Debunking Myths about Mental Illness, Part 1
Statistically, everyone knows someone with mental illness—probably many someones. Despite this, stereotypes abound. Many of these ideas come from decades or even centuries-old traditions about the nature of psychiatric disorders. Other stereotypes come from the media—movies, books, television, etc. Somehow, the stereotypes override actual experiences with mentally ill people to form harmful myths. What are the things people believe about the mentally ill? And what is the truth?
In this two-part blog post, eight myths about mental illness are explained and—by the grace of God—debunked.
Myth 1
Myth 1: Mental illness only happens to kids who have been abused.
Fact: Mental illness is caused by many factors.
Abuse and trauma (both emotional and physical) can be triggers for mental illness, but other factors like genetic disposition to mental illness, drug use, and infectious diseases also affect the chemistry of the brain.
Myth 2
Myth 2: It’s the parents’ fault if their child has mental illness.
I repeated this one to myself all the time when each of my children was diagnosed. If only I had nursed my son longer. If only I had fed him different types of foods than I did. What if I had let him play outside longer? What if I had let him play outside less—maybe it was the germs? Maybe it was the vaccines. Maybe it was skipping vaccines. The list goes on. It is easy for us as parents to blame ourselves. We prefer to blame ourselves because it gives us hope. If it was something I did, my subconscious believes, then there is something I can do that will fix it.
Fact: Many factors lead to mental illness.
Some things we have done as parents have contributed to our children’s fragility. And there are thousands of other parents out there who have done the same things—or worse ones—and their kids did not develop mental illness. No parent is perfect. Not even close. Yet only some kids get sick.
Myth 3
Myth 3: Mental illness is rare, so when parents say their kid has it, they’re just trying to get out of disciplining them properly and teaching them to endure hard things.
Facts: The CDC reports that approximately 9.4% of children aged 3-17 have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. That’s about 5.8 million kids. About the same number have been diagnosed with ADHD. And 4.4%—about 2.7 million kids—have been diagnosed with depression. And those were just the cases in which the children were given a formal diagnosis.
The numbers are more harrowing when the field is narrowed to teens. One in three teens suffers from depression. Nearly 20% have seriously contemplated suicide. Mental illness is not uncommon and it is not an easy pass to get out of the hard parts of life. It is one of the hard parts of life.
Myth 4
Myth 4: This kind of thing doesn’t happen to “true” Christians. God promises a sound mind to His people.
Fact: Incredibly, I have had people say this to me in the past. If this is in the Bible, I can’t find it. What I do find in the Bible is God promising trials to believers. Through our troubles, our spirits are refined into the image of Christ (James 1:2-4, Romans 5:3-5; I Peter 4:12-13; John 16:33, etc.).
Come back tomorrow to read Myths & Facts #5-#8
Are you a Christian parenting an individual with mental illness? Join the Eleventh Willow private Facebook support group to meet other parents who understand. Let’s help each other walk this path.
Sources:
“Data and Statistics on Children's Mental Health.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3 June 2022, https://www.cdc.gov/childrensmentalhealth/data.html
Photo by Francesco Ungaro on Unsplash