Dear Editor:
I’m not going to go get a taste of anything at The Asylum. Despite its questionable taste in name and advertising it gives me an opportunity to talk about the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the work it’s doing to address the inequities people with mental illnesses live with. It gives me a chance to advocate for education about mental illnesses, to say how treatable mental illnesses are. It gives me the opportunity to let people know that 1 in 5 individuals in our country suffer or will suffer with a diagnosable, but treatable, mental illness. It gives me the opportunity to let others know that half of all lifetime cases of mental illness begin by age 14. (National Institutes of Mental Health data).
The good news there, is that with education of the public about possible symptoms and early intervention, enormous disability can be prevented along with the development of co-occurring mental disorders. (NIMH) I’m committed to making known all these facts and more. They’re not cute facts. They’re not palatable facts. But then, neither is the advertising for, and maybe not even the name of The Asylum.
Suzanne Williams
Williamsburg