• 14.5 million Americans are afflicted; at best they are disabled for a period, at worst shattered for life.
  
• $36 billion is spent each year on medical and social services for persons who have schizophrenia and depression. Indirect costs total $67.4 billion.
  
• 25 percent of all beds in our hospitals are filled by mentally ill patients --more than for the victims of heart disease, cancer, and respiratory ailments combined.
  
• 40 percent of the homeless on our city streets have schizophrenia.
  
• 15 percent of all Americans will suffer a major depression episode during their lifetime. Less than a third will receive any form of treatment.
  
• 66 percent of patients with schizophrenia remain completely or partially disabled by the disease for the rest of their lives.

• On a per patient basis, the federal research dollar is substantially higher for physical illnesses than for mental illnesses. We spend only 14 research dollars for each patient with schizophrenia and $10 for those with major depressive disorders. This compares to $161 for multiple sclerosis, $1000 for muscular dystrophy, $130 for heart disease, and $203 for cancer.
  
• An average of $11 of research money for each American with schizophrenia or depression is about the same amount as spent to study tooth decay.

"It can't happen in my family"! The biggest myth of all is the belief that "it can't happen in my family". Up to 20 percent of us are affected by the three types of serious mental illnesses: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder (manic depressive illness) and major depression. One out of every 100 people becomes chronically mentally ill directly affecting about one of every 25 families.

Poor Parenting! Serious mental illnesses are not caused by stress or poor parenting; they are not a form of mental retardation; schizophrenia is not a form of mental retardation; schizophrenia is not a multiple personality disorder.

Violence!!! Violence is not common among mentally ill people; they are more frequently the victims of crimes than its perpetrators. Horror movies featuring stereotypical "psychotic killers" are not a realistic depiction of persons suffering from mental illness.

Sources: The National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) and The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI).

To Contact NAMI Louisville:
National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) Louisville
namilouisville@netzero.net