By Elinore F. McCance-Katz, M.D., Ph.D., FAAAP, Chief Medical Officer, and Paolo del Vecchio, M.S.W., Director, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Bipolar disorder, sometimes called “manic-depressive illness,” is a serious mental illness that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, and activity levels. In any given year, it impacts approximately 2.6 percent of the American public.
Young people are often told we're too immature to understand pain. But I refused to be silenced. Instead, I cried louder. My turning point came when I was 18 years old and my friend Dina, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, committed suicide.
By Pamela Hyde, Administrator, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
This week a new study reported that nearly one in five American adults experienced a diagnosable mental illness in 2012. Of these tens of millions of Americans, less than half (41 percent) received any mental health services in that time.
