While movies and other media can shape our views of mental illness, they're certainly not the whole story. And that's an issue close to the heart of former First Lady Rosalynn Carter. If there is a mentally ill person depicted on television and the family's watching, they could talk about that issue, is this an accurate portrayal of mentally ill people. I think you should tell the child that this person is sick and that they can be treated and be cured and that we shouldn't have any prejudice against them because of it. And that we shouldn't discriminate against people.
All people are alike and some have one kind of problem, some have another kind of problem.
Those kinds of things are really sad. One woman wrote me and said that she had had an episode of depression and that she had worked in this company and with these people for years. And she said, now when I walk down the hall since I'm back to work and fine and my depression is controlled, and I walk down the hall and if somebody sees me coming, they turn and go the other way. Just in the last decade, we've learned so much about the brain that now mental illnesses can be diagnosed. They can be treated and the overwhelming majority of people with mental illness can live normal lives-live at home, work, go to school.