More Adults in Idaho Have Mental Illness Than Any Other U.S. State
1 in every 4 adults in Idaho is suffering from mental illness. What is going on in our culture that makes us struggle with mental illness more than any other state?
The national average for mental illness is 18.6%, which still seems pretty high, but in Idaho that rate climbs to 25%.
MSN.com doesn't give any reasoning behind the higher than normal statistic, and I certainly can't think as to why it's such a problem here.
I grew up in Utah, which has been called the anti-depressant capital of America, but I could always see why people struggled mentally in the strict religious culture that preaches perfectionism.
My mind on "mental illness" has changed a lot over the years. I was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder when I was ten-years-old and my parents tried to put me on Prozac. I hated having a label that made me feel different from my peers and I didn't want to be on medication because again, it made me feel excluded from my peers.
I've avoided being on anti-depressants ever since my youth. I thought it made me weak and abnormal. It wasn't until this past summer when a lot of things in my life turned upside down that I went to my doctor and opened up to the idea of being on Lexapro.
This anti-anxiety medication has changed my life. After getting through the initial side-effects, I don't sweat the small stuff like I used to. I feel like the best version of myself and I wish I would have been open to the idea a long time ago.
I think we have to get away from the stigma around mental illness and be okay that needing therapy or an SSRI to feel your very best is completely okay and it doesn't mean you're a crazy person.
These stats still make me wonder though. Why do you think we struggle so much with mental illness in Idaho?