This week is Mental Illness Awareness Week

There are a large number of individuals in Texas and the rest of the U.S. who have had the misfortune of experiencing a mental illness. Mental illnesses can come in many different shapes and sizes and such illnesses can change a person’s life in a vast number of ways.

There is a special focus being put on awareness of mental illness issues this week, as it is Mental Illness Awareness Week. This annual awareness week was brought into being by Congress back in 1990. This year’s Mental Illness Awareness Week got underway on Oct. 5 and will continue until Oct. 11.

One of the major goals of this awareness week is to educate the public on mental illnesses. This is an extremely important goal, as mental illnesses and those who suffer from them are sometimes greatly misunderstood. Such misunderstanding sometimes leads to individuals who suffer from mental illnesses unfairly having a stigma attached to them. This is an awful thing that can affect a person on many levels. Society should be striving to help and support individuals who are having to deal with the difficult situation of having a mental illness, not stigmatizing them and making them feel alienated from others.

What do you think are some of the most effective methods of improving public education on mental illness issues?

Unfairly having a stigma attached to them is not the only significant hardship that mental illness sufferers can face. Among the many types of struggles that can come before a mental illness sufferer are financial struggles. The effects of a mental illness can sometimes keep a person from working, and thus bringing in wages. Disability attorneys can help individuals who have been prevented from being able to continue working by a mental illness determine if their situation would likely qualify them for Social Security disability benefits.