Every year, millions of Americans struggle with the reality of mental illness. During the month of May, the National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI) and Americans everywhere are bringing awareness to mental health. Every May, we unite to break stigmas, provide support, and educate the public about the seriousness of mental illnesses.

Growing up, we always perceived mental illness as the boy who sits alone at lunch, or the girl who wears all black, or the boy with cuts up his arm. However, we fail to realize mental illness walks among us, hidden within the most popular boy in school, or the girl that is always smiling, or the boy who always seems to be successful. Mental illness doesn't hold up a sign letting us know who the sufferers are, rather, it resides quietly and internally.

Today, one in five Americans suffers from a mental illness. That means in a room of five of your closest friends, at least one of them is suffering from a battle within -- perhaps in silence. Mood disorders, such as depression and bipolar disorder, are the third most common cause for hospitalization in 18 to 30-year-olds. In America, suicide caused by an untreated mental illness is the second leading cause of death in 15 to 24-year-olds. Despite the high percentage of those struggling with mental illness, only 41 percent of adults in America with a mental condition received mental health services in the past year.

Now, let's break the stigma. Mental illness is not weird. Mental illness is not crazy. Mental illness is not attention seeking. Mental illness is a chemical imbalance in the brain. Mental illness is serious.

With so many of our peers, neighbors, friends, and family, suffering from mental disorders, it is time we take a pledge to stop ridiculing those struggling -- a pledge to band together and support one another in the fight against our internal demons. We need to speak up, and speak loud about the epidemic of mental illness and carry those that need our help. We need to show each other the support and compassion needed for those struggling to feel comfortable to seek out the help they desperately need to get better. We need to show those struggling that they are not alone and that they will be loved no matter how broken they feel.

Once we stop the stigma, we can stop the mental illness epidemic.