Mental illness is real

TW: This post mentions suicide.

Why do some claim that mental disorders are “fake” and that we should just “pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and move on”?

While resilience is a good thing, dismissing mental disorders as imaginary or personal weakness is misinformed and counterproductive.

Mental disorders can be truly debilitating and impair the everyday functioning of an individual. On a societal level, the economic cost of mental illness in Canada is over $50 billion per year (17,18). Depression and anxiety alone may have an economic cost on the world of US$1 trillion each year (6).

While a mental disorder generally only describes symptoms being experienced, it does not explain its cause. However, we do know of reliable factors that play a role in mental illness (2,19,20,21):

Genetics, and its interaction with the environment (22,23,24)

• Certain genes and family history may be associated with elevated risk

Biology

• Exposure to drugs or alcohol during fetal development (25,26,27,28)
• Bidirectional interaction between physical conditions and mental disorders (e.g., heart disease) (7,29,30,31,32)

Environmental (33,34,35)

• Adverse childhood experience (bullying, emotional abuse, maltreatment, parental loss) (36,37,38)
• Abuse, trauma, adversity (39,40,41)
• Socio-economic status, education, inequalities (42,43,44)

Other psychological factors (45-54)

A mental diagnosis can provide relief, clarify a treatment plan, and qualify you for certain insurance benefits, but it can understandably be distressing. Don’t hesitate to bring up your concerns with your healthcare professional, or get a second opinion.

It’s also important to remember that for many there is still a lot of stigma in getting psychiatric help. Belittling mental disorders only adds to this stigma, needlessly prolonging mental distress.

Share our original Tweet!

Just because mental disorders can’t be “detected” the same way a virus can, it doesn’t make them any less legitimate.

Anxiety and depression alone may have a yearly global impact of $US 1 trillion.

Read up to learn more. https://t.co/ipFGh2tP9P#ScienceUpFirst

[1/2] pic.twitter.com/KcU8drw0Fh

— ScienceUpFirst | LaScienced’Abord (@ScienceUpFirst) August 16, 2023

View our original Instagram Post!

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by ScienceUpFirst (@scienceupfirst)