Rosalynn Carter Quotes

Well, I think it's important to stand as an advocate for the mentally ill.

When I announced my focus on mental health as first lady of Georgia in 1971, none but five mental health advocates in the state wanted to be involved with the issue.

We need to be open about mental illness, and demand the mental health services we need.

In this country, we've gotten away from institutionalizing and we've moved toward assimilating and drugging the mentally ill.

Americans with mental illness deserve our understanding and they deserve excellent medical care.

The federal government has lost its way and largely ignored the needs of people with psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar illness.

We must bring the issue of mental illness out into the sunlight, out of the shadow, out of the closet, deal with it, treat people, have centers where people can get the necessary help.

Mental health is an issue ailing everyone - it is so omnipresent in society, we must work towards making it better.

It's not something I'm embarrassed about. Depression is an issue that tends to be brushed under the carpet. My hope is that if people with a public profile are prepared to talk about it, then it might prompt other people to talk about it too.

Diagnoses exist to help get people services they need - but there's no such thing as mental illness. We're all mentally ill.

I have spent most of my life working with mental illness. I have been president of the world's largest association of mental-illness workers, and I am all for more funding for mental-health care and research - but not in the vain hope that it will curb violence.

But like Mrs. Ford, I think that the more people realize what a difficult and what an insidious disease it is, the sooner people will start to correct that situation.

People are always selling the idea that people with mental illness are suffering. I think madness can be an escape. If things are not so good, you maybe want to imagine something better.

Mental health needs a great deal of attention. It's the final taboo and it needs to be faced and dealt with.

The fact is, psychiatric help is not widely available to CIA agents - and as in the military, there is a stigma attached to admitting post-traumatic stress.

Mental health is seen as a massive drag to have to write about - worthy, dull. Something you should 'have' to read / write about.

Yes, this is 21st-century America. Where we have better means to treat mental illness than ever before, but choose to let the insane people decide to get it or not.

In an ideal world, it would not take a film star to get the media focused on mental illness.

Several politicians and wives of politicians have been public about their experiences with depression or bipolar illness, including Lawton Chiles, Patrick Kennedy, Tipper Gore and Kitty Dukakis. Each made a tremendous difference by doing so.

Treating mental health illness is compassionate and saves money.

I don't find anything upsetting or gross or degrading about fighting with a mental illness: Bipolar or Schizophrenia.

We know how to treat depression, we know how to treat mental illness, and we have not had the political will in our country to make it happen.

Mental health is an area where people are embarrassed. They don't want to talk about it because somehow they feel they're a failure as a parent or, you know, they're embarrassed for their child or they want to protect their child, lots of very good reasons, but mental health, I feel, is something that you have to talk about.

We need to treat people with mental illness like people.

The response from the beginning has been really, really wonderful and positive. People have always really responded to me talking about mental health.