San Clemente, CA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 10/06/2014 --One in five Americans suffer from a mental illness every year, with a little over half receiving any treatment. Mental Illness Awareness week was formed by the U.S. Congress in 1990 in recognition of the National Association of Mental Illness (NAMI), providing them with an opportunity to engage the community in its mission of education and awareness in improving mental health. Mental Illness Awareness Week also coincides with National Day of Prayer for Mental Illness Recovery and Understanding and National Depression Screening Day.

Having partnered with them in previous mental health awareness events by sponsoring the annual NAMI walks in Los Angeles and Orange County, this year, Sovereign Health Group is helping the national association again in its pursuit of ending the stigma associated with mental illness and fueling the discussion on better research and treatment.

"Sovereign Health is dedicated to the continued effort to creating awareness about the residential mental health programs that we offer for adults and adolescents,” said Marissa Maldonado, Director of Business Development and Marketing. “Those who suffer from debilitating disorders such as anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder and other mental health conditions can get residential treatment for 30, 60 or 90 days in a therapeutic setting. We believe that the more knowledge of the options we have, the more people will seek out the help they deserve and need."

This year’s theme, “living with schizophrenia,” highlights one of the mental disorders that is associated with the highest amount of misinformation. Due much in part to the media, schizophrenics are often mislabeled as having split personalities, hearing voices or are simply dangerous. Although an extremely small portion of schizophrenics suffer from dissociative identity disorder, or split personalities, the vast majority do not commit any violent crimes, with most individuals whom suffer from hearing voices only harming themselves.

Characterized by communicational issues resulting from disjointed regions of the brain, schizophrenia possesses a wide range of symptoms that include unusual perception, ideas and behavior. Due to the tendency of antipsychotics to lead to diabetes and obesity as well as a lack of proper treatment, schizophrenics die 20 years younger on average, something that NAMI and Sovereign Health find unacceptable and avoidable.

About Sovereign Health Group
Sovereign Health Group offers high quality and comprehensive addiction, mental health and dual diagnosis treatment programs for adults and adolescents, including support services for the family system. Sovereign Health’s treatment programs specialize in addressing the underlying mental health conditions by utilizing innovative and cutting edge cognitive testing, rehabilitation and evidence-based treatment modalities. They have multiple treatment locations in the United States and accept most private insurances.

If you would like to learn more about how Sovereign Health is doing their part for Mental Illness Awareness week, visit their news section on sovhealth.com for the latest blogs, press releases and networking events. Call their 24/7 hotline to speak with a member of their admissions team for further information on their mental health programs at 866-948-9688.