Clearing up myths and misconceptions surrounding Mental Illness
We don’t talk about mental illness. It’s a difficult subject. Most people would rather look the other way. Then myths and misconceptions take hold because we don’t talk about mental illness.
So here are a few frequently asked questions and answers.
Or in some cases – a few frequently made statements and responses.
How many people suffer from mental illness?
In Aruba, doctors estimated that 12.000 people needed mental health care in 2020. That was 12% of the (registered) population.
In the United States, for example, the numbers are as follows:
1 in 5 U.S. adults experience mental illness each year (20%)
1 in 20 U.S. adults experience serious mental illness each year (5%)
1 in 6 U.S. youth aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year (17%)
50% of all lifetime mental illness begins by age 14, and 75% by age 24
Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among people aged 10-14
Globally 800,000 people die by suicide each year. That’s one person every 40 seconds. It’s twice as many deaths as homicides.
Why isn’t mental illness a hot topic of conversation?
It’s an uncomfortable topic. Not many people understand the basic concepts of mental health.
People who suffer from poor mental health or mental illness are afraid of losing their livelihoods, of tanking future career opportunities, of familial and social backlash or alienation. These fears are not paranoid delusions. They are simply the reality of society today.
Hopefully tomorrow will be better, and so on and so forth, till it becomes normal to talk about mental health, mental illness and suicide.
Why do people with different mental illnesses get treated differently?
Good question. Fear perhaps. Ignorance, maybe.
In certain cases it has to do with severity. If you’re schizophrenic and suffering a psychotic break you can’t be held liable for your actions. But with certain disorders, such as addiction or personality disorders, courts, for example, find that there is a component of choice or control which other mental illnesses lack.
The greatest myths and misconceptions come from everyone being lumped into to same group. If you’re mentally ill you must be insane, or can’t be responsible for your actions.
I’m not a professional. I can’t help someone with mental illness.
Actually, yes you can. Let me count the ways:
Reach out. Let them know you’re there for them. Keep reaching out. They may not be ready to share. But they might get there quicker if they know someone is there.
Learn about mental illness. Share facts with others. Especially when if you hear something false.
Ask the person themselves what it’s like. Don’t assume that just because you read an article, that that is their experience.
Treat them with respect. Like you would any other person.
Help them get support.
I don’t believe in mental illness! Stop acting like a victim. You’re making a mountain out of a molehill!
Seeing is believing. You’re incredibly lucky if you’ve never experienced mental illness. I’ve never seen gravity, but I know it’s there. I don’t understand exactly how planes fly, but they do.
Hopefully one day brain scans will provide the proof some people need in order to believe in a mental illness they cannot see. But until there are more and larger scale studies done, we’re far from “beep – you suffer from…” and farther still from “beep, beep – there’s a pill for that”.
The other day a doctor told me she didn’t really believe in mental illness until she experienced it herself. So did a director of a large multinational corporation. For some mental illness does not exist until they have experienced it themselves.
It’s all in your head!
No, no, no, no, no. Just no.
I’m mentally ill, so I can’t be taken seriously.
My perception must be skewed, because I have a mental illness.
Vice versa, if I do communicate eloquently, am adaptive and function at high levels – I cannot be mentally ill.
This is just not true. It’s one of the biggest myths and misconceptions. High functioning mental illness is really a thing. Mental illness affects all kinds of people, regardless of their background or intelligence. In some cases it’s even a coping mechanism, like self medication or self harm. Plenty of workaholics suffer from poor mental health.
One of my personal coping mechanisms is to keep my brain and/or body so busy and challenged that it overwhelms the anxiety. Or in crisis situations I slip into a defense mechanism where I dissociate and go on auto-pilot. It’s a way to delay the anxiety, because taking charge and taking over most likely means the stressful situation will be over quicker and I don’t have to deal with the stress of the fall out later.
But it’s still exhausting and frightening and depressing. Sometimes it’s worse than having an obvious mental disorder. I can ask for help over and over, but don;t get help until I stop functioning. When I pass out from utter exhaustion. Or can’t even read simple texts anymore.
Others get told by mental health care professionals there’s nothing wrong with them. And then suicide becomes a way out.
It’s a woman’s disease, you’re just weak!
Mhmmm. Right. I don’t know. The myths surrounding the difference between women’s brains and men’s are being debunked. Supposedly more women suffer from mental health issues than men.
Personally I think women are more in touch with their feelings, and more willing to ask for help. I think society’s ingrained into us that it’s ok for girls to cry, but men have to suck it up. I think women internalize stress more often, and get sick from it, while men more often seek external ways to make themselves feel better.
Feel bad? Break something or someone, go get roaring drunk, have an affair, buy stuff. Whatever it takes to distract. In macho cultures, such as Aruba, these behaviors are seen as normal. Just boys being boys and men being men.
In some cases it’s just denial.
Why can’t you give conclusive answers!
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Some people believe the earth is flat. Even if I could give conclusive answers, there will still be people who do not want to hear, or cannot hear.
