Musicians sing the “blues,” athletes get in a “slump,” economies can suffer a “depression,” weather can be “dismal,” Monday mornings are the “blahs,” the earth is regarded as “bipolar,” nobody wants to be a “Debbie Downer,”  and, Tim Gunn shops at Mood on Project Runway…uhh, somebody told me.

It seems that everywhere we look, we cannot escape something that has to do with “state of mind.”

Interesting  phrase, seeing as how “mood,” (emotion) if we look it up, is described as synonymous with “state of mind” (cognition).  This is perhaps because we tend not to really separate the two.  Our emotional state, gives us an indicator of thoughts (that have lead us to our emotions), while, our thoughts, which sometimes are tied to events, also prompt our emotions. See how this works?

With that ‘in mind,’  welcome to National Mental Illness Awareness Week.

Truth is, that mental health/behavioral health, aka. mental illness, effects one in four families. While it is not uncommon for many of us to go to our doctor for our “annual physical,”  how many of you, your friends, colleagues, and neighbors are announcing they have gone to their therapist for their “annual mental.”

Before we laugh too hard about how silly that may sound, don’t think that Dr. Phil and Dr. Drew aren’t on to something.

While real life drama seems to have more entertainment value than fiction, our facts around behavioral health are no laughing matter.  Half of all marriages still result in divorce, 42 million Americans live with some type of anxiety disorder, and nearly 25 million live with a depressive or bi-polar disorder.

So let’s remember, that every year around this time National Mental Illness Awareness Week comes around.  Keyword, here, is “awareness.”  Readers are invited to peruse around our MCS website for information and resources of value, regarding a number of behavioral health matters.  As always, you can find help here.

Also, click on the link for National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), http://www.nami.org/ as well as an article by the President of NAMI, Pete Floyd.

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Author: David Wiley, MS, LPC for Miller Counseling Services, PC

Mr. David Wiley, MS, LPC is a Licensed Professional Counselor at Miller Counseling Services.  He has practiced in a variety of behavioral health settings in the Triangle area of North Carolina since 1981, including innovative approaches to substance abuse and chronic pain management, crisis intervention, as well as working with relationship issues with couples and families. Areas of interest, and expertise include: mood disorders such as anxiety and depression, substance abuse education/screening/outpatient follow-up, ADD/ADHD, relationship/premarital/marital counseling along with co-therapy, stress/pain management including biofeedback modality, life transition issues especially with college students as well as older adults, adolescent counseling.