Friday, October 19, 2012

Mental Illness


Ten years ago, one of the Royal Bank’s monthly letters, stated in part “It has often been said that the true test of a civilized society lies in how it treats its weakest members. When it comes to the mentally ill, Canada has not done well by this test.” While there seems to be a greater willingness for people to speak about this issue, what has really changed in the past ten years?
Although there may be an increased public awareness and more educational material available on the many forms of mental illness, I think that as a society we are still on the periphery of addressing the issue and are a long way from substantial progress. Fund raising activities for research of mental illness needs to be on the same scale as those for cancer, heart disease and other major health-related initiatives. Without that level of funding, we are unlikely to achieve any significant achievements.

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