Understanding Mental Illness

Just as diabetes is a disorder affecting the pancreas, a mental illness is a disorder which affects the brain. This disability affects a person’s mood, feelings, emotions and has the ability to interfere with a person’s employment, friendships and relationships.

Common Myths about Mental Illness

• Mental Illness is caused by a weakness of personality.
  A mental illness is not a character flaw. It is an illness; just as diabetes, cancer and glandular fever are illnesses. A person suffering from a mental illness is not lazy for simply not “snapping out of it” or “cheering up”, just as with any illness help and support is required to overcome mental illness.
• People with a mental illness are violent and dangerous.
  People suffering from a mental illness are no more likely to be violent than any other person or group. It is often the case that people suffering from a mental illness are more likely to be the victim of a violent act rather than the perpetrator of one.
• Mental Illness is a single, rare disorder.
  A mental illness is not a singular disease, but a broad classification of a whole range of mental disorders.
• People with a mental illness are poor and/or less intelligent.
  Mental illness can affect any person of any age, class, religion, gender, income level or intelligence.

Types of Mental Illness

The following is a list of disorders which can be classified as a “mental illness”. If you would like more information on a specific condition, please click the link for further information. Please note this is not a comprehensive list as there are many forms and subdivisions of mental illness.

Acute stress disorder -Agoraphobia – Anxiety disorder – Anorexia nervosa – Antisocial personality disorder – Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder – Binge eating disorder – Bipolar disorder – Borderline personality disorder – Brief psychotic disorder – Bulimia nervosa – Cyclothymia – Delusional disorder – Dementia – Depersonalization disorder – Depression – Dissociative fugue – Dissociative identity disorder – Generalized anxiety disorder – General adaptation syndrome – Mania – Obsessive-compulsive disorder – Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder – Panic attacks – Panic disorder – Paranoid personality disorder – Postpartum Depression – Schizoaffective disorder – Schizoid – Schizophrenia – Seasonal affective disorder – Self Injury -  Social phobia – Specific phobias – Suicide

[Taken from Wikipedia]

Affects of Mental Illness

A mental illness can affect every facet of everyday life. It interferes with a person’s ability to work, relate to others, forge friendships and relationships. If left untreated a mental illness can lead to: homelessness, unemployment, substance abuse, inappropriate incarceration, suicide and wasted lives.

The Stigma of Mental Illness

The stigma against mental health is stopping those suffering from seeking support and combating their illnesses. The misconceptions and judgement of those affected by mental illness are preventing people from admitting their problems and seeking help. The fear they will be “shunned” by society is a powerful reason to not seek help. It is time for these misunderstandings to be removed from society, it is time for the stigma surrounding mental health to be destroyed.

How can we raise awareness of Mental Illness?

We need to talk about it. Pure and simple. Brushing something aside, pretending it is not there or refusing to discuss this issue is preventing people from understanding the pain and devastation a mental illness can bring to someones life. It affects not only them, but their family and friends also. If we had not started talking about the seriousness of diabetes, cancer or HIV then the advances made in the treatments of these illnesses would never have occurred.

It is time the misconceptions of mental illness were demolished – talk and discussion is the only way this will occur.