5 common mental-health myths you need to stop believing
As more people speak out about living with mental illness, conditions including depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder are finally finding a place in public conversation. And yet there are still a lot of mental-health misconceptions floating around that just perpetuate the stigma surrounding these all-too-common illnesses. The good news is that learning the facts can help:
1 "I'm depressed" means "I'm sad".
It is important we make a clear distinction between depression and sadness, which are two very different things. Sadness is a regular part of life that everyone experiences at some point, which passes over time. Depression, however, can make it continuously difficult for a person to handle his or her everyday responsibilities - and someone who has depression might not even feel "sad" at all, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).
2 Depression is depression is depression.
The NIMH says there are two major types of depression: major-depressive disorder (MDD aka clinical depression) and persistent-depression disorder (PDD aka chronic depression). But there are many other types of depression beyond and within these. There is melancholic depression, which is a form of MDD wherein one feels persistently and intensely sad and hopeless; psychotic depression, a combination of major depression plus some form of psychosis, such as delusions or hallucinations; and seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a condition that usually occurs during the winter months - and those are only a few.
3 Having anxiety just means you worry too much.
Anxiety is not the same as occasionally being worried or fearful about something. The clinical condition manifests as having physical changes such as increased blood pressure, sweating, dizziness and feeling so tense and worried (often recurring thoughts) that one often avoids certain situations because of it, as research by the American Psychological Association (APA) shows.
4 Anxiety is a normal part of life.
Anxiety disorders are not only a clinical diagnosis, but they are also the most common type of mental illness, as the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) explains. Common anxiety conditions include panic disorder and panic attacks, agoraphobia, social-anxiety disorder, selective mutism, separation anxiety, specific phobias and generalised-anxiety disorder (GAD).
5 The prevalence of mental illness is exaggerated.
False - just look at the statistics. As of 2010, mental illness and substance-abuse disorders were the leading cause of disability worldwide, with neuropsychiatric disorders – which are mood disorders like depression, as well as other conditions, among them ADHD and OCD – being the most common reason for disability in the United States, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
As more people speak out about living with mental illness, conditions including depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder are finally finding a place in public conversation. And yet there are still a lot of mental-health misconceptions floating around that just perpetuate the stigma surrounding these all-too-common illnesses. The good news is that learning the facts can help:
1 "I'm depressed" means "I'm sad".
It is important we make a clear distinction between depression and sadness, which are two very different things. Sadness is a regular part of life that everyone experiences at some point, which passes over time. Depression, however, can make it continuously difficult for a person to handle his or her everyday responsibilities - and someone who has depression might not even feel "sad" at all, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).
2 Depression is depression is depression.
The NIMH says there are two major types of depression: major-depressive disorder (MDD aka clinical depression) and persistent-depression disorder (PDD aka chronic depression). But there are many other types of depression beyond and within these. There is melancholic depression, which is a form of MDD wherein one feels persistently and intensely sad and hopeless; psychotic depression, a combination of major depression plus some form of psychosis, such as delusions or hallucinations; and seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a condition that usually occurs during the winter months - and those are only a few.
3 Having anxiety just means you worry too much.
Anxiety is not the same as occasionally being worried or fearful about something. The clinical condition manifests as having physical changes such as increased blood pressure, sweating, dizziness and feeling so tense and worried (often recurring thoughts) that one often avoids certain situations because of it, as research by the American Psychological Association (APA) shows.
4 Anxiety is a normal part of life.
Anxiety disorders are not only a clinical diagnosis, but they are also the most common type of mental illness, as the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) explains. Common anxiety conditions include panic disorder and panic attacks, agoraphobia, social-anxiety disorder, selective mutism, separation anxiety, specific phobias and generalised-anxiety disorder (GAD).
5 The prevalence of mental illness is exaggerated.
False - just look at the statistics. As of 2010, mental illness and substance-abuse disorders were the leading cause of disability worldwide, with neuropsychiatric disorders – which are mood disorders like depression, as well as other conditions, among them ADHD and OCD – being the most common reason for disability in the United States, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
