There is a stigma growing in this country. There is a large amount of negativity associated with mental disorders. According to the National Institute for Mental Health, one of every four people has a mental illness, whether it has been diagnosed or not.
Depression is a mental illness and not a state of being. One would no more say “I am cancer” or “I am diabetes,” though people insist on saying “I am depressed.” Though I may be depressed at times, I am not depression. I do however have depression. It is important to understand the distinction.
One cannot be a disease, though one can have many. To illustrate how depression works, a river can be peaceful and calming, though, over time, can carve very large canyons out of solid rock.
According to NAMI, many famous people had a mental disorder. Abraham Lincoln, Virginia Woolf, Lionel Aldridge, Ludwig van Beethoven, Leo Tolstoy, John Keats, Vincent Van Gogh, Isaac Newton and Ernest Hemingway all had one. Where would the world be without those people?
The truth is that many people with mental illness can function and lead productive lives. The stigma has to end.
Christopher Anderson, Lewiston
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