Mental Health and Society
Eagle time: May 26, 2015
On April 9th, 2015, I had the good fortune of sitting down and interviewing sophomore Paige Hodges. For those who don’t know Hodges, she experiences a variety of common mental illnesses, including anxiety and panic disorder with agoraphobia.
Hodges was enlightening in her explanation of what life is like living with a mental illness. Most people probably are unaware that approximately 1 in 4 adults experience some form of a mental illness — that is a staggering 61.5 million Americans, and that’s just adults! (www.nami.org)
In her interview, she discusses how society has misconstrued mental illness and those who have a mental illness, creating a negative stigma around millions of Americans.
Be a part of mental illness reform and take the time to inform yourself about what mental health truly is. I encourage you to listen to Paige’s first hand account or research for yourself at the National Alliance on Mental Health www.nami.org, and the National Institution of Mental Health www.nimh.gov. If you are someone who is struggling with their own mental health, remember, the first step towards improvement is just asking for help.
Gayle Martin • Jun 1, 2015 at 12:43 pm
Great article and interview, and it was very brave of Paige to be so forthcoming with her struggles. My daughter went through something very similar a couple of years ago, and I couldn’t believe how many people told us that they, or a close relative, and gone through the same thing. Nobody talks about it, though, which makes articles like this even more important.