A recent episode of the TV show "Glee" contained a really good message in it about the need to treat mental illness. In a conversation between an OCD woman and her new therapist, the therapist suggest to the woman that she needs help. The woman says that she was born the way she was and that is is okay. The therapist states that the mental illness is keeping her from being the person she could be; as an example, she points out that diabetics are born that way but in would not occur to anyone not to give them insulin. The therapist also points out that in this country being mentally ill is something people are ashamed of; yet, they are born with the chemical imbalance that creates the mental illness. Being mentally ill is not bad, it is simply a fact.
Mental illness is a disease like any other disease. It needs to be treated as such. People who are mentally ill need to get therapy and medication. They owe this to themselves and the people in their lives. With help, they can then be the people they were actually born to be.
