NAMI-GC College Outreach Program
Questions about NCCOP? Want to help? Contact nccop@namigc.org.
For more information, referrals, support, and education about serious mental illness, call NAMI of Greater Chicago at (312) 563-0445, or visit the NAMI of Greater Chicago website, namigc.org.
There is a myth that mental illness is someone’s fault, or their family’s or friends’ fault. This is just a myth and is untrue—mental illness is no one’s fault. This myth has created a lot of pain and stigma for persons affected by mental illness, their families, and friends.
It is important to know that these illnesses are “a flaw in chemistry, not in character.” People with mental illness are not lazier or weaker-willed than people with breast cancer, heart disease, or any other illness, and just as with other health concerns, it is important to have a medical expert (in this case, a mental health professional) helping to treat the person’s symptoms.
Another myth is that the symptoms of mental illness are a choice that person makes. For example, some people may think when someone is depressed, they can just “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” or “forget about it and move on.” This is not true: mental illnesses are real, biological diseases of the brain. A person cannot “choose” to get it together.
This can be difficult to understand as everyone has had moments where they were depressed, extremely excited, or agitated, for example—the difference between those moments and mental illness is that when a person is affected by mental illness, those moments are out of that person’s control and affect their daily life and functioning.