May is Mental Health Month, and Beaufort County is lucky to have top-notch services within its borders.

Whether the Behavioral Health Unit at Vidant Beaufort Hospital, private practitioners or a Mobile Crisis responder, residents have the tools to take control of their mental health and can rest assured they are in good hands.

However, there is still one problem that prevails: the stigma associated with mental illness.

People tend to picture mental illness as an ominous insane asylum, with dim lights, straightjackets and restraints. That picture is inaccurate and misleading.

Mental illness can happen to anyone, and it doesn’t mean a person is crazy. It’s often an unspoken struggle, one that people may never see, and it could be affecting a family member or a coworker one desk away.

Mental illness has no prejudice. It can affect anyone, no matter what the circumstances — rich or poor, black or white, young or old.

There is no generic “face” of this type of illness. Each person is different and experiences symptoms differently, some worse than others.

Whether a moderate case of Generalized Anxiety Disorder or severe depression, it is not “in a person’s head.” One can’t physically see mental illness, but it is very much there. It is a disease, just like any other physical ailment.

One wouldn’t tell a person using a wheelchair to just get over it and walk. The same outlook should be true of those suffering with mental illnesses.

Residents have a responsibility to combat the stigma associated with mental illness. This stigma discourages those suffering from getting help and talking about what is happening. Dismissing someone as “crazy” is in no way helpful, nor is it true.

In light of Mental Health Month, now is the time to talk about mental illness. It is real and there is help. Most importantly, those with mental illnesses are not alone.