Mental health myths: Is mental illness a choice?

I am taking on another mental health myth. Today I want to debunk that mental illness is a choice and that there are easy ways out of it. I am going to label this as an opinionated piece, so if you’d rather not read it, go ahead and stop now. I’ll see you next time.

Myth: You can just snap out of mental illnesses.

Fact: Mental illness is not a choice.

David Castillo Dominici/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I have a way of knowing that my mental illnesses are real. If they weren’t, I would change them. I have been trying for years, but I still have disorders that I am gradually recovering from. I have some physical health conditions as well. If I could stop those symptoms, they would be gone, too. But no one expects me to do that. And I have put way more effort into stopping my mental health issues than my physical ones. If I could make them go away, they would have been gone years ago.

Trust me, if you could just make it stop, mental illness would not exist. It’s miserable. It damages your relationships and your ability to function. It can make you your own greatest enemy. Sometimes it causes you to do damage to yourself physically, socially or emotionally. It can be insidious, or symptoms might get unmanageable in an instant. You never know.

If mental illness were not real, the United States would have been $57.5 billion richer in 2006 (The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality). This was equivalent to the cost of cancer. Thousands of health care professionals would be out of work. The American Psychological Association estimates that there are close to 100,000 licensed psychologists in the U.S. alone. And that number is not considering other types of therapists, psychiatrists, social workers, psychiatric nurses, substance abuse counselors and others who work in the mental health field. There would be no need for such a large industry if people were simply being grumpy or nervous and blowing it out of proportion. 

One in four Americans suffers from a mental illness in any give year (National Institute of Mental Health). If mental illness had quick fixes, the only logical conclusion is that this number would be a lot lower. 

It can be very harmful to treat people with mental illnesses as if it is a choice. Gender is not a choice. Race is not a choice. Sexuality is not a choice. Physical illness is not a choice. And mental illness is certainly not a choice either. Biological bases for certain mental illnesses are considered scientific facts. There are high correlations between environmental and developmental difficulties and mental illness. 

By treating someone as if she is being weak or lazy, you are invalidating a very real struggle that you should be so thankful that you aren’t the one dealing with. Having others reject, mock or belittle mental health issues can make symptoms worse. You will never help someone with a mental illness by encouraging him to snap out of it. Instead, focus on how you can help. Be someone family, friends and colleagues can turn to for understanding and kindness. For ideas about how to do this, read the post about helping loved ones with mental illnesses.