Widespread stereotypes about mental health

Unfortunately, we tend to avoid the discussion of mental health. Some diseases seem to be especially scary and, undeniably, psychiatric conditions and psychological disorders seem to be especially terrifying.

No matter how much we are eager to talk about this topic, mental problems are actually extremely widespread. For example, according to the estimations of the WHO, in a couple of years, depression will become a second world popular illness. Even though there are so many people struggling with mental problems around us, there are still many stereotypes concerning this topic. In all likelihood, it is so because of the complexity of the human brain as well as numerous factors involved into the development of mental conditions. Still, it is crucial to get rid of false opinions on this topic, since it might help you to understand yourself and the people around you better.

People with strong personality can’t develop mental problems

One of the most widespread belief is that the people with mental problems are weak. In the reality, this is a very unfair attitude towards such people, since mental conditions are the same diseases as any other health condition.

While some people develop them because of having the genes responsible for a particular mental condition, others are becoming victims of unhealthy environment in their childhood. At the same time, some people had lived an entire life happily before getting a rather traumatic experience which affected their mental health a lot.

The opinion such as “Normal people do not need psychotherapists” is rather harmful and unjust. Many people with mental problems are actually very strong people as they experience mental discomfort or even pain on a daily basis and still carry on with their lives which is definitely not easy.  Those people, who decide to seek professional help and work on their condition, are real warriors.

It is crucial to understand that any person can develop a psychological disorder or disease. For that reason, it is not sensible to tell a person who is suffering from the condition that he or she just need to look at the problem from another perspective, that this person should be more disciplined or that the one need a new job, hobby or anything else. Even though you might tell these things with the best intentions, they can make a person feel bad about his or her feelings as if they are not appropriate or worth their attention. This can lead to a feeling of guilt and deterioration of the condition.

You can’t recover from psychological disorders completely

Although getting rid of a psychological disorder completely is a real challenge, people who are trying to address this problem especially with the help of a specialist, have real chances to decrease its effect on their life.

For example, deeply depressed people seeking medical help are treated with psychotherapeutic sessions as well as medicines. The combination of such treatment allows them to decrease the level of depression by 40%. This helps people to lead a healthy lifestyle and build their daily plans in such a way as their life becomes more fulfilling. This also makes the depression weaker. Even if the patient fails to get rid of depression completely, it is still possible to decrease its intensity to 20% which allows people to live their lives without sufferings.

Even if the depression doesn’t fade way completely, it doesn’t mean that the person will have to visit a psychotherapist for the rest of one’s life. Usually, the medicines are stopped being prescribed within a year after a positive response to the treatment and the visits to the doctors can also be finished if there are no depression events coming back.

Even if the depression reoccurs, the patient will know how to tackle with this event.

Only adults are suffering from mental disorders

It is so painful to see a depressed child, however, many adults are not even aware of the fact children can really develop psychological problems. Unfortunately, children are not protected against psychological disorders and many factors can cause these states in young people as well.

Teenagers are especially prone to developing mental conditions, especially depression which is partially the result of the intensive hormonal changes in their bodies. Yet, younger children can also become ill, although they are rarely able to communicate their problems to adults. For that reason, it is especially important to be careful with small children and try to pick any changes in their behaviour as these can be the signals of something serious.

Medicines will change you into a vegetable

Undeniably, any medicine used for treating any disease have its own side effects. The substances used for treating mental illnesses also have their side effects and some of them can be rather intensive. Still, this doesn’t mean you should avoid psychological help from a specialist.

In the reality, there are many ways for treating mild and moderate mental conditions without medicines. If you want to try one of them, you should first visit a psychologist or psychotherapist. You will be recommended to see a psychiatrist exclusively in the case of diagnosing a severe condition.