"Nothing is wrong with her; she's just crazy."

Calling her crazy is not going to fix the fact that she is having visual and auditory hallucinations.

"You're too old to be shy; go say hello to everyone."

Social anxiety is a real thing.

"He doesn't do anything but sleep all day; he's so lazy!"

Well, depression can oftentimes take the motivation right out of you.

"I cannot afford to get the help that I need."

These are only a few of the things I've heard in regard to mental illness while growing up in a predominantly black community. Mental illness is often a topic that's swept underneath the rug in many black communities. Many are unaware of the mental disorders that they may have, while others understand but cannot afford to seek treatment or are too ashamed to.

But who is to blame for the miseducation of psychopathology, and minuscule resources present to provide relief for those seeking affordable treatment, within black or low-income communities?

We live in a society where people suffering from drug addictions are incarcerated over and over, their brains often putting their bodies through agonizing pain in order to force them to seek their next hit -- but our solution is to simply place them in a jail cell with hopes that they'll possibly learn their lesson.

Society also often associates criminal behavior with black communities, but no one takes into consideration the psychological factors that could be influencing such behaviors. Take for instance a boy who suffers from severe anger issues and has shown symptoms of ADHD which causes him to "act out" in class. A school system with teachers who are not equipped to distinguish such behaviors and attribute them to a possible illness, may simply label this child as a misfit, constantly placing him in detention or sending him home. His parents accept the label of misfit upon their child due to their little-to-no knowledge of mental disorders, and proceed to take disciplinary actions.

Growing up in a failing and low-income school system, along with parents who have no understanding of what their son is going through, may end up pushing this child to drop out of school to join a gang with other "misfits" who are more likely to understand him and give him the acceptance he seeks.

Although this is an imagined scenario, who is to say such situations do not happen? The media often portrays mental illness as being a prevalent factor among crimes committed by whites, wanting us to view suspects who've committed heinous crimes as innocent individuals who succumbed to an ongoing battle within their minds. Many people of color face that same battle, but instead, their negative past affiliations or behaviors often overshadows it.

With the government, low-income school systems and the media either not prioritizing or mishandling the notion of mental illness, straying away from the negative stigma surrounding it may pose as a difficult task for many. I'm glad that the awareness of mental illnesses prevalent in black communities is now on the verge of increasing as people are learning that mental illnesses do not discriminate and are just as important as physical afflictions.