http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/19/extinct-frog-cloned-mouth-birth_n_2901152.html)
Back from the dead, bitch!"
1) Mental Illness is a sign of weakness.
An all-too-common misconception the public and even those suffering from a mental illness believe is that psychological afflictions and disorders are a sign of weakness, and if you were just man enough you’d be able to overcome it.
In your best Arnold Impression: "Depression is for pussies."
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/mr.%20olympia
Here are the facts:
First, there is significant body of literature that strongly suggests a genetic component to every disorder. How do researchers determine this? They examine studies of monozygotic and dizygotic twins—that is, they ask what is the likelihood a twin will have the psychological disorder if the other twin already has it; or they look at the elevated risk an offspring will be subjected to if a parent or parents suffer from the psychological disorder; adoption studies are the last method, which determine ones elevated risk when separated from parent or parents who have the disorder.
http://www.personalityresearch.org/papers/haimowitz.html
For example, research on schizophrenia has suggested there is a 50-75% probability that, with regards to monozygotic twins, if one sibling had it, the other would, and when both parents had schizophrenia, there was around a 30-40% probability the child would develop the disorder http://www.schizophrenia.com/research/hereditygen.htm
This heritability is similar for other disorders like Bipolar, Major Depressive Disorder, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. The point? You can’t control your genes. People blame themselves for suffering from something they can’t control, like believing it was your fault they made another transformers movie. It isn’t. And don’t worry: we all have to suffer with that crap.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8956681;
Mental illness isn’t like diabetes, a broken bone, or cancer: there isn’t a test for mental illness, and you can’t see it, which causes individuals to see the psychological difficulties they experience as character flaws rather than symptoms or patterns of behavior that can be treated through therapy and medication. An interesting finding: in attempting to predict what will lead to chronic posttraumatic stress disorder, researchers discovered that individuals who believed their psychological affliction was a sign of weakness had poorer outcomes. Thus, the mere perception that one’s psychological suffering as weakness impedes future well-being (Ehlers, A., & Clark, D. M. (2006). Predictors of chronic posttraumatic stress disorder: Trauma memories and appraisals. In B. O. Rothbaum (Ed.), Pathological anxiety: Emotional processing in etiology and treatment (pp. 39– 55). New York: Guilford Press).
Now, many individuals will say there are environmental influences that play a role—and that we can control them. Not likely. In individuals who have developed, say, Borderline Personality Disorder, there was a very good chance that they were physically or sexually abused as a child.
http://www.bpddemystified.com/what-is-bpd/causes
http://www.dbtselfhelp.com/html/borderline_personality_disorde.html
http://www.hakomiinstitute.com/Forum/Issue19-21/4Linda%20Baird,%20Childhood%20Trauma2.pdf
Fun right? Here are a few other nuggets about how much control we have: lead poisoning while in your mother’s womb can lead to an increased risk for schizophrenia; let’s not forget individuals who experience a traumatic event and develop PTSD; and, would you believe it, there are actually theories on the evolutionary imperative for developing depression.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=depressions-evolutionary
What does Darwin have to say about that?
"That's my shit. Now will you excuse me, I have to shave my beard: I think there is a finch hiding under it."
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Charles_Darwin
2)
People suffering
from mental illness are violent in nature.
The
media destroys the truth, especially when it comes to mental health. The school
shooting in Connecticut, the Denver, Colorado movie theater massacre, and
Columbine, are all prime examples. Everyone wants to know why. What could make
someone do such a thing? And what do they assume? Mental illness. He was
deranged. He was schizophrenic. He had Bipolar Disorder or was slightly
autistic.
The
truth: People suffering from mental illness are more likely to be victims than
perpetrators. According to Hiday et al. (1999), “People with severe mental
illnesses, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or psychosis, are 2 ½ times more
likely to be attacked, raped, or mugged than the general population. This is
reiterated by the Institute of Medicine (2006) when they state that although
there appears to be a link between mental illness and violence, “the small
contribution of people with mental illnesses to overall rates of violence is
small, and further, the magnitude of the relationship is greatly exaggerated in
the minds of the general population” (Hiday, V. A. (2006).
Putting Community Risk in Perspective: a Look at Correlations, Causes and
Controls. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 29, 316-331.
Institute of
Medicine, Improving the Quality of Health
Care for Mental and Substance-Use Conditions. Washington, DC:
Institute of Medicine, 2006.
Television,
movies, and the media love to attribute the crimes committed by individuals to
mental illness because it’s an easy explanation; there could be other factors,
but the general public doesn’t see this,
and what you’re left with is people believing every schizophrenic is
ready to unload on them with a shotgun.
3) Psychologists
are all old men with long grey beards and a couch.
Seems a somewhat
trite myth when compared to the aforementioned ones above. But let’s be honest:
who doesn’t think of psychologists as some old cooks with big coke bottle
glasses and a beard that looks like a baby koala died on their chin?
“…I don’t know what
the fuck is wrong with you. And what the hell is on my face?”
Coke
bottle glasses aside, Gandalf fits the prototype pretty well.
This
myth developed due probably to Freud and his ostentatious beard. When the
general public thinks of psychology, they almost immediately jump to Freud and
that classic image of him with his pipe, glasses, and, of course, the dead baby
koala beard.
The
truth: Men are, in fact, the minority in the field of psychology. According to
the American Psychological Association, the percentage of men in the field
dropped from 70% to 30% from 1975 to 2008, kudos to women for breaking down the
gender gap. Developmental, Clinical, Counseling, Family, and Social Psychology
are all dominated by women—guys only make up about 30% or less in those fields.
Also, psychology, as a whole, is a fairly young profession, which means this
Gandalf stereotype has to go.
So
where are the men? Unfortunately, the women haven’t broken all the way through
the glass ceiling yet. With decreased pay still a major issue for the
liberation of women and academia being a less “family-friendly” environment,
men still dominate much of the faculty positions within the United States. Sad
but true.
4)
People suffering from mental illness will never recover and live a happy life.
This
may be putting the myth lightly because some people believe that all mentally
ill patients should be put in psychiatric institutions. Individuals believe
this, in part, because of what they see on television and in the media, but
also because—as I’ve mentioned earlier—not realizing that, for the majority of
disorders, they are symptoms, not character flaws, not lack of willpower, but
symptoms. And symptoms can be treated.
The
truth…
The
majority of mental disorders are not chronic: Depression can be alleviated;
alcohol dependence can be overcome; phobias can be dealt with and the anxiety
accompanying them will fade to a level that makes daily living a breeze.
However, this is not to say that all symptoms will disappear: Schizophrenia
must be treated with medication and therapy in an endless cycle; individuals
suffering from personality disorders struggle but through therapy can learn to
improve their lives. Nevertheless, they can cope. There are support groups,
specialized programs, medications, and group and individual therapy programs
that people can enlist into in order to aid them in their daily lives. The
point: people suffering from mental illness are not in a coma; they have
wives/husbands, children, and jobs just like everybody else. I mean, come on, could you lock Carrie Fisher
up in a mental institution? Princess Leia? She suffered from Bipolar Disorder
((Stroff Marano, Hara. "Getting Better vs. Staying
Well" Psychology Today. May 21, 2007.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200302/getting-better-vs-staying-well).
…Yeah, I
don’t think so.
5) Therapy
is laying on a couch and just talking…
This is
another myth that somehow has been perpetuated through the years, probably due
to Freud again; to the general public, he’s the most well known figure because
of his controversial subconscious theories on motivation and behavior.
The
lying on the couch and talking phenomenon is synonymous with psychoanalysis:
the patient lays on the couch and free associates—meaning, he or she talks
about whatever comes to mind, no matter what the topic. Nowadays, it’s hard to
find a therapist that will do such a method.
The
truth…
Clients
and therapists have a working relationship: the client doesn’t just talk, but
together, the therapist and client develop treatment goals they want to accomplish
and steps to get there; also, in the majority, if not in all forms of therapy,
there involves homework the therapist assigns the client outside of session
together. The theory behind this: the therapist only sees the client one hour a
week; the other 167 hours out of the week are outside the therapy room. But the
most important concept the general public should learn is that therapy is now
tailored for specific problems—that is, certain therapies aid individuals
better than others, depending on the psychological problem one is experiencing.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy does well at treating anxiety and depression;
Dialectical-behavior therapy excels at treating Borderline Personality
Disorder; and Exposure therapies do wonders for individuals who have experienced
traumatic events (Kliem,
S., Kröger, C. & Kossfelder, J. (2010). (2010). Dialectical behavior
therapy for borderline personality disorder: A meta-analysis using
mixed-effects modeling. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78, 936-951.
Driessen
E, Hollon SD (September 2010). "Cognitive behavioral therapy for mood disorders:
efficacy, moderators and mediators". Psychiatr. Clin. North Am. 33 (3):
537–55
Hofmann
SG, Smits JAJ (2008). "Cognitive-behavioral therapy for adult anxiety
disorders: A meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled trials". Journal
of Clinical Psychiatry 69 (4): 621–632
Eftekhari,
A.; Stines, L.R. & Zoellner, L.A. (2006). Do You Need To Talk About It?
Prolonged Exposure for the Treatment of Chronic PTSD. The Behavior Analyst
Today, 7(1), 70–83).
6) Psychologists
and Psychiatrists are synonymous
Whether
your interested in going into psychology, working with a mental health
provider, or watching reruns of “Frasier” late at night with a bag of potato
chips and a bottle of beer, it’s important to know the difference between
psychologists and psychiatrists. The myth behind this one is that the general
public believes they do roughly the same thing—they don’t, nor do they have
similar backgrounds.
The
truth…
Psychologists
and Psychiatrists differ on the type and level of education: Psychiatrists
receive their medical degree (M.D.) while psychologists receive their Doctor of
Philosophy degree (Ph.D.) or Doctor of Psychology degree (Psy.D.) Oddly enough,
the length of schooling between the M.D. and the Doctorate degrees are not much
different. For medical students, you go through four years of medical school, a
one year internship, and usually three years of residency before you’re a
certified M.D. As for psychologists, doctoral programs take at least five to
seven years to complete and that doesn’t include a post-doctoral fellowship and
obtaining licensure. Psychologists are mainly trained in the assessment,
treatment, and therapeutic techniques for psychological disorders, while
Psychiatrists receive similar training but focus on it from a medical perspective
such as understanding what medications to prescribe for specific psychological
disorders. This leads to the major difference between psychiatrists and
psychologists: psychologists can’t prescribe medication. Currently, grants are
being proposed to change that in a number of states, but there appears to be
stringent requirements to allow psychologists to do so.
More references about Stigma:
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