The top 10 mental health myths

Myth 3: Children don't get depression or other mental illnesses; their emotional problems are just part of growing up.
Parents naturally want their children to do well, so some may brush off or explain away behavioural problems or other childhood difficulties as being mere growing pains. However, numerous psychiatric conditions, including depression, eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety disorders, can and do occur in childhood, according to Kutcher. The U.S. Center for Mental Health Service reports that one in every 33 kids and one in every eight teens suffers from depression – and that's just one disorder.

Myth 4: Schizophrenia means split personality.
This belief is way off base, says Kutcher. The word schizo comes from ancient Greek and means "split mind." But people with a split personality have a completely different – and rare – disorder called multiple personality disorder. The misuse of the term "split personality" to refer to people with schizophrenia may have come from misuse in old movies and in the media.

But, says Kutcher, the term does apply to people with schizophrenia in that when their disease is at its worst, they live in two worlds. On the one hand, they're part of the real world; but on the other hand, they may have hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that aren't there), delusions (believing things that aren't real) or paranoia (fear that there is a conspiracy against them or that people are following them) that put them in another – fanciful – world. This is quite different from exhibiting different personalities.

Schizophrenia typically manifests itself in late adolescence or early adulthood. The good news is that there are various treatments that help keep the symptoms of schizophrenia under control. Schizophrenia affects about one in every 100 Canadians.

Myth 5: Addiction is a lifestyle choice and shows a lack of willpower.
An addiction, whether to drugs or alcohol, is a complex condition that is often chalked up to a lack of self-control on the part of the sufferer. But the problem is not that simple; addictions involve complex factors including genetics (alcoholism, for example, often runs in families), the environment, and sometimes other underlying psychiatric conditions such as depression. When people who become addicted have these underlying vulnerabilities it's harder for them to simply kick the habit, says Goldbloom.

In addition, complex chemical brain processes that are part of the brain's "reward mechanism" add to the craving of substances. This reward mechanism is largely regulated by the brain chemical dopamine, which can create a feeling of satisfaction and relief once the substance is used. When not using that substance, people with addictions may feel a huge, insatiable craving.

Treating addiction is often a long-term process. It can involve talk therapy and medication to treat both the addiction and any other mental illness. There is also the issue of learning how to deal with outside influences (such as friends who encourage use of the addictive substance) that reinforce the addiction. It takes a huge amount of work by, as well as resolve, dedication and time from, the person who is addicted to overcome his or her addiction.

It's rare that a person can simply stop drinking or kick a drug habit cold turkey, though it can happen. But judging people as weak can make the problem worse by making them feel so bad about themselves that they indulge as a means of escape, says Goldbloom.

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