We have good treatments for the major psychiatric illnesses. The monthly noontime brown-bag lunch presentations are held at the Women in Military Service to America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery here. Her father was an Air Force scientist and pilot who struggled with manic-depression. At that time, had he sought treatment, there is no question he would have been out of the service. Mental illness is of particular concern to the military because the military population is statistically younger than the general population.
Mental illness is a disease of youth.
Major psychiatric illnesses tend to kick in around the time of puberty and escalate after that. The average age of bipolar disorder to kick in is 17 or 18. Depression is at least twice as common in women as in men, she noted, but men and women are equally likely to suffer from bipolar disorder. She stressed mental illness is highly treatable and that, while things aren't fully enlightened, they've changed a lot since her father's military days. E. Cameron Ritchie agreed.