Busting 7 Common Mental Health Myths

There are seven mental health myths I want to help clear up because this is an issue that we need to bring a lot of focus to, we need to make sure that we understand what these myths are and clear it because if we don't, we're not going to take the right necessary actions. So Madico My name is Hello Banani empowering you with psychological tips and spiritual support. Bismillah was salat wa salam ala Rasulillah. So these myths that we have causes individuals to have a stigma around mental health, not understanding it correctly having the wrong information, and it that causes people not to take action, they will not do what is necessary to get the treatment that they need, there are

actually seven mental health myths that I want to address today and Inshallah, that it will be very helpful. So the first one is the myth that mental health disorders are not that common. In reality, the research shows that one in five individuals have a mental health issue, they have health related issue. And so this is extremely common. So if you take any five individuals, you find that one person may be suffering from depression, anxiety, bipolar, so it is as common as many of the other physical ailments that we see. And we put so much emphasis on getting if someone has diabetes, if they have heart disease, if they have any kind of issues, we address it. But then with mental

health, we are just ignoring it. Many people ignore it until it's too late, or in the sense that it gets exasperated. And most of the time, people don't get their mental health disorders address until there is a major occurrence, maybe they have a mental breakdown, maybe they have some kind of some major issue comes up. And that's when they finally take action. But we need to take action as soon as we see any sign. So the second myth is that children or teens don't have mental health disorders. And this again, one in five children have mental health issues, we need to really address this as far as adults are concerned, we need to address this and make sure that our children, especially if

they're feeling depressed or feeling anxious, they are they are having any kind of symptoms that you feel are unusual, they're totally withdrawn. If you feel like that, and they are not showing any interest in the things that they're doing, then it is important to recognize that it could be a mental health issue and to get it addressed. The third thing is that many people have this fear that psychiatric medication or they are unsafe, and it's actually quite safe. If you use it appropriately. If you take the prescriptions the way that they are prescribed, then you shouldn't have any kind of issue. So when you recognize that with the psychiatric medication, many times, it

really saves a person's life if someone is extremely depressed, and they're having suicidal thoughts, and it's like a chemical imbalance. And once you get that balance, then what you find is that they actually become much better and and so we need to have trust in the psychiatric medication and not fear that. And the next myth is that many people feel that the talk therapy may take years and years. Now psychotherapy can take years and years. But there are many different forms of therapy, if you have cognitive behavioral therapy that is very much solution focused, you get quicker results. And so you need to ask before working with someone what kind of approach that they

use, because it doesn't necessarily take a long time. Now there are many therapists that may may take anywhere from six months to a year. But you need to ask and figure out if individuals are using a more solution focused methodology or not. The fifth myth is that once you have a mental health disorder, then there's no way to recover from it. And that's not true. Because sometimes, if you get it treated early enough, you can recover from it, there are times that it can be managed, depending on the severity of your mental health issue, you can definitely get it treated and you can manage it. So don't think that once you have it, that means that's it, it's never going to get better. The

sixth fifth is that talking about suicide leads to suicide, people are afraid to ask let's say their children if they have suicidal ideation because they feel okay if I bring it up. Maybe I'm planting a seed and that's not true. Actually, the opposite is true is that if you don't talk about it if you don't address it, if you don't get more information when someone is acting very depressed, then that can lead a person to commit suicide because they have no one to talk to. Many times clients will tell me that they had don't want to turn to no one to talk to no one will understand that. So if you take that time to ask if they're like, Oh, I'm really I'm really depressed or they make a statement

like I just I wish I wasn't alive. I wish I could die. take that seriously and follow it up.

Put some questions about do you have a plan because if there's a plan, then there's a red flag, you need to take action, it's very serious and get a mental health professional to help you with your child. And if they say, No, I just, I'm just really sick and tired of life, and they don't necessarily have a plan, you still needs to take action, right, because they may not have a plan right now. But if they're sad, this is not addressed. If their anxiety is not addressed, then they may attempt suicide. So talking about suicide does not lead to suicide, not talking about suicide can lead to suicide. And then the seventh myth is feeling that there's nothing you can do to help a

person with a mental health issue of our mental health problem, you actually play a very important role. If you're a family member, if you are a friend, if you're a spouse, you can be a source of support, you can be understanding, the worst thing that you could do is dismiss the individual who is suffering from this mental health issue. And many people unfortunately, do it. They feel like no, you really don't have this disorder either. being dismissive unfortunately, sometimes there's mocking, and if you can be a source of support, if you can show love and understanding that is going to be the best way that you can be there for them, and ask them what what is it that you need from

me, and you can actually be their way of becoming better because you are understanding and you're helping them and may be encouraging this process. So it's so important for us to do away with the seven myths. And there are many more myths out there as far as mental health. And if we don't have a clear understanding of what mental health is how its treated, about the medications, then we're really, we're going to do more harm than good. We're not going to not get the treatment that we need for ourselves for our children. So I really urge you to take the mental health of your children very seriously. If you see their behaviors have changed. They're very depressed or withdrawn, take the

time to ask them about how they're feeling. Ask them if they need that extra support, seek it seek some local assistance and get them to at least talk it out. They may not talk to you about it, but at least they can get the help and support they need. I can't tell you how life transforming it can be so please do not ignore the mental health of your children. prioritize it. It's as important we could be so negligent about the mental health so please prioritize that and seek the treatment that is necessary in order to make sure all our children inshallah are in the best mental health