There is a lot of misinformation about mental health disorders and their causes. Unfortunately, this leads to a lot of unfair finger-pointing, guilt, and blame. At Highland Hospital Behavioral Health in Charleston, West Virginia, we think it’s important for people to have the facts about mental health.
Who Gets the Blame?
Because the general public doesn’t have the most accurate understanding of mental illness, there is a tendency to want to assign blame for mental illness, for example:
The person with a mental illness
- People with depression are called “lazy” if they struggle to maintain a clean home, work a full-time job, and cook nutritious meals from scratch. They are told that they just need to try harder.
- When depression, schizophrenia, suicidal thoughts, trauma, or substance use disorders combine with poor public policy and stigma to leave someone unhoused, the person without a home is typically seen as the problem.
- Our society does not tend to recognize that physical illnesses are a contributing factor in mental health concerns and does not give people grace when they are simultaneously experiencing mental and physical pain.
- When someone has a mental illness and a co-occurring substance use disorder, it is sometimes assumed that they made themselves mentally ill by using drugs.
The parents of a person with a mental illness
- People who don’t understand mental illness sometimes believe that a child’s mental health symptoms would go away if the parents punished their children more.
- At other times, it is assumed that the person must be mentally ill because their parents were abusive or neglectful.
Mental health clinicians
- Some people believe that mental health disorders are being over-diagnosed and that mental health professionals telling people they have a mental illness, when they do not, is making things worse.
While mental health symptoms do sometimes emerge after a person engages in substance use, and being a survivor of abuse does increase a person’s risk for developing certain mental health symptoms, each case is unique. We should not presume to know a person’s story based solely on the fact that they have a mental health concern.
The Real Causes of Mental Illness
In reality, the causes of mental health disorders are more complex and often multi-layered.
- Heredity. Some mental health conditions are more common in people who have a blood relative with a related condition.
- Prenatal conditions. A person can develop mental health symptoms after being exposed in the womb to stress, inflammation, toxins, or drugs or alcohol.
- Brain differences. Some brains are built differently than others, have different amounts of neurotransmitters (chemicals that impact brain function), or have impaired functioning in the systems that engage with the neurotransmitters.
- Life experiences. Our unique life journey can put us on the path of developing a mental illness through traumatic brain injuries, physical illnesses, or emotional trauma, such as that caused by abuse, poverty, discrimination, military combat, and environmental disasters. and other stressful events
What Can Be Done to Prevent Mental Illness?
There is not a sure-fire way to prevent mental health disorders. The best we can do at this point is to reduce our risk and address concerns that arise as promptly as possible.
- Know the warning signs of an emerging mental health disorder and talk to your doctor if you are struggling.
- Address your medical needs. Good physical health reduces your risk of mental illness.
- Prioritize getting 7-9 hours of good quality sleep every night.
- Eat a healthy, well-balanced diet to ensure your brain and body get the fuel they need to function at their best.
- Ensure you are moving your body regularly to maintain physical health and also help your brain release the neurotransmitters that keep you feeling good.
- Set boundaries that maintain good work-life balance and leave you time for hobbies and socializing with loved ones.
- Avoid alcohol and drugs. While they may provide short-term relief from stress and mental health symptoms, in the long run, they just make things worse.
At Highland Hospital Behavioral Health, we want to encourage people to treat each other with compassion and kindness. Empathy, love, and connection are powerful medicine for people who are fighting addiction and mental illness.
