Martin Luther King Jr. and combating mental health stigma
Every January we pause to remember and celebrate the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his civil rights legacy. It is also an opportunity to learn some important lessons from the life of Rev. King. As a child he experienced both great highs and lows. A brilliant student, he skipped his freshman and senior years of high school before enrolling at Morehouse College at the age of 15. He also attempted suicide twice before the age of 13, following the death of his grandmother.
As an adult, Rev. King experienced bouts of severe depression. The stigma against individuals with mental illness, which we still battle today, was even more profound in the 1960s. Concerned that people opposed to the civil rights movement would use it as a way to try to discredit him, his incidents with depression remained a closely held secret during his lifetime.
As the principal leader of the civil rights movement, Reverend King was jailed 29 times for peaceful civil disobedience or on trumped up charges. He spent the last 13 years of his life under constant threat of physical harm. Most people have forgotten that he survived an earlier assassination attempt in September 1958, when he was stabbed in the chest with a seven-inch letter opener that came to rest alongside his aorta. Afterwards, his surgeons told him a single sneeze could have caused it to puncture his aorta and kill him.
Despite these personal and professional challenges, Rev. King never altered his convictions, never veered from his objectives, and never stopped advocating for equal rights under the law. It was his belief that “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
These words of his have a special meaning to individuals with mental illness, their family, friends and advocates. The stigma that forced Rev. King to keep secret his experience with depression still negatively impacts millions of people throughout the United States and thousands of people here in St. Clair County.
Although there have never been more effective mental health interventions available than there are today, many individuals with mental illness continue to deny themselves the care they need. As recently as 2011, only 60% of individual with a serious and persistent mental illness, such as anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder, received treatment. Citing stereotypes depicting people with mental illness as being dangerous, unpredictable, responsible for their illness, or generally incompetent, the number one reason given by a majority of individuals who did not seek treatment was fear of friends, family, co-workers and neighbors learning of their mental illness.
As we celebrate Rev. King, let us work to extend his legacy of acceptance and open-mindedness to all individuals, including those with mental illness, behavioral health issues, and substance use disorders. Social networks, including family members, friends, and coworkers, can have a positive or negative impact on people’s decisions to pursue treatment, either enhancing feelings of stigma or encouraging individuals to seek treatment. So, let’s all take a moment to think about the life-affirming example of Rev. King, who never let his depression stop him from positively answering what he said was life’s most persistent and urgent question: “What are you doing for others?”
Debra Johnson is the St. Clair County Community Mental Health executive director.