What do Billy Joel and Eric Clapton have in common besides their musical talent? Clinical depression. What traits did Beethoven, Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill share? Various forms of mental illness.
Mental illness is everywhere but it is often hidden behind fear and stigma. By age 40 about 50 per cent of the population will have or will have had a mental illness. In any given year one in five people in Canada will experience a mental health problem.
This past Wednesday was #bellletstalk day. You may have seen the ads on TV or heard them on the radio. Each Jan. 31 Bell Canada raises funds through a variety of social media campaigns to help battle the various disorders associated with mental health illnesses. Evert tweet of the twitter hashtag and every share of the Facebook video raises five cents for the cause. That might not seem like a lot but those nickels add up. Last year Bell raised $6.5 million for mental health research and treatment programs.
The economic cost of mental illnesses in Canada for the health care system was estimated to be at least $7.9 billion in 1998 — $4.7 billion in care and $3.2 billion in disability and early death. There are treatments for mental health problems but there are no defining causes for them. Rather, the illnesses are the result of complex interactions amongst genetic, biological, personality and environmental factors.
For some reason mental health is difficult to talk about. It is OK to talk about cancer, heart disease and other ailments with friends and family, but not so much when it comes to taking about bipolar disorder, anorexia or depression.
One statistic that is worth noting is that 70 per cent of mental illness diagnoses are identified in childhood and adolescent years. To me this says we have an opportunity to address potential problems before they occur.
Reaching out to the kids in our community would appear to be critical. The total number of 12 to 19 year olds in Canada at risk for developing depression is a whopping 3.2 million and Canada’s youth suicide rate is the third highest in the industrialized world.
With Pink Shirt Day coming up at the end of the month, I would implore parents, grandparents, all family members, educators and coaches to keep an eye open and hone your listening skills when you are amongst the kids. A kind word or simple “How are you?” can open up a conversation that may need to happen.
It may appear incredibly obvious but there are some simple habits to follow that can go a long way to promoting wellness and combatting mental health problems. Nutritional health, exercise and experiencing nature should be a daily ritual for our youth and others suffering from the pain of mental illnesses.
Annual programs like #Bellletstalk and Pink Shirt Day are fantastic reminders that create awareness for real world problems but is more important to keep our eyes wide open and have really big ears all year round.
Mike Schneider is founder of Project Pickle and likes to write about growing, cooking and eating food. He is a Jamie Oliver Food Revolution ambassador.
