The doubt of the reality of mental illness has not vanished from society. It is a stigma that presents itself more than I had ever realized before.

Not too long ago, I came across a claim I had never heard of before — a claim that mental illness is not real.

I was completely perplexed. How could someone say that mental illness is not real? How could people believe that such a thing does not exist?

It is true that mental illness is not as blatantly present as a physical ailment. However, that does not mean it is not there. As the name implies, mental illness takes refuge in the brain. It is a real condition, a complex phenomenon that is related to biological, genetic, psychological, as well as social factors. In fact, evidence from the National Institute of Mental Health shows that it can possibly be related to changes in the anatomy, physiology and chemistry of the nervous system.

It is something we are all prone to, something that affects people of all ages, races, sex, etc. (in 2013 the National Institute of Mental Health reported that approximately 61.5 million Americans experience a mental health disorder every year). It is something that affects people around the world (according to the U.S. Surgeon General 20 percent of youths ages 13 to 18 in the U.S. suffer from serious mental disorders that cause significant impairment in their lives every day). It is something that is not much different than any other medical disease (but it has been estimated that nearly two-thirds of people with diagnosable mental illness do not seek treatment).

Just like a bone or a kidney, the brain is a part of a person’s body. If someone fractured a bone they would get professional care. They wouldn’t be urged to “just keep moving.” They wouldn’t be told to “stop making such a big deal out of it, try harder, make an effort.” They wouldn’t be stigmatized. Then why should mental illnesses be treated any differently?

Mental illnesses can occur when neurotransmitters do not correctly send chemical messages between neurons. One neurotransmitter, serotonin, helps to control functions such as mood, appetite and sleep and research has shown that often times people with depression have lower levels of serotonin than is considered normal. Dopamine mainly controls movement and the flow of information to the front of the brain. Some studies have suggested that too little dopamine can play a role in disorders like schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The most common neurotransmitter, glutamate, plays an important role during early brain development and furthermore assists in learning and memory. People who have trouble making or using this neurotransmitter have been linked to autism, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), schizophrenia, depression and more. Amygdala, which activates responses to a possibly dangerous situation, can be involved in anxiety disorders, phobias and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) controls blood pressure, heart rate and more and has been linked to ADHD, schizophrenia and depression. The hippocampus, which helps to create and file memories, can be involved in mood disorders.

Mental illness is partly an illness of the brain. Research has shown that.

Yet there is still a stigma that often times, stigma leads to dissimilar treatment of individuals and can even prevent the mentally ill from getting the proper treatment. This stigma has been defined as the “devaluing, disgracing and disfavoring by the general public of individuals with mental illnesses.” A recent study by researchers at Case Western Reserve University has called for further measures to “gauge mental illness stigma in adolescents.”

“Millions of young people do not receive mental health treatment every year. There are modifiable barriers to treatment, with an important barrier being stigma,” Melissa Pinto, one of the authors, said. “Working to achieve a supportive social culture toward mental health, by removing stigma, will hopefully result in more young people receiving mental health treatment earlier in the course of illness.”

Though mental illness is not entirely curable, it is treatable and those who are diagnosed can find relief from their symptoms in a variety of ways with medication, support groups, and psychotherapy being only a few.

Mental illnesses are not fabrications. They are more than real, more than treatable health conditions. To claim that there is no reality to them would be denying people the opportunity to effective treatment and recovery and to, at the end of the day, live a “normal” life.