Peace of Mind- Mental Health Conference

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Adventist WholeHealth Network

K'dee Elsen Crews

If You Want Peace, Prepare for War

The general theme for this weekend is peace of mind.

But I wanted to title kind of my series, the kind of the speaking portion of it, The Forgotten War, The Mental Health Great Controversy.

Which you already might start thinking, what in the world is she going to be talking about?

The forgotten war, the mental health great controversy.

Tonight's talk is entitled, If You Want Peace, Prepare for War.

So I just want you to start thinking about that.

But before I jump into tonight's talk, just a little bit more about myself.

And thank you for reading my bio, that helps.

But you might be starting to think, like, who am I and how or why is this relevant to me?

So that's 1 of the questions I get often.

And a lot of times people say, you know, I'm not struggling with mental health.

But mental health and what we're going to be covering is applicable to every single person present here today.

For 1, whether you've struggled with mental health in the past and perhaps you found healing, this is applicable to you to make sure that you don't fall into that cycle again, perhaps you are struggling, and this is applicable to you today, or perhaps you will in the future, or you have a friend, a family, a loved 1 that also struggles.

We're gonna talk about mental health statistics, and you'll recognize that it's so prevalent that it is relevant to us all.

And so we're going to be covering a lot of information.

And I always like, you know, the psychologist in me likes dynamic and discussion.

So if at any point you just want to speak up or I'll ask you some questions, I want you guys to be engaged in this because we know the things that we are engaged in, we learn better instead of just someone up here talking.

So again, today's talk is entitled If You Want Peace, Prepare for War.

So before we start, I like to do a little activity where it's myth or fact.

So I'm going to read a couple of mental health statements.

And I want you all, by show of hands, whether you believe it's a fact, thumbs up, or if a myth, thumbs down.

Okay, so I'm going to read a statement, truth, fact, or myth.

Okay, And no cheating, no looking to your neighbor.

So the first 1 is mental illness or mental health disorders are primarily due to genetics.

The next 1, the number 1 or the most effective treatment for mental illness is psychopharmacology, so medications.

So the question is, the number 1 or most effective treatment for mental illness is medications.

The next 1, people with mental health problems always struggle.

The question is, people with mental health difficulties or mental illness never fully recover.

We got a lot of thumbs down in these questions.

20% of Americans, so about 1 in 5 Americans, suffer with a mental illness.

That 1 people are like, oh, I don't know.

Women struggle with mental illness more than men.

So this 1 I always find funny because the men are like, yeah, and the women are like, no.

OK, the question is whether women struggle with mental illness more than men?

Most mental health problems are a result of a poor childhood.

So I'm getting a lot of huh, huh, so pay attention.

So the question is whether or not mental health problems are a result of a poor childhood.

So that one's probably the most mixed I've seen so far.

The next 1, most mental health problems, they're most prevalent in older adulthood.

Mental health problems in a later adulthood.

Okay, then anyone who tries to kill himself or herself have a mental illness.

Okay, looks like the suicide ones are a little bit mixed.

So we're going to actually answer some of these throughout our presentation.

So I want you to pay attention, because a lot of these things are myths or facts.

And the more we know about mental health, the more we can help others as well as help ourselves.

So we're gonna talk about mental health statistics.

So as 1 of the questions indicated, yes, it is true that 1 in 5 American adults live with a mental health disorder.

I'm not gonna go down the row and start counting 1 in 5, don't worry.

But that says that there's 20% of the American population that struggles with a mental illness, okay?

So that's about 44 million, and that statistic was found in 2016, But if you look at the next bullet point there, it says that 50% struggle with a mental illness across their lifetime.

So when they looked at just 2016, it was only 20%.

Over the course of someone's lifetime, 50%, half of our country will struggle with a mental illness.

So 1 in 25 of those individuals who struggle will also struggle with a mental illness that is something that substantially interferes with their life.

What I mean by this is some people may have depression but they can be functional, right?

They can go to work, they can go to school, but 1 in 25 have a significant condition where it interferes with their daily life.

The depression that they're sleeping all day, they're having difficulty waking up, they lose their job because they can't continue to maintain that type of lifestyle.

And then there are other statistics there.

You can just see the natural breakdown that anxiety is 1 of the most prevalent as well as depression.

And then the last bullet point touches on the fact that a lot of individuals who have mental illness often have a comorbid substance use condition as well.

A lot of individuals try to cope with their mental illness by using substances.

So the next 1 you can see here, yes, women do have higher prevalence rates than men.

And then you notice that also, I think this was a majority.

People said that it was not more prevalent in older adulthood.

But you notice there that it's most prevalent in younger ages.

So especially this age group of academy students, it's very prevalent.

And then it's also highest among multicultural groups and minorities.

So I want to include these statistics about both physical abuse and sexual abuse, because a lot of times we don't want to talk about these things.

And they're happening, so we have to talk about it.

So physical abuse, some statistics on physical abuse.

5.3 million incidents of domestic violence annually for women and 3.2 million for men.

So yes, domestic violence happens to men as well.

It's often just talked about with women, but men as well.

60% of marriages domestic violence happens in a marriage.

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If You Want Peace, Prepare for War

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