Time to change direction on mental illness

John T. Broderick Jr. served as chief justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court from 2004 to 2010, dean of the University of New Hampshire School of Law from 2011-2014 and co-chair of Bill Clinton’s first presidential campaign in the Granite State.

But the work he is doing right now to raise mental health awareness may be his most significant endeavor yet.

Broderick is co-chairing the “Change Direction New Hampshire,” initiative, which aims to educate the public on the five warning signs of mental illness and to remove the stigma from public discussion of the devastating illness.

“Somehow almost everyone is comfortable talking about heart disease, diabetes, cancers of all sorts, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease and even HIV,” Broderick wrote in a May 11 op-ed published in this paper. “But none of those conditions come with the inexplicable stigma of mental illness. Given the empirical evidence around us it’s about time that we not only start talking about mental suffering but learning about it, too. We will save and restore lives if we begin to treat mental illness with the respect and humanity it deserves. And many of those lives will be young lives.”

The empirical evidence cited by Broderick warrants our attention.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness:

n One in four adults — approximately 61.5 million Americans — experiences mental illness in a given year. One in 17 — about 13.6 million — live with a serious mental illness such as schizophrenia, major depression or bipolar disorder.

n Adults living with serious mental illness die on average 25 years earlier than other Americans, largely due to treatable medical conditions.

n Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the U.S. and the third leading cause of death for ages 15 to 24 years. More than 90 percent of those who die by suicide had one or more mental disorder.

Broderick has been crisscrossing the state to spur dialogue. He presented to the Portsmouth City Council last night and addressed a breakfast meeting at Pease this morning. The official kickoff for the Change Direction New Hampshire campaign takes place at the State House on May 23 at a non-partisan event that will feature Gov. Maggie Hassan and the state’s entire congressional delegation along with many of the state’s leaders in health care and other industries.

“We want to attract the medical and behavioral health community, but we will be reaching for a cross-section of the lay community,” Broderick told Seacoast Sunday. “Part of our effort will be geared to changing the culture surrounding mental health in New Hampshire. We need to remove the needless shame and stigma from mental health and emotional suffering that so often causes the afflicted and their families to avoid treatment.”

The five signs of suffering, according to the Change Direction campaign are:

n Sudden or gradual personality change;

n Uncharacteristic anger, anxiety, agitation or moodiness;

n Withdrawal or isolation from others;

n Ceasing personal care and engaging in risky behaviors;

n Seeming to be overcome with hopelessness.

We applaud the efforts by Broderick and the Change Direction New Hampshire steering committee and urge all our readers to support their much needed campaign. To learn more about the campaign, visit http://www.changedirection.org, to register for the free May 23 kickoff event visit www.riverbendcmhc.org. and click on the register tab.