What can be done to combat stigma and discrimination against people with mental illnesses?
One in four Americans will have a mental illness this year. I think that if people realized how common mental illnesses are and how effective treatments are, people would be less afraid to talk about them. And if more people talk about these disorders, the stigma and misunderstandings about mental illnesses slowly will disappear. At The Carter Center, our Mental Health Program has worked since 1991 to achieve four basic goals: to reduce stigma and discrimination against people with mental illnesses; to achieve equity for mental health care comparable to other health care; to advance promotion, prevention, and early intervention services for children and their families; and to increase public awareness worldwide about mental health and mental illness to stimulate local actions to address those issues. Q: Why is mental health parity important? I often have said that if insurance covers an illness, than people will think it’s OK to have that condition. When insurance denies coverage for m
