5 Common Myths about Mental Health Disorders

5 Common Myths about Mental Health Disorders

Mental disorders
We as humans, with our limited knowledge and a lot of ignorance, tend to start to treat ourselves as subject matter experts on topics that need a lot of medical knowledge and understanding. One such problem that we are biased about and have a very judgmental opinion is about most mental health disorders. It is important to understand that like any other medical problem, the mental health disorders need to be well cared for and taken care of under the watchful eye and guidance of a professional doctor. Discussed here are 5 Myths and Facts about Mental Health Disorders that one should be aware of to fully understand it.

The Myths Busted

1. Mental health disorders are genetic and biological:

While many believe that mental disorders are genetic, it would be a very wrong statement to make and believe. They can be triggered by multiple reasons and it should be a doctor’s call to judge about what causes the problem.


2. Mental Disorders are For a Lifetime:

Many of us are made to believe that if a person is diagnosed with a mental disorder, that it would last a lifetime with little or no scope for treatment. This is a very false statement and is the biggest misconception that people have about mental disorders. With proper medical care, following a proper routine and having the medication properly, every person has the ability to get free and rid of their mental health disorders. In fact, what is needed and expected from people is their support and continued motivation to keep the person on his/her path to recovery.


3. Mental Health Disorders are Due to Childhood Issues or Can be Traced to Them:

This is perhaps one of the myths that we should give up on since not all mental health disorders are due to problems or episodes associated with one’s childhood. There could be a lot of reasons that could cause a person to be in a mentally unwell position. While some problems are triggered due to pressure or peers at work or at home, others could be due to an overload of expectations and a person’s inability to live up to them. If a doctor, asks a person to delve into the past to understand the person better, it does not mean the problem or disorder is due to childhood problems.


4. Being Suicidal Means You Have Lost It:

Many of us get so frustrated with life on a daily basis that we end up making a statement on those lines, but that does not imply or mean that as a person one has lost one’s stability or one’s credibility. It could just be stress talking or sometimes just inability to handle a situation or an adverse reaction to circumstances. A person with suicidal thoughts can be healed and a doctor is the best judge of the problems of the persons. It is ignorance on one’s part to think a person with such thoughts is crazy. If at all it worries a person, you should help them deal with it rather than call them names.


5. People with Mental Disorders are Weak:

This is a very wrong statement to make one believe what one sees. It requires one to delve deeper into the lives of people who are suffering from a mental health disorder to understand what is going in their minds. Making a vague statement about anyone’s strengths and weaknesses is like blaming someone for being diagnosed with cancer. None of us wants to have to deal with a problem that could be life altering and above all sometimes, the ignorance of the problem causes much more trouble than we can understand for the person themselves.


The need is to look at mental disorders like any other illness or disease we go to a doctor to get treatment for, rather than make judgments calls or cling to the myths in our minds.

Sehat provides a list of best Mental Health Doctors in Hyderabad from which you can research and choose the right doctor for your condition.

Reviewed By:

Dr. Bharti Talreja (MBBS, DPM, FAGE, MIPS)

She is a Psychiatrist practising in Botad, India.