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Despite knowing about the dangers of poor mental health, why is it so difficult to talk about it?

The phrase mental illness is still used in a derogatory manner in our society. We constantly refuse to give mental health the priority it deserves. There are few programmes being implemented to develop a positive attitude towards breaking the stigma against mental illness. As a result, the subject remains taboo to even talk about. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders groups mental illness under about 20 subheadings, and rather than being binary or exclusive, it is to be thought of as a spectrum that we all live on. At one end is mental health, where we are thriving, satisfied and at ease. In the middle area are people seen to be coping, surviving or struggling. And at the other far end, sits a range of mental illnesses. Most of us move back and forth on this spectrum.