Real illnesses that exact a heavy toll

Mental illnesses are medical conditions that disrupt a person's thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others and daily functioning.

That definition comes from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the largest grassroots health organization in the United States that is dedicated to people affected by mental illness.

Mental illnesses include depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and a host of other disorders, and severity can vary widely from person to person. Consequences of such illnesses involve difficulties in sustaining personal relationships and carrying on daily lives, and sometimes self-destructive behavior, even suicide.