If you have ever been a student, I want you to think back to the days when you would stay home from school and your mom or dad would write notes for you that said something along these lines:

"Please excuse [insert name here] from school yesterday. He/she was sick."

The office typically accepted that, but after so many absences they would start asking for a doctor’s note to confirm the described physical illness.

Now, what if a parent wrote instead:

"Please excuse [insert name here] from school yesterday. Her/his depression was just too much for them to handle and they couldn’t get out of bed."

I can guarantee 99.9 percent of schools wouldn’t accept that as an excused absence.

But why? Why isn’t it accepted? If that’s what happened and they weren’t just ditching classes, why is a physical illness a more legitimate excuse than a mental illness? Why can't the school just accept that answer?

We live in a world where if you say you have depression or anxiety, you are told that it’s all in your head and to get over it. But when you say that you have a stomach ache or a fever, you are immediately told to get well soon, rest up and stay home.

It has been said that mental illnesses are becoming more abundant in today’s culture but it’s not because more people are suffering with them, it’s because it is getting easier to diagnose them.

If you break a bone, you put a cast on it. Unfortunately, if your brain is broken, you can’t just wrap it up and call it a day.

In today’s culture, having a mental illness isn’t taken as seriously as having a physical illness. Instead, people are telling those who suffer from something mentally that they’re crazy.

Why is that the case? Is it because a lot of people don’t understand what’s going through someone’s head unless they are dealing with it too? They say ignorance is bliss but honestly, it’s only blissful for those that are ignorant of what it’s like to live with something only some can see.

If anything, mental illnesses should be taken more seriously because they aren’t so easily taken care of.

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, one in five Americans suffer from some mental illness each year. That’s 42.5 million Americans that deal with depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety or schizophrenia.

I want you to list five people you know. The chances that at least one of them suffers from a mental illness is pretty likely.

Mental illnesses should not be glorified.

They should not be taken lightly.

They should not be treated as nothing.

They should not be deemed invalid compared to a physical illness.