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Education can help solve myths of mental illness

There are numerous myths about mental illness.

People think that those who have a mental health diagnosis are a burden to society, are violent, need to be institutionalized, and need to be controlled.

Nothing could be further from the truth. People affected by mental illness come from all walks of life. There are doctors, lawyers, teachers, nurses, and other professionals who live successfully in society despite having a mental health diagnosis.

People with such a diagnosis are more likely to be the victims of crime than the perpetrators. Many are employed or hold volunteer positions, and therefore enrich society rather than being a burden to it.

Recovery often involves serving others and meaningful work, and I will add it is less expensive and more compassionate for those with a mental health diagnosis to live in a community than to live in an institution.

Things have improved in many ways. New medications offer freedom from symptoms with fewer side effects. Psychiatric rehabilitation centers offer hope and helpful ideas for living with a mental illness. It is illegal to discriminate against a prospective employee because of a mental health diagnosis or even to ask if he or she has one.

Education and training are being provided to people with all disabilities. Certified peer support specialists (who are professionals whom have a mental health diagnosis, and are living successfully with it) are employed to help others find a voice and recovery.

Things are still in need of improvement. School shootings and other acts of mass murder are being blamed on mental illness.

Mass murderers commit their crimes because they are just plain evil, not because they have a mental illness or are given a mental health diagnosis after the fact to explain their deviant behavior. People who have been diagnosed with a mental illness who are able to work only part-time are trying to work in an unstable job market.

When they lose their job, their SSI benefits are reduced for months after the job loss, and often their earned income is estimated to be hundreds of dollars more than they have actually earned. The results are that they cannot pay the bills because they are trying to better themselves.

Many people still wrongly believe that if a person has a mental health diagnosis that he or she does not have the right to live independently, marry, raise children, drive a car, be employed, go hunting, work in a day care center, or even worship God.

The solution to the myths about mental illness is education. People need to be as informed about mental illness as they are about other common health issues. Education is the key.

Karen Mandrick

Altoona

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