Myths & Facts about Mental Illness

Common Myths & Facts regarding Mental Health

• Myth: Mental illness won’t affect me.

  Mental illness can affect anyone, regardless of who you are or where you come from.

• Myth: People who have a mental illness are dangerous.

  This isn’t true. Most people with mental health problems are not violent and most people who are violent are not mentally ill.

  People with mental illness are more likely to be a victim of violence. People with severe mental illness are more likely to harm themselves than other people.

• Myth: Mental illness is caused by a chemical imbalance in your brain.

  Chemicals in the brain might be part of the reason why some of us have a mental illness – but the evidence to support this is not very strong. Have a look at our information on what causes mental illness.

• Myth: Having a mental illness is just a sign that you are weak or can’t cope with life.

  Having a mental illness is not our fault. We can do things to look after our mental health. But sometimes we just get ill, or something happens to us that makes our mental health worse.

  It’s not a sign of weakness. In fact, mental illness is a common human experience.

  Nearly a third of us have had concerns about our mental health in the last year.

• Myth: If I don’t think about it, my mental illness will go away on its own.

  Most of us need some kind of support to recover. We might find professional support like talking therapies helpful. Some of us find we need medication. Most of us find a combination of treatment and self-care can help us feel better.

• Myth: I can’t help someone with a mental illness.

  If a family member or friend has a mental illness we might feel worried or unsure about how we can help them. We might feel that there is nothing we can do to help. But there are lots of things you can do that will make a big difference. Have a look at our information about supporting someone else.

• Myth: There’s no point in talking about mental illness.

  There are lots of reasons why we might talk about mental illness. Talking can:

  * help us share ideas about what we can do to feel better,

  * make us feel less alone,

  * help us get support from people around us,

  * show other people that it’s ok to have a mental illness and to ask for help.

  It isn’t always easy to find the words to talk about how we feel. Some of us find it easier to talk online rather than face-to-face.

• Myth: I’ll never get better

  Lots of us recover from mental illness. But recovery means different things to different people. Some of us think about recovery in terms of no longer having medical symptoms. Other people think that recovery is more about feeling able to live a meaningful life.

• Myth: People with schizophrenia have a ‘split personality’

  This isn’t true. People with schizophrenia do not have multiple or split personalities. Read more about schizophrenia.

• Myth: People who self harm are ‘just’ attention seeking

  People self-harm for lots of different reasons. We may use self-harm to cope with difficult or upsetting feelings. Some of us may use self-harm partly as a way of telling other people how bad we feel. We may be looking for attention and support because we need help. Other’s will self harm in private and don’t want anyone to know.

• Myth: You should never ask someone if they are feeling suicidal

  Some of us worry that asking someone if they are suicidal might put the idea in their heads or encourage them. But research shows that asking direct questions and talking openly about suicide will make the person less likely to act on their feelings. Read more about supporting someone who feels suicidal here.

• Myth: Only teenage girls get eating disorders.

  Anyone can be affected by an eating disorder. It doesn’t matter how old you are, what gender you are or how much you weigh.