitting they aren’t in perfect health. We may not advertise when we have come down with the latest virus, but we don’t go to great lengths to hide when we are physically ill or suffering from some physical issue. If we have the common cold, we might try to avoid coughing a lot in public and cover our mouths to avoid spreading the virus. We might try to avoid making a show out of blowing our noses. But if someone says, “Are you feeling alright?” we’re likely to be very comfortable in responding, “I’ve got a bit of a cold.” Few people hesitate to say they are asking for time off work because they have a chemotherapy treatment. Of course, there are some exceptions. People with AIDS, for example, probably take some measures to make sure others don’t find out. But, in general, we all recognize that illness is part of the human condition.

When it comes to mental health, however, the majority of 21st century Americans are very guarded about letting others know they have a problem. In fact, many people are extremely hesitant to admit to themselves that they have a problem. Only a couple of decades ago, it was widely believed that admitting to having seen a therapist would be an obstacle to a candidacy for president of the US. There is a stigma with respect to mental health issues. Fortunately the stigma is fading and the walls preventing people from accessing help are breaking down.

When we think of mental illness, we think of cases of schizophrenia that inhibit someone from leading a normal life and dementia related illness that renders people incapable of caring for themselves. If we treated the word “illness” as meaning “something that isn’t functioning properly and including a wide range of levels of severity, treatability, and permanence,” I believe it would much more useful and helpful in discussing mental illness and mental health. Those terms probably have very different clinical definitions and I’m not purporting to understand the definitions like a trained psychologist or psychiatrist does. Nor am I advocating for or against their standard definitions. I’m speaking about the way we use and understand the terms in common parlance.

Just before I began writing, I spent a few minutes on the internet looking at a range of mental health issues. I was looking at the percentage of people dealing with mental health issues. While my research was not exhaustive by any means, and I didn’t investigate the quality of my sources with anywhere near the care I would for an academic paper, what I found was eye opening.

According to my very brief survey of the internet, one percent of Americans (well over 3 million) suffers from schizophrenia. Four percent are either sociopaths or psychopaths (the great majority of people dealing with these two issues aren’t serial killers and it isn’t obvious they have these disorders). From 0.5-1.0% are narcissists. 2% have avoidant personality disorder. Obsessive Compulsive Disorders afflict 2.3% of the population. The percentage of Americans who have a major depressive episode every year is 6.9%. That doesn’t include people dealing with depression who are treating it and successfully avoiding major depressive episodes. 1.4% of the population has autism. 11% of children have been diagnosed with ADHD. 15%-20% of the population has some sort of language based learning disability.

The disorders and disabilities in the previous paragraph are not exhaustive. For example, I didn't include PTSD. There is undoubtedly some overlap in terms of people who deal with more than one mental health issue at a time. And there are cases of misdiagnosis. Even acknowledging all of that and possible inaccuracies in the numbers I listed, I believe it’s safe to say that every day almost everybody either deals with a mental health issue personally or interacts with a lot of people who do.

I recently spoke with someone who works in the health care industry who made an interesting analogy. She said, “In this country, for the most part, people get good treatment when it comes to the neck down. But we’ve decapitated the head from the body when it comes to a lot of health insurance and health policy issues.” We need to reattach the head when it comes to insurance, policy and attitudes.

I was pleased to see Tanner Mangum come out and announce that he deals with mild depression issues and there should be no shame in admitting that and getting help. Former NFL MVP and Hall of Fame Quarterback Steve Young has suffered from anxiety related issues for most of his life. At times those issues were a significant obstacle for him to overcome. Jeffrey R. Holland spoke of having battled depression in his life. The mental health issues these men deal with have not stopped them from achieving high levels of success. Those issues haven’t stopped them from doing things that have brought the admiration of thousands and even millions of people.

If you have a mental health issue, it doesn’t make you a weak person anymore than if you have cancer or a cold. Depression can be particularly insidious in that sufferers often believe there is no hope. Sadly, some of these individuals take their own lives. Even those who don’t can find significant obstacles in their paths. If you’re fighting accepting you might have an issue, I encourage you to accept it and get help.