Many people think depression is no more than the blues, instead of a serious clinical disorder. Despite the mountains of research, these and other misconceptions about mental illness are slow to die, mental health professionals say. And, they say, those misconceptions contribute to neglect of a major public health problem. The human costs are not recorded only in dollars, but also in deaths. Between 15 and 20 percent of people with major depression commit suicide, and victims of other mental disorders are at a high risk for suicide as well.
Suicide often carries stigma similar to that of mental illness itself.
Such stigma stems from a bias in society against the belief that mental illness are really manifestations of physical problems, said Dr. Kenneth Altshuler, chairman of the psychiatry department at UT Southwestern. We have a tremendous investment in the power of our minds. Wherever you go in the country or the world, you see people who have these ideas - that I can control it with my mind. But people with mental illness say willpower simply doesn't work. You do not.