"It is a matter of history that many of our greatest leaders in the last few centuries have been afflicted with various types of mental illnesses," Smith said....
PORTLAND — Suicides outnumber homicides in the United States, and about 90 percent of people who kill themselves have a diagnosable and preventable problem such as depression, a top mental-health official said yesterday.
Charles Curie, who heads the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said suicides in the United States run at about 80 a day, or more than 29,000 a year, three for each two homicides.
He addressed the opening of a three-day suicide-prevention conference for mental-health and social workers from eight Western states.
"Patients and consumers must be at the center of physical and mental-health care," he said. "Without that ... people will continue to be leery in seeking the help they need, confused about how to get the help they need and scared to reach out for it."
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2002193045_suicide01m.html