I am certifiably crazy. Well, specifically, I suffer from Psychotic Depression.

In my early teens, I began to develop severe paranoia and both auditory and visual hallucinations. At the same time, I battled severe depression and anxiety stemming from a sexual assault at the young age of 10.

When many heard me talk about hallucinating, they would tense up and begin to ignore me. Images of serial killers from shows like "Criminal Minds" came to their mind. I was driven to isolation, which only furthered my illness. I held it in, and I never told my loved ones.

Then one day, I could no longer bottle up everything I held within me. I had a nervous breakdown and began have multiple dissociative states. Imagine waking up laying on a hospital bed not knowing what had occurred in the previous 12 hours. Imagine your parents saying that you attempted to ride a bicycle with two flat tires to a "better place".

That was me on the night of February 18, 2017. Don't write me off as some lunatic and social pariah. One in 5 American adults suffers from a mental illness. That is a significant chunk of the national populous. For all but a mental illness, these people are your average Americans. These people should not be ignored.

Personally, I have lost jobs, friends, and much more as a result of my illness. I have many people tell me to just get over it or that I need to stop being sad. Mental illness is not something that you can cure by "faking it until you make it." Psychosis is not a wild imagination, and depression is not sadness.

Many of these illnesses are chemical imbalances caused by biological and environmental factors. In most cases, lifelong medication and/or therapy is needed. Us American citizens that suffer from this need support.

American culture tends to lean toward the rugged individual that can pull himself up by his own bootstraps. While in many cases this is true, there are however a significant number of people in circumstances that hinder this. In America, we need the use of culture and institutions to shine a light on such an important issue. We can start by declaring the opioid addiction crisis and national emergency, reforming our mental health system so everyone can have access to it, or even putting out a general awareness campaign.

Any step forward will go a long way in helping. The mentally ill are Americans, just like every citizen. We are your mothers, fathers, siblings, and neighbors. But most importantly, we are humans deserving your love and assistance.

Open your hearts.