Elizabeth Lesko, Persuasive Essay
(Audience: General adult and teen public; newspaper or magazine such as TIME magazine)
Mental Health Issues: The Elephant in the Room
Over the past decade or so, the United States has made great progress in raising awareness of and support for the treatment of many common mental disorders, most commonly depression, autism, and eating disorders. However, out of the National Institute of Mental Health estimated 26.2% of all American adults that suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in any given year, these three types account for less than half of this number. So what about the other 30 million Americans with mental health problems? Why do they not garner as much press coverage, or have as many ribbon campaigns as the “big three” disorders listed above?
The simplest and likeliest explanation for the disproportionate media coverage of certain disorders comes from the topics that make for an interesting or exciting story. The public as a whole is much more likely to be interested in stories involving children in need of special care or sympathy (autism), tragic stories of attempted suicides (depression), and tales of overcoming a disorder caused by peer pressure or bullying (usually eating disorders). The media also likes to cover stories involving psychosis, most commonly in conjunction with school shootings or terrorism, despite the fact that psychosis and associated violence can be caused by anything from a mental disorder to drug use, or even massive amounts of stress. My underlying point here is that the public does not often want to hear stories of someone with OCD or an anxiety disorder, because these are considered banal or even not true mental health issues. This is becoming increasingly common as people say such things as “I’m so OCD,” when they straighten a picture, or “I must have ADHD” when they would rather be doing something else than studying. In the remainder of this article I hope to bring some frequently ignored mental disorders to light in the hopes that by dispelling misconceptions about such disorders the world will gain proponents for the proper diagnosis and affordable treatment of what can be a debilitating condition.

I would like to begin this journey to enlightenment with two of the most misconstrued and self-diagnosed disorders in popular culture, OCD and ADHD. OCD, or Obsessive
Compulsive Disorder, is characterized by repeated upsetting thoughts (obsessions) and attempts to control or dispel these thoughts through repeated rituals or behaviors (compulsions). While a person with OCD may frequently straighten objects or be bothered by one piece out of order in a pattern, these behaviors alone do NOT constitute the disorder. Saying you are OCD because you like things extremely tidy, or in a particular order (by color, alphabetical, numerical) is not only incorrect, but impedes the ability of the public to take the truly diagnosed seriously, leading sufferers of OCD to often go undiagnosed or untreated. It is the obsessions that define this disorder rather than the resultant behaviors. Wanting things very neat and tidy, or fixing a crooked picture because it bothers you, is not OCD. Needing to check that every door in your house is locked repeatedly in the middle of the night, or needing to repeat a mantra in your head so that your mother will not die, is OCD. The behaviors are rooted in irrational, frightening thoughts that are frequent and not able to be ignored, not a preference for things to be just so.
ADHD on the other hand, is an over-diagnosed disorder both by professionals and selfdiagnosis, particularly in children. Considering that an inability to concentrate, forgetfulness, trouble sitting still, and being easily bored are common traits in children, this disorder is often over-diagnosed. The caveat in the proper diagnosing of ADHD is that these behaviors are frequent enough to impede learning and are unusually difficult to control by normal means.
Many parents who have trouble controlling their children push for a diagnosis of ADHD when the problem may actually lie in how the child was raised, leading to the over prescription of medications that have potentially dangerous side effects and a trivialization of a serious disorder that could prevent achievement and impede learning when left untreated.

Moving on from disorders that are trivialized by self-diagnosis, I would like to touch upon some of the more dangerous yet often ignored mental disorders, including bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and anxiety and personality disorders. Rather than describing each disorder, I would like to address the social stigma on having one of these disorders, and the resulting problems for those who suffer one of these disorders. All four of these sets of disorders carry a risk of developing psychosis, with sufferers of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder being far more likely to develop this impeded perception of reality. While sufferers of depression and eating disorders are frequently seen as normal individuals who are simply sick, those with one of these four mental disorders is seen as crazy and a danger by most of the public, despite the underlying causes of most mental issues being chemical imbalances or abnormal pathways in the brain. This is largely due to the complete unfamiliarity of the public with the delusions and hallucinations brought on by psychosis, leaving many people unable to sympathize or empathize with sufferers.
Speaking from experience with a sufferer of schizophrenia, psychosis does not impede the ability of a person to experience emotions or express themselves to others, and is an illness rather than a part of their personality.
The point I wish to make about schizophrenia, bipolar, anxiety, and personality disorders is that sufferers should be treated with the same respect and concern as people suffering from suicidal thoughts or anorexia are by the public today. These people are human beings in need of help, and should receive the same rise in awareness of their illness that depression sufferers experienced over the past few decades. As someone who’s Uncle had long ago been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, I worry that the theory of a genetic basis of the disease is correct and I may be at risk of developing the disorder in the next few years. I would love to see a change in the coverage and acceptance of all mental disorders, regardless of severity or how

unusual they seem to healthy individuals, not only because any seemingly healthy individual may be at risk of developing a debilitating mental disorder, but also because public awareness could help find better treatments and cures for these diseases.
One final appeal I would like to make regarding increasing public awareness of these disorders is the potential to prevent serious and tragic crimes where the mental illness component is often ignored in favor of pushing a more political agenda, such as gun control. Most violent crimes, particularly school shootings, could likely be traced back to psychosis brought on by a mental illness or drug use, yet the cause often pointed out by the media is easy access to weapons, or video game violence, or some other environmental factor. While the efficacy of controlling these factors to prevent more crimes is dubious at best, detecting and treating mental disorders that may lead to psychosis and violence is left untreated would almost certainly decrease instances of unprovoked violent crimes. In the cases of Sandyhook and Columbine, the underlying mental issues of the shooters were ignored amongst the cries for increased gun control, yet careful examination of almost any case of school shooting without a specific target will show a history of delusions and behavioral change brought on by anything from abuse
(causing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), to a history of poor mental health. Had the symptoms of the mental disorder been recognized and treated, rather than ignored in a denial that anything could possibly be wrong, many of these tragedies could have been prevented.
The takeaway from all of this should be that mental illness can effect anyone and should be treated as an illness in the same way as an infection or virus, with dignity and the understanding that a true mental illness cannot be wished away or “gotten over” by the sufferer.
By increasing awareness and acceptance of mental illness, research on cures and treatments can progress, and the ¼ of Americans who suffer from a debilitating mental disorder can be helped.