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Work is still being done to find treatments and cures.
There are professionals here in Indianapolis working to provide care and research around mental health. Numbers show just how much mental health has an impact here in Indiana.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness found more than 1.1 million adult Hoosiers have a mental health condition. As of February 2021, more than 38% of adults in Indiana reported symptoms of anxiety and depression. About 264,000 Hoosier adults have a serious mental illness.
“When we think of mental illness, it’s not just one thing,” said Zachary Adams, a clinical psychologist at IU Health.
Adams said his work has to do with treatment, prevention and improving our understanding of mental illness over the course of a lifespan, from children to seniors. Some of that time is spent in the lab researching things like traumatic stress and substance abuse disorders, and how to improve care.
“Mental health, mental well-being, mental illness. On the one hand, it’s a specific thing, but on the other, it’s a pretty complex and broad term,” he said.” In general terms, it has to do with how we’re doing with respect to our emotions, our relationships, how we’re able to act and navigate the world.”
He said there are a lot of different conditions and disorders that can affect the way people feel, act and are able to function.
We asked him a tough question: what is happening in the brain when someone struggles with mental illness?
“What’s happening in the brain and the body when somebody is experiencing mental illness or concerns with their mental health is a complex question and that’s partly because the brain is complex,” he said. “In general terms, what we think is going on is that some of the different circuits in the brain sometimes are functioning in ways that are different from how they might normally and the result of that can be changes in things like how we process stress, emotions and so forth.”
He said they are continuing to learn more about ways to cope with and treat those struggles.
“Psychotherapy, talk therapy, counseling might be in the picture,” he said. “For some folks, medications are going to be really helpful.”
He wanted to emphasize that the myth people diagnosed with mental illness are instantly taken to institutions or rehab facilities is not true. He said it can often start with a conversation with your family, your primary care doctor or other medical professionals you see, and steps towards the best treatment for each person can then be taken.
Talk therapy is a common thing people turn to when they need help.
“We heal in connection with other people and that is the biggest reason why therapy does work,” said Jess Mills, the owner and a practicing therapist at Brave Life Therapy in Indianapolis.
She said her practice has nine therapists who specialize in a wide range of topics, from teens who need help with social skills, to neurodivergent kids, couples and families, to members of the LGBTQ+ community.
She said social media is like a double-edged sword. On one hand, it plays a huge part in fueling people’s mental health struggles.
“Our nervous systems are not meant to be inundated with trauma, videos of trauma all the time,” she said.
On the other hand, it can help open up the conversation as more celebrities and everyday people share their mental health struggles online.
“It helps normalize the fact that everybody struggles and nobody is actually immune to trauma or things happening in their lives,” she said.
According to Mills, the COVID-19 pandemic changed the landscape for mental health and therapy.
“That was a collective trauma for a lot of people, for the world,” she said. “We have been in a place where therapy is talked about more, it is less taboo than it was before, and so we’re seeing a lot more people reaching out for help.”
Her practice has seen an increase in people seeking help in recent years, especially in the teen population.
NAMI found one in six U.S. youth ages 6 to 17 experiences a mental health disorder each year. It found 90,000 Hoosiers age 12 to 17 have depression.
Mills said one of the hardest hurdles of therapy is walking in the door.
“My clients, after their first session, often leave with a huge sense of relief that they have found a place that they can come and that they can talk,” she said.
Another hard hurdle can be affording care. Mills said her practice is out-of-network with all insurance companies. The Brave Life Therapy website lists five main reasons for this, including required reporting to insurance companies, insurance companies only paying for “medically necessary” treatment and insurance companies limiting session times.
Rates for clinicians at her practice range from $120 to $300 a session, depending on the length of time. However, they have two interns, whose work is supervised by a licensed therapist, and their costs range from $40 to $60 a session.
Thanks to efforts like Jim Irsay’s Kicking the Stigma campaign, both Mills and Adams said the ice around mental health and seeking help is starting to thaw.
“There are more folks taking that step, to have that conversation with their healthcare team to say, this is something that I’m struggling with, and I’d love to hear what my options are,” said Adams.
“My message would be, even if you’re afraid, it just takes a little bit of courage and bravery to start on a journey that can be so profoundly healing and empowering,” said Mills.
Each year, the Colts dedicate a home game to Kicking the Stigma. This year’s game is the home game on October 5th against the Las Vegas Raiders.
According to the Kicking the Stigma website, the organization will be recognizing mental health professionals and their families, as well as highlighting mental health programming at Touchdown Town, in the stadium concourse, and during the pregame with players and coaches wearing Kicking the Stigma gear.
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