Mental Health Awareness Month has been observed in May in the U.S. since 1949. Seventy years later, statistics show mental illness – in many forms – is more prevalent than ever.
Nearly one in five U.S. adults – 46.6 million – live with a mental illness, and estimates suggest about half do not receive professional care. Suicide rates in the U.S. have increased 25 percent since the turn of the century, and world-wide,depression accounts for more disability than any other disease in the world.
Mental health professionals say these numbers are a wake-up call, and that stigmasassociated with mental disorders prevent many from seeking treatment. Sonja Wasden, (www.animpossiblelife.com), co-author with her daughter of the book An Impossible Life, says her harrowing but uplifting story of living with her mental disorders is proof that treatment can bring hope and a stable life.
“We need to talk openly about mental disorders so we can destigmatize them,” Wasden says. “We all must make the most relentless attempt we can to normalize mental health issues, so that people can come forward knowing they will be understood and shown compassion.
“I want them to believe they can create a life worth living, despite the pain.”
From the outside, Wasden was living an idyllic suburban life with her husband and three children when, at 35, she was involuntarily admitted to a psychiatric hospital by her husband and father.
“To everyone who knew me outside of my family, I was living the perfect life,” Wasden says. “I dressed to the 9’s, I was married to the CEO of a hospital, I went to all the civic and charity events, and I had a beautiful home and great kids.”
Wasden didn’t think she belonged in a psychiatric hospital despite evidence to the contrary. For example, she hid steak knives throughout her home so she could cut the bottom of her feet, something she says she did when her emotional pain was so great that she needed physical pain to override it.
Upon being admitted to the hospital, Wasden remembers vividly, “I wanted to run, but my feet were glued to the floor. Surely it was a nightmare from which I would wake, and I pleaded to my husband to take me home.
“They told me, ‘Mrs. Wasden, we’re going to help you get well.’ I yelled, ‘But I’m not sick! Why won’t anyone believe me?’ But looking into my husband’s eyes, the realization hit me: the hospital visit was him running out of ways to make things better.”
Wasden got better, and while there were bumps in the road through 26 years of treatment, she says Ketamine and Dialectical Behavior Therapy helped her through her struggles. It’s been a remarkable journey through depression, mania, an eating disorder and suicidal thoughts.
“My father died from suicide, and I have attempted suicide,” Wasden says. “I’ve been in psychiatric hospitals twice, and I know five people who have committed suicide.”
Wasden’s inspiring story includes the profound impact her mental illness had on her family, yet how ultimately – through love, acceptance and treatment – it didn’t stop her from being a devoted wife and mother.
“You can be married and raise a family being mentally ill,” she says. “I have created a life worth living despite my struggles. There is hope.”
About Sonja Wasden
Sonja Wasden, co-author with her daughter Rachael Siddoway of the book An Impossible Life (www.animpossiblelife.com), graduated from Brigham Young University with a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities. She is married and has three children.
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