Let's Scrap the Stigma of Mental Illness

Even though one in five Americans is estimated to suffer from mental health illness, talk about mental health in the rural West remains muted. I’d like to talk about it this Thanksgiving because I’m grateful I got the help I needed after a long-fought problem: I’m bipolar, and I’m being treated for it.

I didn’t start out bipolar. I was 24 when my behavior took a dive. At first, I chalked it up to my job in New York, where I was buying and selling stocks all day. I became manic and anxious, prone to l periods of depression laced with sleepless anxiety.

During a period of ramped-up mental anguis...