From the Change Direction website: "America is at a crossroads when it comes to how our society addresses mental health. We know that one in five of our citizens has a diagnosable mental health condition, and that more Americans are expected to die this year by suicide than in car accidents.

While many of us are comfortable acknowledging publicly our physical suffering, for which we almost always seek help, many more of us privately experience mental suffering, for which we almost never reach out.

From the New York Times website: “Alzheimer’s disease, high blood pressure and heart disease are the three most common chronic conditions in assisted living facilities: 82 percent of residents have at least one of them, according to a new government study. But what is alarming is how these ailments overlap.”

From the National Health Institutes of Mental Health website: In the last decade, the United States has experienced a series of man-made and natural disasters. Large numbers of people in this country have been exposed to potentially traumatic events. This video focuses on NIMH research in the areas of traumatic stress reactions and specifically mental health issues among U.S. service members. What we learn from the military experience can help us understand stress risk predictions for the entire population.