Mental Illness Awareness Week Research Articles

NAMI celebrates Mental Illness Awareness Week

Last week, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and participants across the country advocated for better access to quality mental health care in observance of Mental Illness Awareness Week (MIAW) Oct. 3–9. Since 1990, when Congress officially established MIAW for the first full week of October, advocates have worked together to sponsor activities, large and small, to educate the public about mental illness, an Oct. 4 NAMI news release stated. NAMI highlighted its “Together for Mental Health” campaign, which focuses on the importance of improving the mental health care system, advocates stated in the release. Each day throughout the week, NAMI continued to spread awareness about some of the most common barriers to mental health care people with mental illness face. “Over the pandemic, our movement has grown stronger by the day,” said Daniel H. Gillison Jr., NAMI CEO. “We may be at an inflection point of mainstream acceptance that anyone can be vulnerable to mental health concerns. As a society, we have become more open to discussing mental health and providing support for each other.”

World Arthritis Day 2018 and National Mental Illness Awareness Week

World Arthritis Day 2018 and National Mental Illness Awareness Week

"Even Heroes Get Depressed": Sponsorship and Self-Stigma in Canada's Mental Illness Awareness Week.

In 1992, the Canadian Psychiatric Association launched Canada's first national campaign against mental illness, Mental Illness Awareness Week (MIAW). I stress that pharmaceutical sponsorship of the first five years of MIAW (1992-1997) was integral to shaping the trajectory of the campaign and marks a shift in the way stigma is conceived and resisted in Canada: what was an interpersonal process based on social norms becomes refigured as "self-stigma," or an individualized process in which lack of information, education, and self-assessment contribute to an inability to consider oneself as at-risk for a disease, condition, or disorder.

World Mental Health Day

World Mental Health Day (10 October) is a day for global mental health education, awareness and advocacy. It was first celebrated in 1992 at the initiative of the World Federation for Mental Health, a global mental health organization with members and contacts in more than 150 countries. This day, each October thousands of supporters come to celebrate this annual awareness program to bring attention to Mental Illness and its major effects on peoples’ life worldwide. In some countries this day is part of the larger Mental Illness Awareness Week. Mental health is a level of psychological well-being, or an absence of a mental disorder it is the “psychological state of someone who is functioning at a satisfactory level of emotional and behavioral adjustment”. The definition of mental health highlights emotional well-being, the capacity to live a full and creative life, and the flexibility to deal with life’s inevitable challenges. A person struggling with his or her behavioral health may face stress, depression, anxiety, relationship problems, grief, addiction, ADHD or learning disabilities, mood disorders, or other psychological concerns. Counselors, therapists, life coaches, psychologists, nurse practitioners or physicians can help manage behavioral health concerns with treatments such as therapy, counseling, or medication. At the beginning of the 20th century, Clifford Beers founded the National Committee for Mental Hygiene and opened the first outpatient mental health clinic in the United States of America. The mental hygiene movement, related to the social hygiene movement, had at times been associated with advocating eugenics and sterilization of those considered too mentally deficient to be assisted into productive work and contented family life. Global mental health is the international perspective on different aspects of mental health. The overall aim of the field of global mental health is to strengthen mental health all over the world by providing information about the mental health situation in all countries, and identifying mental health care needs in order to develop cost-effective interventions to meet those specific needs.

Person-centered medicine from deep inside: personal reflections of my depression and recovery

I myself have suffered from serious mental illness. This is my story of suffering and recovery. In the year of 2006, I volunteered as a Face of Mental Illness Awareness Week, a Canada wide anti-stigma public service campaign organized—in part—by the Canadian Psychiatric Association [1]. I voluntarily chose to do this public service to fight against the stigma of mental illness. This stigma against illnesses of the mind/brain are the result of both internal stigma (self-stigma), and external stigma (social stigma [2]) and both types of stigma are especially strong in the field of medicine [3].

Too Few Clinicians Complicate Care in VA, Military Systems

Too Few Clinicians Complicate Care in VA, Military Systems

NAMI Hopes America's Feet Will Do the Talking

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Professional NewsFull AccessNAMI Hopes America's Feet Will Do the TalkingChristine LehmannChristine LehmannSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:5 Nov 2004https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.39.21.00390016APA has a long history of collaboration with the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) on initiatives designed to educate the public and raise awareness of issues related to mental illness.Last month APA expressed its appreciation of and support for NAMI at a kick-off event for NAMI's first fundraising walk, to be held in Washington, D.C., on November 6. It is one of 50 NAMI-Walks planned this year to raise support for NAMI programs and increase awareness of mental illness issues, said NAMI Development Director Joleen Bagwell at the luncheon.Carolyn Robinowitz, M.D., treasurer of APA, thanked NAMI leaders and staff for their dedication and hard work. She presented NAMI Executive Director Mike Fitzpatrick with a check for $20,000 on behalf of APA, the American Psychiatric Foundation (APF), and American Psychiatric Publishing Inc. (APPI). APA was a presenting sponsor at $10,000, and APF and APPI were gold sponsors at $5,000 each.“APA contributed to this walk not only to show support for NAMI, but also to encourage other mental health organizations and business partners to become involved,” Robinowitz said.She added that APA is proud that all the proceeds from the walkathon will be used to fund mental health programs. “The more research, education, and funds we can support to help fight for and improve the lives of those suffering most, the better we will be as a community and as a nation.”Robinowitz observed that APA and NAMI have collaborated for many years on the annual Mental Illness Awareness Week, which was held this year from October 3 to 9 (see Original article: page 20). “APA recognizes that developing and maintaining partnerships through outreach initiatives with diverse organizations is an effective way to share knowledge and advocate for the millions of Americans suffering from mental illnesses, including substance abuse disorders, every year.”Robinowitz continued, “Such partnerships lay the groundwork for sustainable, long-term collaboration with allied health organizations and friends in the business community with the shared goal of raising public awareness of important mental health issues.”That spirit of collaboration became the driving force for APA to become involved in the first NAMIWalks event, in Washington, D.C., Robinowitz mentioned. “Now we have the chance to prove that America's most political city can rally around such a universal health concern.”Robinowitz is a member of the Washington Psychiatric Society and will lead its team in the D.C. walk. APA staff also plan to participate.Numerous other 5-K NAMIWalks already planned throughout the United States demonstrate a real support base for mental health in other major metropolitan areas.Further information on NAMIWalks is posted online at<www.nami.org/template.cfm?section_namiwalks>.▪ ISSUES NewArchived

APA at Work for You on Capitol Hill

APA at Work for You on Capitol Hill

Capitol Hill Symposium Sends Strong Parity Message

Capitol Hill Symposium Sends Strong Parity Message

Homicidal Maniacs and Narcissisfic Parasites: Stigmatization of Mentally Ill Persons in the Movies

The portrayal of mentally ill persons in movies and television programs has an important and underestimated influence on public perceptions of their condition and care. Movie stereotypes that contribute to the stigmatization of mentally ill persons include the mental patient as rebellious free spirit, homicidal maniac, seductress, enlightened member of society, narcissistic parasite, and zoo specimen. The authors suggest that mental health professionals can fight this source of stigma by increasing their collaboration with patient advocacy groups in monitoring negative portrayals of mentally ill people, using public information campaigns such as Mental Illness Awareness Week to call attention to the process of stigmatization, and supporting accurate dramatic and documentary depictions of mental illness.

Evaluation of a Mental Illness Awareness Week program in public schools

The authors evaluated the impact of a Mental Illness Awareness Week program on the attitudes of adolescents attending public school toward seeking help for mental health problems and toward psychiatrists. Most students involved in the program liked it and indicated that they were interested in learning more about mental health topics. Students in the program showed more favorable attitudes toward seeking help and toward psychiatrists than a comparison group of students who did not participate in the program. The authors discuss the evidence for enduring effects of the program. The results support continued development of Mental Illness Awareness Week programs for adolescents in the public schools.

Mental illness awareness week.

Mental illness awareness week.

Mind in Matter: An Introduction to Material Culture Theory and Method

Mind in Matter: An Introduction to Material Culture Theory and Method