There are still many myths out there about people with mental illness. Those people are still judged and are treated differently. Normal people call these people abnormal, but the term “abnormal” can be thought of in either a positive or negative way. If you think of it in a positive way, they can be named “extraordinary”. Those people can have capabilities that none of us can do. For example, an autistic person can think five times faster than a normal person can do.
Some people believe that a person with mental illness cannot take care of themselves or their families or they cannot hold down a job. This can be true sometimes with those in severe cases. The majority of those who are suffering with mental illness are able to have job interviews, take care of themselves and help build families. Some of them are fine, even the people who are close to them cannot realize how much they put them in pain.
The mentally ill should not be feared because of their propensity for violence. Every study concluded that people suffering from mental illness are more likely to become the result of a crime than to be the ones harmed or injured. Those people are the ones abused and they are not violent. According to a recent study, the mentally ill are eleven times more likely to be abused than being abusive. Sometimes they are abusive in the case of self-defense.
People think that sufferers keep making excuses for their weakness and they should go find a job. The majority of those people are aware but there are severe cases and they are unaware and cannot go find a job. Those people do not whine for nothing.
Mental health disorders do not differentiate based on their age, gender, race, religion or their life.
The occurrence of mental illness is not exaggerated. Mental health disorders are genuine and cause remarkable suffering. If the occurrence of mental illness seems extraordinarily high, it is only because people are acknowledging what had previously been kept hidden behind a wall of denial.
