Mental Health Awareness Month 2023

Posted by seancorning on May 2nd, 2023 Posted in: Blog

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Every year the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) organizes Mental Health Awareness Month. It was established in 1949 to increase awareness of the importance of mental health and wellness in Americans’ lives and to celebrate recovery from mental illness. In this post I’d like to highlight some NLM, government and other trusted resources relevant to this month.

General Resources

MedlinePlus has excellent general consumer health resources on mental health topics. Their main Mental Health page includes information for a general audience, as well as population specific information such as resources for children, teenagers and older adults. This information is also available on the Spanish version of the MedlinePlus. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) also has an excellent collection of resources on a variety of mental disorders and population groups.

Mental Health and Stigma

One of the major focuses of Mental Health Awareness Month is on reducing the stigmatization of mental health and mental illnesses. Stigma and discrimination around mental illness is still widespread and has a dramatic effect on those experiencing these disorders. It can lead people to be less likely to seek out help even when it is available and can even worsen the underlying disorder. Because of this, SAMHSA recommends the use of less stigmatizing and person-first language when discussing mental health. They identified this excellent infographic from the National Federation of Families which discusses alternatives to stigmatizing language along with reasoning.

Statistics and data

Government agencies produce and collect significant amounts of data on mental health and mental illness. SAMHSA’s Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality systematically collects data on mental illness and substance use disorders. The CDC collects fast statistics on mental health that can be a useful starting point. The NIMH’s statistics page is particularly useful because of its granular breakdown by mental illness type.

We hope you find these resources on a critical topic such as mental health useful!

 

Collected Resources:

• Mental Health (MedlinePlus)
• Resources for Older Adults (SAMHSA)
• Reframing Language infographic (National Federation of Families)
• Mental Health Topics (NIMH)
• Mental Health Statistics (NIMH)
• Fast Stats – Mental Health (CDC)
• Brochures and Fact Sheets (NIMH)
• Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality Reports (NAMHSA)