Welcome back to my blog! If you have not been to my blog yet, welcome! You should check out my other blogs MENTAL HEALTH: IS IT A FRAUD?, MENTAL HEALTH: WHY THE STIGMA?, and DOES THE INTERNET KNOW I AM MENTALLY ILL?. My blogs are about mental health awareness. I like to bring up scientific facts, personal opinions, and my social media accounts into my blogs about mental illness. In this blog, I am going to be debunking 8 myths about mental illness that surround social media and conversations. Let’s get started.
MYTH #1:Mental health problems are uncommon
FALSE: That is a statment that is very easy to believe if you have never met anyone with mental health problems or if you do not have any mental health issues, but this statement is actually very false. Surprisingly, according to MentalHealth.gov, one in five American adults experienced a mental health issue.
MYTH #2: People with mental health issues are violent, dangerous, and unsafe to the community
FALSE: This statement is sad as many people do believe that people with illnesses are dangerous, but that is not true. That is very discriminatory. In fact, according to the US National Library of Medicine
National Institutes of Health, most people who have mental health issues do not commit any crimes whatsoever.
MYTH #3: People with mental health issues will never recover
FALSE:This statement is not true at all, as even though mental health issues are hard to deal with, there are so many ways to help lessen the issues and may even permanently help. According to the Mental Health of America Association, medicine, therapy, group therapy, and mindfulness are just a few ways to help people with mental illness recover.
MYTH #4: Mental illnesses are not real medical problems
FALSE: I have previously talked about this in my other blog post and debunked this. Mental health illnesses are real medical health problems and there are scientific facts to prove this. According to WebMD, they explained how mental disorders can be derived from abnormal nerve cell circuits (in the brain) that are not functioning properly, so the neurotransmitters are not communicating properly, leading to mental disorders.
MYTH #5: Children don’t experience mental health problems
MYTH #6: I cannot help anyone with a mental illness
FALSE:This is extremely untrue! If you know someone struggling, being a support system is the best thing you can do for them. According to MentalHealth.gov, learning about the mental illness, researching ways to help, and letting the person know you are always there for them are great ways to help someone.
MYTH 7: Mental health illnesses are contagious
FALSE:Mental health illnesses are not contagious as they are people’s own illness within their brain that come from a chemical imbalance, as perviously mentioned. According to the Optimum Performance Institute, mental illnesses are not like the flu or a cold that people can catch from other people.
MYTH 8: People with mental illnesses cannot hold a job
FALSE:According to the Mental Health of America Association, people with mental illness can work just as well as people without a mental illness, and they want to be in a workforce like everyone else. Just because someone has an illness does not mean they are incapable of working a normal, everyday job.
There we go, debunking some of the most common myths about mental health illnesses! This is important to know so stigmas are not started or continued. Also, if you know anyone with a mental illness, these facts mentioned are important to know so you can help them and reassure them.
Remember when you check sources, to check sources that are from the government, from large associations or organizations, or have .gov or .org in their hyperlink. This will ensure accurate and real data. Make sure to check out my Twitter, @mentalhealthru1, and my Vimeo on exercising and mental health. I am in the process of posting facts and information on mental health illnesses, so follow me on my journey. Tune in next week!
The Best Health is Mental Health! 