Top ten myths about schizophrenia

Unfortunately, many people know very little about schizophrenia and other forms of mental illness. Society has several misconceptions about psychiatric disorders in general, and schizophrenia in particular. The media often perpetuate myths about mental illness. When covering a story about a crime, reporters sometimes stress a history of mental illness in the alleged perpetrator even though schizophrenia patients are no more likely than people without schizophrenia to commit violent crimes. Some movies and TV programs misrepresent people with mental illness and make them appear weak, silly, or frightening. As a result, those at risk may be less likely to seek help for mental illness. The only way to eliminate the stigma of mental illness is through education. Everyone needs to learn more about different kinds of mental disease and their causes, effects, and treatments. With better understanding of mental illness, we can hope that these harmful and inaccurate stereotypes are eradicated.

NARSAD, the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, is a nonprofit agency devoted to providing funding for research that helps us learn more about mental illness. In 2001, NARSAD surveyed mental health professionals in the United States and assembled a list of the most common myths about mental illness. Here are the top 10 myths about mental illness as listed by NARSAD.

Following each myth is a fact that explains why the myth is a misperception.

Top ten myths about mental illness

Myth #1: Psychiatric disorders are not true medical illnesses like heart disease and diabetes. People who have a mental illness are just "crazy."

Fact: Brain disorders, like heart disease and diabetes, are legitimate medical illnesses. Research shows there are genetic and biological causes for psychiatric disorders, and they can be treated effectively.

Myth #2: People with a severe mental illness, such as schizophrenia, are usually dangerous and violent.

Fact: Statistics show that the incidence of violence in people who have a brain disorder is not much higher than it is in the general population. Those suffering from a psychosis such as schizophrenia are more often frightened, confused, and despairing than violent.

Myth #3: Mental illness is the result of bad parenting.

Fact: Most experts agree that a genetic susceptibility, combined with other risk factors, leads to a psychiatric disorder. In other words, mental illnesses have a physical cause.

Myth #4: Depression results from a personality weakness or character flaw, and people who are depressed could just snap out of it if they tried hard enough.