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CNN Live Today
Breaking the Stigma of Mental Illness
Aired October 10, 2002 - 10:26 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Millions of Americans have it, but many suffer in silence. We are talking about mental illness today, and we're paging our Dr. Sanjay Gupta on breaking the stigma of mental illness and finding help.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COLLEEN MILLICHAP, PATIENT: I would sit as if I was glued to a seat for hours.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Colleen Millichap remembers her battle with depression.
MILLICHAP: I must get up and I must do this. And it was almost as if I was paralyzed. I couldn't move. But I didn't think that there was anything wrong with me.
GUPTA: It's one of the most common forms of mental illness. Along with anxiety disorders and addiction, the impact of just these three problems on our culture is staggering.
Addiction alone, in the form of alcohol and illegal drug abuse contributes to 120,000 deaths per year in the United States, and more than 19 million American adults suffer from an anxiety disorder. Clinical depression can be deadly.
DR. WILLIAM MCDONALD, PSYCHIATRIST: If you look at a population of people who are untreated and have severe major depression, 15 percent of people will all eventually go on to kill themselves.
GUPTA: Some mental illnesses drive patients to commit horrible crimes, and that's a fact that adds to the stigma of all mental illness. Mental health professionals say it's crucial to seek treatment, like Colleen Millichap has, but the idea of being labeled crazy makes it difficult for patients to admit there is a problem, even to themselves.
However, the stigma of mental illness is not what it once was. Movies have highlighted difficulties facing the mentally ill, such as "A Beautiful Mind," which portrayed John Nash, a normal, prize-winning mathematician who also had paranoid schizophrenia. Jim Carrey, Billy Joel, Tipper Gore, Tom Johnson, Rosie O'Donnell and quite a few others have all openly discussed their struggles with clinical depression.
Most mental illness can be successfully treated, but only if the patient actually gets treatment. It's up to society and the patient to make it happen. (END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: As our many of the people that were profiled there, but the real key, Daryn, is to get that treatment early. Mental illness is indiscriminate against socioeconomic classes, so really anybody can be effected at any given time -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Sanjay, I think a lot of the confusion comes from what it is. Even just looking at the piece and different people who are dealing with it, sometimes you're talking about behavior situations, sometimes about chemical imbalance. So which one is it?
GUPTA: That's a very good question. It's a controversial question as well. People have come to define depression and most anxiety disorders as having a chemical sort of basis to them. That is a deficiency of a certain neurotransmitter in the brain that, if replenished through medications, can actually help alleviate a lot of the symptoms.
The problem, Daryn, as you point out, is a lot of the chemical imbalances actually manifest themselves as behavioral disorders. So there was a lot of time where it was -- quote unquote -- "talk therapy to try and treat with a lot of these mental disorders."
Nowadays, it's a combination of medicines, which there are many very good medications out there and behavioral/talk therapy, a combination of both those things.
KAGAN: There's still a lot more to talk about. You're not going anywhere, right?.
GUPTA: I'll be around.
KAGAN: All right, that's good, because in the next hour, we'll want to talk more about the stigma surrounding mental illness. Sanjay will be here.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 10, 2002 - 10:26 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Millions of Americans have it, but many suffer in silence. We are talking about mental illness today, and we're paging our Dr. Sanjay Gupta on breaking the stigma of mental illness and finding help.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COLLEEN MILLICHAP, PATIENT: I would sit as if I was glued to a seat for hours.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Colleen Millichap remembers her battle with depression.
MILLICHAP: I must get up and I must do this. And it was almost as if I was paralyzed. I couldn't move. But I didn't think that there was anything wrong with me.
GUPTA: It's one of the most common forms of mental illness. Along with anxiety disorders and addiction, the impact of just these three problems on our culture is staggering.
Addiction alone, in the form of alcohol and illegal drug abuse contributes to 120,000 deaths per year in the United States, and more than 19 million American adults suffer from an anxiety disorder. Clinical depression can be deadly.
DR. WILLIAM MCDONALD, PSYCHIATRIST: If you look at a population of people who are untreated and have severe major depression, 15 percent of people will all eventually go on to kill themselves.
GUPTA: Some mental illnesses drive patients to commit horrible crimes, and that's a fact that adds to the stigma of all mental illness. Mental health professionals say it's crucial to seek treatment, like Colleen Millichap has, but the idea of being labeled crazy makes it difficult for patients to admit there is a problem, even to themselves.
However, the stigma of mental illness is not what it once was. Movies have highlighted difficulties facing the mentally ill, such as "A Beautiful Mind," which portrayed John Nash, a normal, prize-winning mathematician who also had paranoid schizophrenia. Jim Carrey, Billy Joel, Tipper Gore, Tom Johnson, Rosie O'Donnell and quite a few others have all openly discussed their struggles with clinical depression.
Most mental illness can be successfully treated, but only if the patient actually gets treatment. It's up to society and the patient to make it happen. (END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: As our many of the people that were profiled there, but the real key, Daryn, is to get that treatment early. Mental illness is indiscriminate against socioeconomic classes, so really anybody can be effected at any given time -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Sanjay, I think a lot of the confusion comes from what it is. Even just looking at the piece and different people who are dealing with it, sometimes you're talking about behavior situations, sometimes about chemical imbalance. So which one is it?
GUPTA: That's a very good question. It's a controversial question as well. People have come to define depression and most anxiety disorders as having a chemical sort of basis to them. That is a deficiency of a certain neurotransmitter in the brain that, if replenished through medications, can actually help alleviate a lot of the symptoms.
The problem, Daryn, as you point out, is a lot of the chemical imbalances actually manifest themselves as behavioral disorders. So there was a lot of time where it was -- quote unquote -- "talk therapy to try and treat with a lot of these mental disorders."
Nowadays, it's a combination of medicines, which there are many very good medications out there and behavioral/talk therapy, a combination of both those things.
KAGAN: There's still a lot more to talk about. You're not going anywhere, right?.
GUPTA: I'll be around.
KAGAN: All right, that's good, because in the next hour, we'll want to talk more about the stigma surrounding mental illness. Sanjay will be here.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
