There's a mental health problem in the sense that people are so afraid of the stigma that they don't get help. But there's absolutely a gun control problem in the country.
Many politicians, celebrities, businessmen and women, and community leaders now are open about their struggles with mental illnesses, something almost unheard of when I began. Together, we are spreading the word that mental health affects all of us and deserves our support and attention.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Mental health struggles are now more openly discussed, highlighting the universal importance of supporting mental health.
In this quote, Rosalynn Carter emphasizes the significant shift in society's openness regarding mental health issues. She notes how public figures, such as politicians and celebrities, are increasingly sharing their own struggles, which fosters a collective awareness that mental health is a vital concern for everyone, deserving of support and focus. This marks a notable change from past attitudes, encouraging a dialogue that encompasses the challenges many face.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a mental health awareness seminar, this quote can be shared to highlight the importance of openness.
More from Rosalynn Carter
All quotes →A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be.
Aside from doing everything possible to provide programs for people who are seriously ill, I want to do everything humanly possible to help create a more caring society so that we can begin to counter the painful loneliness and sense of helplessness which has engulfed too many of our people.
Caregivers are the selfless people who provide unpaid care for loved ones who are ill or have serious medical conditions. This is among the most challenging work there is.
You must accept that you might fail; then, if you do your best and still don't win, at least you can be satisfied that you've tried. If you don't accept failure as a possibility, you don't set high goals, you don't branch out, you don't try - you don't take the risk.
People with mental problems are our neighbors. They are members of our congregations, members of our families; they are everywhere in this country. If we ignore their cries for help, we will be continuing to participate in the anguish from which those cries for help come. A problem of this magnitude will not go away. Because it will not go away, and because of our spiritual commitments, we are compelled to take action.
Similar quotes
It can be difficult for people to talk about it, because there still is that stigma around mental illness. But I would encourage people to do that, because they'll be surprised once they do 'come out' how many other people have had similar experiences.
No one who had never been depressed like me could imagine that the pain could get so bad that death became a star to hitch up to, a fantasy of peace someday which seemed better than any life with all this noise in my head.
my brain had begun to endure its familiar siege: panic and dislocation, and a sense that my thought processes were being engulfed by a toxic and unnameable tide that obliterated any enjoyable response to the living world.
In a typical mental health catch-22, the alienating nature of depression tends to keep its sufferers from finding their way to the very support groups that might help them.
My mother struggled immensely with mental illness, and so did I. She grew up bipolar, but it was never diagnosed nor recognized. It was shrugged off like a 'symptom' of being female - of her being weak. I also experienced this growing up: I felt that the great pain I experienced was a dramatisation.
You are no less or more of a man or a woman or a human for having depression than you would be for having cancer or cardiovascular disease or a car accident.