Myths and Facts of Mental Illness

Taken from 'Time to Change'

 

Myth or fact?

Challenging the myths about mental illness can be a good way to get people thinking and talking...

• Myth: People with mental illness can’t work. 
• Fact: Chances are, you probably work with someone with mental illness

• Myth: Mental health problems are very rare
• Fact: Mental health problems affect one in four people

• Myth: People with mental illness never recover
• Fact: People with mental illness can and do recover.

• Myth: People with mental health problems are different from normal people:
• Fact: We all have mental health, just like we all have physical health.

• Myth: After experiencing a mental health problem, people are weaker.
• Fact: Many people who have gone through this actually feel stronger

• Myth: People with mental illnesses are violent and unpredictable.
• Fact: People with mental illness are more likely to be a victim of violence

• Myth: It’s best to leave people alone if they develop a mental health problem.
• Fact: Most people with mental health problems want to keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues, it can be a great help in their recovery.

• Myth: I don't know anyone with a mental illness
• Fact: Someone you know or love has experienced a mental illness

• Myth: People aren’t discriminated against because of mental health problems
• Fact: Nine out of ten people with mental health problems experience stigma and discrimination.

Time to Change

http://time-to-change.org.uk/home

This website is doing an amazing job to raise the profile of mental health discrimination. There are also other people's stories and forums for you to talk to other like minded individuals. It is particularly inspiring because of the high profile persons involved such as Steven Fry. Take a look!

Dairy 5

Hello all,
I had another counselling session today which focused mainly on confidence. Although I have come to terms with panic, understand it and know how to challenge it, I lacked the confidence to do anything about it.
This is where our old friend avoidance crops up. Its so much easier to avoid 'scary' situations rather than address and confront them. I would constantly refuse to walk the dog, wouldn't travel to university or make excuses because I was frightened of feeling the panic again. Doing this just suffocated me and prevented me from experiencing life. It is a depressing and bleak situation to be in, believe me I know.
But, I am beginning to regain my confidence by talking down the gravity of the situation. I do this by reassuring myself with positive statements and rationality. "I can breathe, I can get to uni, Nothing will happen to me"
I have found doing things independently has also helped me greatly, like when I walked to the hospital by myself and going on jogs. This has shown me I do not have to rely on anybody else. It has also strengthened the reason why I think I am in this situation.
As a child I was very happy but I hardly went to other kids parties, night stay school trips, sleepovers, but did go out with my dad a lot. This helped me to fortify the bond with my parents but not to develop an Independence and over the years prevented me from developing a strong self confidence and belief. I would be the last person to blame my parents because obviously they have protected me, done the best for my life and I love them dearly but I think the refusal to cut the cord right up until university is what caused the stress and ultimately the panic of living in the real world without the emotional and mental tools to do this.
I may be wrong& it could be codswallop as I'm not a psychiatrist but one thing I firmly believe is that stress causes panic attacks. If I feel stressed I let it out instead of 'putting on a brave face'. If I want to cry Ill go and have a cry and I will always talk about how I feel. If you hold your emotions in, it's like a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. It's so important to talk to anybody you can about the way you feel. Don't be worried they'll think your silly or weird, there are thousands of people like you!