AGENCIES HOPE FOR MORE AWARENESS DURING MENTAL HEALTH MONTH IN MAY

It could happen to anyone. It doesn't discriminate and strikes men as well as women equally. It will affect people of all ages, races, ethnic groups and socioeconomic classes.

That is the what mental health professionals want people to understand. May is Mental Health Month, and organizers said they want to heighten awareness of mental disorders and reduce the stigma associated with them.

The Missouri Mental Health Consumer Network said more than 100,000 Missourians will be affected by schizophrenia, bipolar disorder (manic-depression), clinical depression, or one of the other major mental illnesses. Approximately 40 percent of those with some type of mental disorder will require the services of a public health agency.

"Mental Health Month provides us with an outstanding opportunity to share our success stories and promote the benefits of behavioral health-care treatment," said John Hudak, executive director of the Community Counseling Center of Cape Girardeau. "We are thrilled to participate in this annual observance."

Barb Mayfield, center counselor, said people have trouble seeking help for mental illness. "People are afraid of mental illness; it is not talked about," she said.

Mayfield said many people use the word "crazy" and do not realize it is a biological brain disorder. She said education can help those seek treatment. "We want people to know that we assure confidentiality when they seek counseling; we are bound by that."

Hudak and Mayfield said the facts about mental illness are staggering. Almost 48 percent of all Americans between 15 and 54 have a lifetime history of at least one mental addictive disorder, found the 1993 National Comorbidity Survey. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 1995 said mental disorders affect 40 million Americans each year.

Data shows:

-- Twenty million experience phobias.

-- Nearly 4 million suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder.

-- Two million have manic-depression.

-- Over 9 million have major depression.

-- More than 2 million are affected by panic disorders.

-- Two million suffer from schizophrenia.

Hudak said: "Nearly one in two of us will experience a mental health or addictive disorder at some point in our lives. We must all work for the preservation of behavioral health-care treatment. I hope the entire community will achieve enhanced awareness and understanding of mental illness as a result of some of the activities we are supporting and sponsoring."