8 great myths about people with mental disorders

The stigma carried by many people with mental disorders haunts and blames them.

Mental disorders are a phenomenon that remains deeply stigmatized, partly due to a lack of knowledge.partly due to a lack of knowledge. Under this label of "mental disorders", many people group all kinds of confusing and sometimes aberrant concepts that, in practice, only serve to exclude.

Myths about people with mental disorders that you should reject.

Many times the idea of mental disorder has come to be used simply as an adjective that speaks ill of the person and gives reason to fear it, it is worth having some more information about it. Below you will find several myths about people with mental disorders..

1. They are irrecoverable cases and can only stagnate or worsen.

It is true that the fact of having developed a mental disorder is something that is difficult to forget, but that does not mean that its symptoms cannot subside until they almost disappear. This, of course, varies greatly depending on the problem presented in each case, but it must be kept in mind that there is no category with clear limits that delimit what it is to have a disorder or not to have one.

For example, it is not necessary for the symptoms to disappear completely in order to recover.For example, it is not necessary for symptoms to disappear completely in order to recover, just as there are many people whose way of life does not cause them to suffer from fear when entering an airplane.

2. They do not understand what is said to them

To present a mental disorder does not imply that there is also intellectual disability. Most of these patients are perfectly capable of understanding any explanation and even of appearing to have no emotional or cognitive problems in the course of a conversation.These people should not be treated with condescension and paternalism, which in practice are insulting.which in practice are insulting.

3. They lose contact with reality

The belief that "madness" consists of cutting off all contact with reality is nothing more than an excuse to stigmatize people with mental disorders, a way to keep them out of public life and to keep their interests and to prevent their interests from turning society in favor of more inclusive values.

In the same way that for centuries homosexuality was marginalized because there was the power to criminalize behaviors that clashed with the nuclear family model, today we talk about the alleged lack of judgment of these minorities to deprive them of many rights (in favor of the rest of the people).

Of course, there is no rational reason why it is possible to group people with disorders under the label of "insanity" and to group them under the label of "madness". under the label "insanity" and attribute to them the inability to defend their own interests anywhere and anytime. in any place and at any time.

4. They are hooked on medication

On the one hand, it is absolutely false that the fact of presenting a mental disorder supposes generating a relationship of dependency with a psychotropic drug. Many people decide not to take medicationor their disorder is of such low intensity that the use of these substances to treat it is not even considered.

Moreover, even if a person develops addiction to a drug, this does not make him/her acquire a lower moral rank. Often this dependency bond appears relatively quickly and in situations of great difficulty and pressure. In part, drugs are a response to the need to create people who can adapt to a society that is unwilling to change too much. that is not willing to change too much for them.

5. They are violent people

Although people with mental disorders have extra reasons to experience anxiety, it does not mean that they channel this discomfort by directing it against others. In fact, in many cases their tendency is to isolate themselves so as not to cause discomfort to their friends and family. their friends and family.

6. Mental disorders are an emotional problem

This is one of the classic interpretations of a current of "alternative therapies" that consider that diseases and disorders arise from unresolved emotional conflicts. Not only is it totally false, but it is also an extremely harmful idea, capable of causing great Pain to patients and their families, or even leading to death.

The reason is that they hold the individual responsible for what is happening to him or her, which in practice means that if there is no improvement, the situation is seen as something for which the patient is to blame, for not wanting to face these internal problems.for not wanting to face these internal problems.

7. They can cure their disorders by talking about them

The simple fact of receiving information or putting what they feel into words does not imply recovery. Mental disorders are beyond languageAlthough modifying beliefs helps, recovery comes through other ways, such as adopting different habits, techniques to be applied at home, etc.

Thus, advice is not an option, because the disorders do not arise from lack of information or absence of rationality. People who smoke continue to consume cigarettes even though they know perfectly well that this is harmful, and the same happens with mental disorders. Even in spite of recognizing those actions and thoughts that are not appropriate, these manifest themselves, since you have no control over them at the moment when the symptoms manifest themselves..

8. Part of the symptoms of mental disorders are attention calls

Some believe that people with mental disorders enjoy making this a part of their identity in the eyes of others, as if they talk about these kinds of problems for the pleasure of feeling others' attention or, perhaps, admiration. or, perhaps, admiration. However, this is a clearly solipsistic conception of what it is to experience a disorder.

In the same way that a bad experience at work makes us talk about it, mental disorders, whose symptoms can be more painful and frequent than a scolding from the boss, naturally make us want to talk about it on occasion.