By Pete Maclearie, MSW, LCSW
If you’ve ever labeled yourself as depressed after your favorite sports team lost a big game or if you’ve ever described your need for a clean, organized desk as OCD, you may have unwittingly perpetuated a mental health misnomer.
Language plays a critical role in shaping the understanding of mental health disorders, and the prevalence of mental health misnomers related to conditions such as depression, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and schizophrenia, can lead to widespread misconceptions.
Unraveling the most common misnomers surrounding mental health disorders can help shed light on the reality of living with these conditions and foster more empathy and awareness.
Depression
More than 20 million people nationwide suffer from depression each year, making it one of the most common mental health disorders in the United States, according to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Yet despite the prevalence of depression, many aspects of the disorder are commonly misunderstood.
Most people feel sad or blue every now and then, but that doesn’t mean they’re depressed. Depression is characterized by a persistent feeling of sadness that lasts more than two weeks and occurs with other symptoms, such as changes in appetite and sleep, feelings of worthlessness, and a loss of interest in socializing and other activities. Sometimes, in severe cases, the relentlessness of depression can lead to thoughts of suicide, which if left untreated significantly endanger the individual’s life.
Some people believe depression is triggered by a trauma or a dramatic event. In other words, there must be an obvious reason why a person is depressed. While challenging events can contribute to depression, people may develop depression at any time, even when life seems to be going well. That is because brain chemistry and genetics also play a role in the onset of depression.
Also, some people believe depression does not require treatment and will go away on its own. However, depression is a medical condition that requires treatment and support and can get worse if left untreated.
Bipolar Disorder
Have you ever heard a person described as being bipolar after their mood quickly changed? If so, it was a mental health misnomer.
One of the biggest misperceptions about bipolar disorder is that it involves relatively normal mood changes, such as when a person goes from being happy or neutral to angry, or sad.
While almost everyone experiences mood swings, for people with bipolar disorder, shifts in mood can be especially dramatic and last for weeks or months at a time.
Bipolar episodes include cycles of mania, or an intensely positive mood, racing thoughts and little to no need for sleep, and hypomania, which is a milder form of mania.
People with bipolar disorder may also shift from a manic episode to a depressive state, which can range from having a low mood and low energy to being suicidal. Some people with bipolar disorder experience mixed states, when mania and depression occur simultaneously.
In addition to major mood changes, bipolar disorder can impact a person’s overall health and behavior as the condition can impact sleep, make it hard to concentrate, and lead to increased risk-taking behavior.
Another misconception is that people with bipolar disorder are always experiencing a manic or depressive episode, which makes them unreasonable and difficult to be around. Unfortunately, this can lead to them being devalued and not treated as equals due to being viewed through the lens of their symptoms. In reality, bipolar disorder can be effectively treated and managed, and people can go long periods without having any symptoms.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a type of disorder characterized by persistent, unwanted thoughts and repetitive behaviors, or compulsions, that are performed to alleviate anxiety. People with OCD usually feel that something bad will happen if they don’t complete a behavior.
Common depictions of OCD in popular culture include the person who has to wash their hands multiple times to feel clean, or someone who needs things organized in a certain way.
Unfortunately, these depictions often ignore just how distressing it can be to live with OCD.
People with OCD typically cannot control their obsessions and compulsions, even when they realize they are excessive. In many cases, OCD interferes with family and social relationships as well as work, school and other everyday activities.
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental health disorder that affects how people feel, think and behave. People with schizophrenia often have thoughts that are out of touch with what is really happening, and those thoughts can affect how they engage with the world around them.
One of the most prevalent myths about schizophrenia is that it makes people dangerous. The majority of people with schizophrenia are not more violent or dangerous than people in the general population and may even be more vulnerable to being victims of crime themselves.
Another common misconception is that people with schizophrenia have multiple personalities. Although people with schizophrenia may hear voices, they do not have two or more distinct identities with different behaviors and memories, which is a symptom of dissociative identity disorder, formerly called multiple personality disorder.
Schizophrenia is usually diagnosed between the ages of 16 and 30 and though it can differ depending on the person, symptoms generally fall into three areas: psychotic, negative and cognitive.
Psychotic symptoms often include disrupted thoughts and perceptions and difficulty deciphering what is real and fake. They can also include hallucinations, delusions and disordered thoughts. Negative symptoms include feeling unmotivated, little interest in daily activities and difficulty functioning normally. Cognitive symptoms include inattention and problems with concentration and memory.
Treatment is Available
One of the most important things to understand about any mental health condition is that treatment is available.
Penn Medicine Princeton House Behavioral Health offers a full range treatment services for people struggling with mental health issues, substance abuse problems, or both. Care is provided by board certified psychiatrists and physicians, registered nurses, and master’s level social workers, therapists, and addiction counselors.
Treatment programs feature a comprehensive evaluation, personalized treatment planning, evidence-based treatment, group and individual therapy, expressive therapies like art and yoga, and psychoeducation groups, with an emphasis on family involvement and support. Depending on the condition and its severity medication may also be part of the treatment plan. Programs are designed to meet unique developmental, diagnostic, and gender-related needs.
For more information about Penn Medicine Princeton House Behavioral Health, call (888) 437-1610 or visit www.princetonhouse.org.
Pete Maclearie, MSW, LCSW, is a licensed clinical social worker and director of outpatient services at Penn Medicine Princeton House Behavioral Health’s Eatontown site.
