The National Institute of Mental Health says nearly one in five adults in the U.S. live with a mental illness. Think about that number. One in five. If you live in a household of five people—one of you could be struggling with mental illness. If you’re in an office of 50…at least 10 of you may be struggling with some degree of mental illness. This stat rises even higher for teens and adolescents, with nearly 50% of them dealing with some form of mental illness.

My “household” growing up, we were well beyond those statistics. Out of the five people in my immediate, but separated family, three of us dealt with mental illness. My mother was misdiagnosed as bipolar…later we would learn it was borderline personality disorder. My younger brother would also miss that same diagnosis, but the signs were there. You can deduct I was the third of that equation.

I had been diagnosed with depression and anxiety in high school, and in some level of defiance against my own mother, I decided my senior year, I no longer wanted to be on my medications. I was determined to figure out how to fight my mental health issues without them. Of course, I completely misunderstood why the medications were necessary. I wonder sometimes how my several dozen years of college could have been different if I had let myself be treated and regulated.

With my personal struggles, I understand there are a lot of ways to talk yourself out of treatment or help. You can sometimes justify not needing more help. “Oh, I know how to handle my anxiety symptoms or depression symptoms.” You can rationalize talking yourself through it in many cases, or straight up deny it in fear of having to actually deal with it.

It’s important to remember many also do not have the means to seek help and support. Treatment is and can be expensive. A psychiatrist appointment can easily run a few hundred dollars, for just an hour of their time. Medications without health insurance can also be expensive. Therapy could set you back a hundred dollars a week or month as well. And those several hundred dollars are sometimes the difference between groceries and bills, or your well-being mentally. Some wait to get help when things get really bad—facing a pivotal decision if it is not too late to get the help you need.

If I may be frank, my recent treatment is a combination of finally having the means to seek treatment, while letting things go on for too long. It should not have to be that way though.

So many painful outcomes could be prevented—if we could actually reach out and get that help, affordably. Many of us have felt the pain of losing someone, someone who could still be here today if resources for mental health were more readily available. They might still be here if mental illness was better understood and not clouded in mystery…so that perhaps they could have received a proper diagnosis and treatment. They could have had proper treatment if there was more funding. They could have…

Those are heavy words. But they hold true. They really could have if more was available.

If you or someone you love is struggling in Kalamazoo you can contact the helpline for emotional support or crisis intervention at, (269) 381-HELP (4357). Organizations like Integrated Services of Kalamazoo and the Gryphon Place are great resources, with Gryphon Place listing resources of suicide prevention and crisis support in the surrounding communities.