Mental Health Advocacy Quotes

It is time to embrace mental health and substance use/abuse as illnesses. Addiction is a disease.

Mental illness is not something you misunderstand in this era. Get educated because bias is no different than racism.

            Tempting as it may be to draw one conclusion or another from my story and universalize it to apply to another's experience, it is not my intention for my book to be seen as some sort of cookie-cutter approach and explanation of mental illness, It is not ab advocacy of any particular form of therapy over another. Nor is it meant to take sides in the legitimate and necessary debate within the mental health profession if which treatments are most effective for this or any other mental illness.             What it is, I hope, is a way for readers to get a true feel for what it's like to be in the grips of mental illness and what it's like to strive for recovery.

It's just as important to be around people that influence stable mental health as it is working towards it.

Be dedicated to change the way in which people see mental illness, at all levels of society. If not for yourself, advocate for those who are struggling in silence.

I won't say that writing tamed the Black Beast. It soothed him, though, enough so he agreed simply to occupy a corner of my mind...Gradually, I redirected my focus and skills towards causes much closer to my own heart: writing and mental health advocacy. [...] I felt so good at times that I even wondered, was I still bipolar? In my community work, I saw so many people who were much worse off than I was - deep in their disease in a way I no longer seemed to be. I knew that this often happens to manic-depressives: the brain forgets the ravages of the illness they way a woman forgets the pains of childbirth. You have to, to survive. But it's always a dangerous place to be, because you inevitably start to question the need for medication, therapy, and all the other rigorous stopgaps of sanity so carefully put into place to prevent another episode.

Many people have tried to be gracious and have told us that our children are a special gift. I have heard this cliché many times. It’s utter garbage in my view. There is no question that our children are special. Yes, their issues have made me more understanding and have propelled me to become involved in advocacy and outreach. But both children face serious, sometimes heartbreaking, issues every day. Their fight never ends. Who would want their children to have to continually negotiate adversity?

We need to ensure we're not just taking care of others but also of ourselves. It's about balance - taking time to recharge so that we can keep showing up. If we don't recognize our own limits, if we don't recognize when we need rest, we risk not being there tomorrow to continue making a difference in people's lives.

Working in mental health support has made me realize that everyone wears a mask and everyone deserves a second chance because it's our first time at life.

In mental health advocacy, I've found that sometimes, when people reach out for help, they come with a predetermined solution in mind. They aren't really looking for guidance, but validation. It's like trying to conduct a research project with the conclusion already written before you even begin. Without openness to new perspectives, there's no real room for growth, only a reinforcement of existing beliefs that may not serve them.

Advocacy is a natural process that comes from within. It emerges when someone gets to the point where they are tired of witnessing the injustice imposed upon others and decide to do something about it. It is not something you can buy or pay for. It comes from the heart. That is where the fiercest warriors come from.

Mental health is an enormous business; in the United States, more money is spent on mental health conditions than any other medical specialty, with an estimated $201 billion spent in 2013 alone and an estimated increase to $280 billion by 2020 (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2014). More than half of the budget for the American Psychiatric Association is income received directly from pharmaceutical companies, and drug-makers are the most frequent and largest donors of mental health advocacy groups (see, e.g., Harris, 2009). Speaking and consulting gigs for the pharmaceutical industry can earn psychiatrists up to $1 million or more in direct fees per year,4 and at least 70% of the professionals making up the task force for the DSM were tied to pharmaceutical companies (Cosgrove & Krimsky, 2012), raising concerns about corporate interests reflected in practice and policy and accusations of disease mongering (Moynihan, Heath, & Henry, 2002). The incentive for ensuring the medical and biological framework for conceptualizing problems in living is huge.

[T]he DSM alone does not establish standards. Physicians, other mental health workers, drug companies, advocacy groups, school systems, the courts, the Internet, and cable TV all get to vote on how the written word will actually be used and misused.

Singal also cited an anonymous clinician from the GIC who expressed concern that trans children who want to desist might be pressured into remaining trans if their parents get involved in advocacy work, if they come out to their school and classmates, and so forth. As a parent, this strikes me as deeply confusing. Our basement is littered with the toys and hobbies of ages past, and while that can indeed be annoying, at no point did I consider forcing my daughter to play more with her expensive handmade doll or ride her scooter. To be a child or adolescent is to be in perpetual flux, picking up hobbies, interests, and identities to find out what feels right, what feels like home. This can happen with sports, with music, and yes, with gender and sexuality, but at no point does any good parent insist that their child keep their hair blue or stay on the soccer team long after their interest has withered.