Good mental health is no different from good physical health

Seeing a physician isn’t embarrassing if someone has the flu, a high fever or other serious health problems. No one criticizes people for seeking medical help for a physical health problem, and indeed, most people would find fault if they didn’t seek medical help.

Yet people often find that mental health issues bring very different reactions. People sometimes see mental illness not as a health issue, but as a serious defect, as something that marks a person as weak, unstable or perhaps even violent or dangerous.

Such reactions have serious consequences for the millions of Americans who could b...