Despite how common mental health issues are, there are still an unpleasant amount of misconceptions surrounding the subject.
In this post, I’ll be sharing the most comment misconceptions I’ve heard, and my take on them!
Mental Illness Is A Sign of Weakness
This is the most common misconception I have heard. It honestly irritates me hearing it.
Everyone will experience one form of mental illness at some point in their life. Loss of a job, loss of a loved one, such things are inevitable, and can be incredibly painful.
You’re never weak for falling ill, in any sense!
People With Mental Illness Are Dangerous
Being diagnosed with a mental illness doesn’t make you more, or less dangerous than any other person.
Mental illness isn’t a “one size fits all” situation. Symptoms will differ from person to person.
Some people are dangerous to themselves, others are docile and suffer in silence with paranoia. These are just two examples of symptoms.
“You Just Need To Be Positive!”
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve had this said to me, or seen it posted online. If this was the case, we’d all be fine.
Nobody is happy all the time, even zen monks. So, this approach to mental illness is demeaning, and plain detrimental.
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Life Through My Lenses 
I agree completely, living with anxiety it’s not always possible to remain positive. Like I could be scared for something coming up and it’s difficult to be optimistic based on what it is.
I also hate it when the news media tries ro make people believe we are dangerous. Sometimes I see homeless people in the streets of the city I work in and there is a good chance they are not dangerous at all, they might be friendly and have some mental challenges.
And it’s not a weakness, we all have our challenges. Even when we grieve it’s okay to feel sad.
Anyway great post. 😃
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