Mental illnesses are usually seen as less of a priority compared to physical illnesses. People who struggled with mental illnesses are told to suck it up and stop being emotional. This approach is neither appropriate nor practical. Though more awareness has been raised in the past few decades, many people still cannot grasp the concept that not all illnesses are visible to the naked eye. In fact, illnesses such as depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder and bipolar disorder have been proved just as deadly as physical illnesses, for they have claimed the lives of many.

Many psychologists believe that we should treat mental illnesses in the same way that we do physical illnesses. If a person is suffering from leukemia, they are sent to the hospital for treatment and to doctors' appointments. Additionally, they receive medicine and support for all their needs. On the other hand, many people suffering from depression have been told that it is all in their heads. The idea that a person with depression should just “get over it and suck it up” makes just about as much sense as telling a person who is missing a limb “suck it up and the bleeding will stop.” In the same way that cancer requires medical treatment, mental illnesses require medical treatment as well.

Over the past few years, mental illnesses have been proven to be just as harmful as physical illnesses. The fact that they are not able to be seen by the naked eye tends to confuse people; however, they are just as deadly. Instead of branding people who suffer from mental illnesses as “overemotional” or “crazy”, we should be compassionate and sympathetic. We would never tell a person who had a limb amputated to “deal with it and stop complaining.” Likewise, we should be understanding to all people who suffer from mental illnesses, because their condition is completely outside of their control. They are not crazy or irrational; they are simply sick, and deserve help and support in beating their illness.