I often hear people say, “You wouldn’t tell someone with cancer to just ‘get over it,’ so then why would you say the same to someone with depression?”

As a society, we often don’t view mental illness for what it really is — a truly distressing medical issue. Since we usually cannot see the visible effects like we can with hair loss associated with chemotherapy in treating cancer, we commonly misconceive these illnesses as personal tics or cries for attention. But just because these struggles are invisible to others doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

Each year, 26.2 percent of adults in the U.S. [will suffer from mental illness](http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-numbers-count-mental-disorders-in-america/index.shtml) — that’s about one in four Americans who will find themselves struggling with an illness such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or major depression, just to name a few. Studying at a large university, one in four is a really high ratio. Think about the large lecture halls at MU and how there’s a good chance the people sitting next to us, behind us, or in front of us are struggling with mental illness. After all, in a class of over 400 students, statistically, about 100 are dealing with this invisible battle.

So if mental illness is real and more problematic than we thought, what are we doing to help those dealing with these issues? Providing our nation with adequate health care has always been a problem, and even with Obamacare in the past few years, it’s not much different. From a doctor’s office visit to the emergency room, affording and receiving ample treatment is difficult.

At the beginning of this year, I took a trip to the emergency room at University Hospital with one of my friends. He ended up waiting seven hours to be seen, during which those of us with him watched him shake violently on the floor from chills and agonizing stomach pains. The nurses came and went, taking his vital signs, saying that everything looked fine, all without noticing the amount of physical distress he was experiencing. By the time he was seen, late in the evening, he felt completely fine and the University Hospital’s staff was unable to give him a diagnosis.

Seven hours with purely physical symptoms, and it’s still difficult to provide proper treatment for a patient. What about with mental illness — something that is more invisible than someone violently shaking from chills? Yes, the situations do vary slightly, but an emergency room is where those who are waiting need immediate attention in the midst of a possible life-threatening situation. If they are having trouble receiving attention, how are we ever going to service those whose struggles are blind to us?

Everyone knows the federal budget is an ongoing problem, and mental illness hasn’t always been on the top of the list for Congress or the president. However, President Obama changed this last week when he proposed an increase of $3.9 billion for the 2014 budget in the health sector, with $130 million being allotted specifically toward mental health.

In light of recent events, including the devastating shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, it seems the president is finally initiating change instead of just speaking about it. As an individual who opposes many of the decisions and policy choices of the Obama administration, seeing an issue as important as mental health addressed gives me a bit more faith in his second term. It’s not a perfect solution, as money cannot change negative mindsets toward mental health, but it’s a step in the right direction. And sometimes that’s all we need — just one little step to transform the way our nation sees and treats an issue.