A close family member of mine, and a few friends, suffer from bipolar disorder, which really opened my eyes to the reality (and pervasiveness) of mental illnesses (particularly mood disorders), and also to the absolute lack of general knowledge and understanding on the topic. And to the abysmally poor state of aid to the mentally ill in states across the nation (though, AFAICT, it’s actually a good deal better than many in my state of California. That being said, it’s still far from sufficient).

I like that Jack McCullough’s recent post on your bvs blog, regarding Mayor April Jin’s run for the Vermont Legislature, calls attention to the common inconsistency of responses that most people have to mental illnesses versus “physical” illnesses (despite that many [most?] mental illnesses are just the visible expressions of physical brain diseases [including bipolar disorder]). My friend and I have come across such poor thinking first-hand in the past. I hope that more and more people will become aware of the duality of these sorts of distinctions.

By the way, as far as Kevin’s description of me goes (i.e., an advocate for the mentally ill homeless, the following news article from last Autumn may have at least in part be among the reasons responsible for it: Barre – Montpelier Times Argus, here and Rutland Herald, here (Sunday, September 11, 2005; identical article; sister newspapers).