The challenge of debunking the myths about mental health

“You should go to church more.” “You know how he is. That’s a youth thing.” “What you need is to go out and look for work, not be so lazy. Please do something”. “That’s for not seeking God.” “Those are things of the devil.”

At some point we have heard, said or thought one of these phrases in the face of behaviors that we do not understand in a person we know or in a family member. Words that can become a wall that prevents seeing signs of mental illness, delaying early and appropriate intervention.

Since ancient times and even today, these false beliefs about mental illnesses have marked the marginalization and rejection of people who suffer from them. And despite medical advances, which help diagnose and treat these ailments effectively, this attitude of discrimination, which can sometimes lead to mistreatment, remains.

Stigmas and myths

“The main beliefs are linked to culture,” points out Larry Gómez, a psychiatrist and clinical psychologist, who explains that one of the mechanisms that is most appealed to is religious magic rituals, visiting healers, especially “with psychotic patients , with schizophrenia, or who have used a psychoactive substance, such as marijuana, cocaine or any other substance.

In the case of depression, identified as a risk condition for suicide, it is seen as a “character flaw”.

“In the collective unconscious of people, they understand that the one who is depressed is a weak person, that he is a person who has problems in his character and who does not face life with due gallantry, with due enthusiasm, with due strength. with which I should deal with it. So that’s why the problem of depression is so underestimated.”

This cultural vision, Dr. Gómez points out, underestimates the symptoms, both in the patient and in their relatives. “Then help is not sought in time and, unfortunately, there are the consequences that one regrets every day.”

For psychiatrist Alejandro Uribe, director of the Department of Mental health of the Ministry of Public Health the main one. “People who do not accept mental illness, and many families who have patients with some mental disorder they hide them. To the patient, to many, although that is being diluted, they are embarrassed to see them at the doctor, ”he explains.

Another aspect pointed out by Dr. Uribe, and which influences in hindering the collaboration and access of people who have a mental illness to psychiatric services, are the myths woven around medication. “That thing about all the drugs used in psychiatry being ‘drugs that create habits’ or ‘that you’ll never be able to quit’, ‘that stupefy’, which is absolutely false”, he affirms.

He explains that the side effects of this type of medication “occur perhaps in 5 or 10 percent of cases, and are situations that can be prevented by the doctor, following a treatment protocol, which if the user complies with it, it will be difficult for the user to a complication.”

Regarding this issue, he also points out the presumption that medication is “for life”. “Each treatment, in addition to a protocol, has a duration, depending on the diagnosis and the treatment, but in all cases psychiatric treatments are hardly for indefinite use.”

Magnify the violence

The way in which characters, real or fictional, are sometimes portrayed in series and movies, or the coverage of some crimes, wrongly suggests that violent reactions are frequent, and more extreme, when suffering from certain mental illnesses.

“Most of the problems of violence are not caused by people who have a diagnosed underlying disease. Consider that most prisons are full of antisocials and people who go against the moral, ethical and social canons of the conglomerate; but the majority are not diagnosed mentally ill”, assures Dr. Larry Gómez.

According to the article “Is there a relationship between schizophrenia and violence and homicides?”, published in March of this year 2022 in the journal ARS Medica, of the School of Medicine of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile , “for schizophrenia to be related to violence, more variables are necessary, not directly related to the disease, such as drug use, psychopathy or abuse during childhood for there to be a relationship between this disease and violence or homicide”.

Gómez considers that the media collaborate to feed this stigma. “When a patient with a mental illness kills a person, they magnify it, that generates morbidity, it generates a lot of conjecture.”

He adds that “every day acts of violence occur from people who say they are normal that the media do not magnify the situation so much. So it is an issue that has a lot to do with morbidity and magnification.”

The doctor also draws attention to the way people with mental illnesses are treated.

“There are people who shout things at the patient, and the patients react violently, because remember that when a person loses their sanity, they lose their sanity. mental health, becomes just like an animal and reacts instinctively. So, a little animal that you have cornered can react violently, the same thing happens when a patient has lost control. mental healthIt is instinctively activated.

help each other, help

Can a person become aware that they have a mental illness and seek help? “Of course. You may be aware of your problem. In fact, there is a percentage of people who seek help in matters of mental health product of depression, or anxiety, or a phobia,” says psychiatrist Larry Gómez.

However, self-perception of symptoms of other mental illnesses is difficult. “A patient with schizophrenia or with a schizoaffective problem, that they are ‘aware’ that they are fine and the others are ill. There, in that case, it is almost impossible… the vast majority are not aware of their problem”.

And before the suspicion of a psychological condition, whether it is self-perceived or observed in a close one, the first recommendation is to seek help.

“One should seek medical help, including psychiatric help, as soon as the affected person or family member thinks they need it,” says Dr. Alejandro Uribe. He adds that “there can be countless indicators that the person needs to seek help, but if you ask me for one that is absolute, that in all cases and at all times they need to seek help, that is when a person talks about committing suicide.”

Regarding prevention, psychiatrist Larry Gómez maintains that it is advisable, whether you do not have a diagnosed mental illness or live with a diagnosis under treatment, to lead a healthy lifestyle and build strong human ties.

“If we eat a balanced diet, if we exercise, if we do not consume psychoactive substances (drugs), alcohol and other substances, if we have a family with a level of stability that allows security in economic and affective terms, and if it also has a of spirituality, and I mention spirituality not as religiosity, but as an elementary concept of health, that could be a protective factor for that person”.