Equality 4 Mental Health is a cross-party, cross-society campaign aimed at persuading the government to help reduce the suffering of those with mental ill health by increasing investment into the provision of mental health services.
I joined this campaign because it's appalling that there isn't parity between mental and physical health.
Any professional in the field will tell you that any activity in the brain affects the entire body, so why is there such a stigma if the most important organ in your body is malfunctioning? The research into Alzheimer's and dementia is one of the most prevalent problems of this decade and these are brain diseases so why should depression or bi-polar be any different? Why is it that they're discriminated against? The waiting lines for mental illness are endless, whereas, if you suffer from a physical illness you will certainly be seen.
To make it worse, most GPs haven't been trained in mental disorders nor understand which drugs are appropriate to prescribe. In my opinion, they dole them out like sweets in the hope the problem will go away. It's not going away, it's accelerating. The highest rate of suicide is in men under 30, more and more children are affected by mental illness and if you don't care about those, £100billion is lost each year on absenteeism at work due to stress related illness. Some 90% of people seeking medical care are doing so because of stress-related disorders linked to extreme emotions, rather than actual illnesses.
There would be less of a burden on the NHS as mental disorders cause predispositions to many chronic diseases and other conditions such as: dementia, diabetes 2, heart disease, certain cancers, premature aging and many others. Outside of that, criminality, drug abuse and violence are the result of mental problems that aren't addressed early.
If children who have signs of anti-social behavior were treated early enough, many of these problems would be eradicated.
If we're going to prevent the foreboding 2020 prediction that it will be mental illness that will be the biggest cause of mortality then we're going to have to do something... fast.
If the government don't put funds for mental health in this budget at the end of November, it won't happen for a long time and the suffering and lack of help will continue. So please tweet #equality4mentalhealth and help us spread the word. We can't do this without you.
If you want to show your support for funds for mental illness before the next Budget at the end of November please sign up at http://equality4mentalhealth.uk/ If it's not approved there won't be another chance. Thank you from my heart and mind
Ruby's new book - A Mindfulness Guide For The Frazzled - will be published in January 2016. Be the first to find out more here. Until then, find out where you can see her Sane New World show.