Myths and misconceptions about mental health

Mental disorders are incurable

Some mental disorders are chronic, but this does not mean at all that the disease consumes a person and guarantees him a hopeless situation. Now almost all disorders are treatable: with the help of drug treatment and psychotherapy, you can achieve a stable remission for the rest of your life. Medicines help to restore the imbalance of biochemical processes in the brain, and psychotherapy helps to work with thoughts, emotions and behavior.

Psychotherapists teach patients to be their own therapist, for example, in cognitive behavioral therapy, this is one of the main goals of treatment. As a result, a person who has learned various techniques can independently reduce the likelihood of a relapse and maintain a normal state of health and mood.

People with mental disabilities are dangerous and unpredictable

The image of a maniac or a dangerous psychopath is rather inspired by films and fiction. In reality, people with mental disorders are not prone to aggression or violence. A person can be dangerous and unpredictable if he is in a state of psychosis and his behavior is determined by imperative hallucinations – when voices order to do something. But even so, the commanding voices are mainly directed at the patient himself, and not at those around him. And besides, the probability of meeting such a person is extremely small.

“The first thing that comes to mind with the phrase ‘mental disorder’,” explains Maria Svininnikova, psychiatrist and psychotherapist at GMS Clinic  , is danger and the image of some unbalanced and unstable person. However, mental disorders are a wide range of diseases: sleep disturbance, depression, anxiety disorder, neurosis of obsessive thoughts and actions, bipolar affective disorder, eating disorder and others. For example, depression can occur against the background of iron deficiency anemia – is such a person dangerous? Of course not. The problem is that in our society there is not enough psychological education, and until it is introduced, for example, into the school curriculum, people will continue to have a distorted perception of mental disorders.”

Drugs for the treatment of mental disorders are addictive and make a person weak-willed

The task of drug therapy in the treatment of mental disorders is to normalize the work of biochemical processes, that is, to reduce the level of substances that are in excess, and to increase those that are not enough for the normal functioning of the brain.

For example, for depression, drugs are given that restore mood and motor activity, and for agitation, severe anxiety, delirium, and a manic episode, they prescribe something that helps to calm down. It does not follow from this that medicines make a “vegetable” out of a person, on the contrary, medicines help to restore adequate perception, behavior and emotional state.

There is also a myth that drugs for the treatment of mental disorders are dangerous. Firstly, if used incorrectly, any medication is dangerous. Second, only one group of drugs is addictive: benzodiazepines, powerful anti-anxiety and sedative drugs that are prescribed only when needed. And yes, antidepressants are not addictive.

Depression does not exist, it is “laziness”, “spleen”, etc.

This is a harmful myth because people underestimate the severity of some mental problems. Depression is at the top of the list of most common mental disorders. It significantly affects the global economy, quality and satisfaction with life. The statement that depression is laziness or “spleen” can be compared to the fact that pneumonia is a common cough, supposedly everything will go away on its own.

Not at all, depression is a disease that needs treatment just like pneumonia or diabetes. We talked in detail about this in general and separately – about postpartum depression.

Mental disorders occur only in “weak” people

Mental disorders, like any other ailment, can be subject to any person, it does not depend on the “weakness” or “strength” of character. It’s just that someone may be less likely to develop a disorder due to the positive experience of overcoming problems, developed coping strategies, harmonious upbringing and the absence of family history of relatives with mental disorders. And some who have experienced a difficult childhood, abuse, or trauma may be more likely to develop a mental disorder than others.

Willpower and positive thinking are useful traits that play a big role in the treatment of mental disorders and push the personality to change, but they do not protect against, for example, a strong psycho-traumatic event and endogenous (internal) changes in the biochemical processes in the brain.

“In the development of, for example, depression, biological factors play a large role, for example, a deficiency of neurotransmitters and receptor susceptibility. And regardless of the moral and volitional qualities, these factors cannot be influenced precisely by the “strength” of the individual. Therefore, to say that only weak people have mental disorders is at least inappropriate, since it is impossible to consciously influence biochemical processes,” says Maria Svininnikova.

Schizophrenia is when two or more personalities live in a person.

It’s worth drawing a line here: schizophrenia is a chronic illness that disrupts thinking, emotions, will, personality, and perception. It can be of different types: some develop paranoia, others dull their emotions and the patient becomes cold, inaccessible and apathetic, others quickly turn into children. But at the same time, patients with schizophrenia do not have another personality, they have one, but it is greatly subject to change.