Mental illness has a lot of stigma around it, which makes it more hard to talk about. Since it is not something that a lot of people talk about it, there are a lot of misunderstandings about mental health. With having a mental illness and having people around me who have struggled with mental health, I’ve seen how toxic the stigma can be first hand. When the stigma around mental health is so prominent, it makes people less likely to get help, so here are a few common misunderstanding or myths that we should work together to get rid of.
1. “Having a mental illness makes you crazy” and “they just want attention”.
Most of the times people who are suffering don’t want to reach out, so when they do ask for help don’t make them feel like they did the wrong thing.
2. “You can just control your symptoms if you try”.
Unfortunately telling someone with depression to “cheer up” isn’t going to work. Telling someone with anxiety to “just relax,” isn’t helpful. Telling someone with PTSD to “get over it” is not okay. You get the point, don’t do it.
3. “Taking medication makes you weak”.
Would you say that to someone who was taking medication for a physical illness?
4. Mental illness as a whole
Sadly, these are just a few of the misunderstandings about mental health. Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in our country, so it is definitely something we should all be talking about, and not in a negative way.