World Mental Health Day

Today is World Mental Health Day. As someone who has been battling depression and anxiety and write a memoir on the experience, days like this are important to me and others battling mental issues. 

From National Alliance on Mental Illness:

Millions of Americans are affected by mental health conditions every year. Here are some facts about the prevalence and impact of mental illness.

Download the children and teen infographic.	Download the mental health facts infographic.	Download the multicultural mental health facts infographic.

Prevalence Of Mental Illness

• Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the U.S.—43.8 million, or 18.5%—experiences mental illness in a given year.1 
• Approximately 1 in 25 adults in the U.S.—9.8 million, or 4.0%—experiences a serious mental illness in a given year that substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities.2
• Approximately 1 in 5 youth aged 13–18 (21.4%) experiences a severe mental disorder at some point during their life. For children aged 8–15, the estimate is 13%.3
• 1.1% of adults in the U.S. live with schizophrenia.4
• 2.6% of adults in the U.S. live with bipolar disorder.5
• 6.9% of adults in the U.S.—16 million—had at least one major depressive episode in the past year.6
• 18.1% of adults in the U.S. experienced an anxiety disorder such as posttraumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and specific phobias.7
• Among the 20.2 million adults in the U.S. who experienced a substance use disorder, 50.5%—10.2 million adults—had a co-occurring mental illness.8

The them this year in "Mental Health in the Workplace." This link tells you "Everything you Need to Know About World Mental Health Day."

Here are some Youtube videos on promoting Mental Health in the Workplace:

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It is important to know how mental health affects the workplace. years ago, I would not have known to ask for day off for mental issues. One day years ago, I went to work feeling depressed for reasons I could not determine. No one else seemed to know this, however. This was years before beginning Prozac and finding out I have dysthymia, a form of depression many still do not know about. Many of my fellow clients at the mental health center had not heard about that one until I mentioned having it. Most of them have bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. I now want to see my memoir get published so that someone will have written on dysthymia, as so few people have written on this form of depression as of yet.