Here is a letter written by “The Friends of the Semel Institude for Neuroscience & Human Behavior at UCLA”
We join the world in mourning the tragic passing of Robin Williams. Unfortunately, every day over 100 Americans die as a result of suicide. And 15 million people in this country at any given time suffer from Depression, but only about a quarter of these people seek and receive adequate diagnosis and treatment. One of the biggest reasons for this is that people do not want to be labeled as having a mental disorder because of the stigma that is still associated with mental illness.
We hope that the national conversation in the media about Robin Williams will encourage those who need treatment to seek it and not suffer in silence. We also hope that it will reduce the stigma of mental illness and encourage people to support research to develop new and innovative treatments for illnesses of the mind and brain that affect one in four adults and one in five children every year in this country alone.
Please read the full letter here:
http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/528455/55cd82f3e7/TEST/TEST/%7BVR_HOSTED_LINK%7D