Mental Illness
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) describes mental illness as a condition that affects a person’s thinking, feeling or mood. Diagnoses include but are not limited to depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. NAMI reports that 1 in 5 adults experience a mental health condition annually. Also, 1 in 17 people live with a serious mental illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
Each person will be impacted differently and will have different experiences even if they have the same diagnosis. There are many different types of treatment approaches available. Treatment approaches include cognitive-behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, applied behavior analysis, medications, support groups, etc. Multiple variables are used to determine the best treatment approach such as diagnosis, type of support, onset, etc. While there are many different things that impact treatment, most agree that treatment as early as possible is important on the road to recovery.