Is there a difference between physical and mental health?
In recent years, mental health providers and advocates have sought to blur the line between diseases of the mind and body, arguing that it is a false distinction that leads to common misperceptions of how mental illness works.
In pop culture, mental illness is caused by childhood trauma or an inability to cope and is solved with Freudian talk therapy. But increasingly doctors are finding that genetic problems or brain injuries are behind many problems and prescription drugs are the answer.
(Advocates also hope that erasing the distinction will lead to mental health parity — meaning that insurers and the government do not distinguish between heart disease and bipolar disorder, for example, when paying for care.)
It would be mostly an academic question, but Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beverly Perdue used the distinction during a debate Tuesday to argue she was not responsible for the problems with the state's mental health reform efforts.
When Republican Pat McCrory noted that Perdue has called herself a "health leader" in the state, she responded: "Physical health, not mental health, Pat. There's a real difference."
Since 2001, Perdue has chaired the N.C. Health and Wellness Trust Fund. Although the group did not play a role in mental health reform, it has tackled the issue of mental health.
In this May 2007 press release, for example, the group announced that it was providing a grant for mental health providers to help with prescription drug needs.
Update: The Perdue campaign responds here.