Mental health is public health, too

This blog post was written and created by Elizabeth Golembiewski (guest blogger) - MPH in Health Communication student. 

“Is there no way out of the mind?” 

― Sylvia Plath

Like many people, I grew up thinking that public health was all about Hazmat suits and virus hunters and making sure the water was safe to drink. Not so! As we in the MPH program have the pleasure and also the pain—when it comes to narrowing our focus for papers or our practicum, that is—of knowing, you can argue that pretty much ANYTHING is related to public health!

But where does mental health fit in?? As both a risk factor for and an outcome of other somatic disorders, mental illness is a complicated matter. Public health interventions often are easiest when the problem is highly preventable and has a direct causal root—a paradigm that mental illness, given its blend of genetic, biochemical, psychological, and environmental risk factors, certainly does not fit.

But just like socioeconomic status, poor mental health has a pervasive influence on many other health outcomes. Research has demonstrated a relationship between mental illness and adverse health effects and behaviors such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, physical inactivity, and tobacco use-- to name a few. 

Mental illness is also common. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), our country’s foremost public agency for mental health research, around 20% of adults in United States have a diagnosable mental illness in a given year. Look around you the next time you’re sitting in class, or riding the Cambus—that’s one in five people who have experienced mental illness of one kind or another.

As with many other issues in public health, treatment for most mental health disorders is effective and available. However, most people who meet the criteria for a mental illness will not receive treatment for it. The reasons for this are numerous—factors such as lack of insurance coverage, the belief that symptoms will go away on their own, and stigma all contribute to this problem. 

Fortunately, public health efforts have recently begun to recognize mental illness as an issue that requires attention. According to the CDC, the challenges in this area for public health are to “identify risk factors, increase awareness about mental disorders and the effectiveness of treatment, remove the stigma associated with receiving treatment, eliminate health disparities, and improve access to mental health services for all persons, particularly among populations that are disproportionately affected.” 

At an individual level, you can start by taking the time to learn more about different mental illnesses, their prevalence and risk factors, and reading personal accounts of those who have lived with mental illness. I volunteer with our local chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), a wonderful organization that does advocacy at the local, state and national levels—consider checking out their website for resources and information.