On February 15, my friend Ari "Deebo" Johnson committed suicide. His closest friends had no idea that he was struggling with his mental health, let alone that he was suicidal. At a funeral service filled with memories of Deebo’s expansive laugh and easy smile, we were left grappling with unanswerable questions. Why would a man with a life blessed with loving family and friends choose to end it so abruptly? How could it be that a guy like Deebo was suicidal and no one knew?
Unfortunately, the silence that shrouded Deebo’s condition is far too common; our unwillingness to openly discuss mental-health issues conceals the fact that such issues impact many more people in our communities than we realize. The numbers are sobering: According to the National Institute of Mental Health, an estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older have a diagnosable mental-health disorder. In comparison, only 11.3 percent of Americans ages 20 and older have diabetes and only 11.5 percent of noninstitutionalized American adults have heart disease. If you look around your office, school or house of worship, many of the people you see likely have one or more mental-health disorders, including depression, anxiety, eating disorders or addiction. And for every person facing a mental-health disorder, there are family members, spouses and friends who suffer alongside him or her. When this collateral impact is considered, it is clear that mental-health disorders affect nearly everyone.
