Some common misconceptions as heard by Richard Hall clients who live with a mental health and/or substance use: 

1. Someone who takes medication has “given up” or should have been able to “tough it out.”
   Many mental illnesses are caused by imbalances in brain chemistry. For many, this means that medication is necessary for their recovery.
2. You don’t need to get help if you just pray/exercise/change your diet.
   These can all be helpful coping skills, but only a mental health professional can determine what level of care is needed.
3. Using alcohol or drugs is a choice, and so is relapsing.
   We know that substance use is a disease that many are genetically predisposed to, and that self-medicating is a coping mechanism to trauma.
4. Mental illness is the result of sin, the devil, or possession.
   Those who live in religious communities are often afraid to seek help because they’ve internalized views like this.
5. “I was depressed, but then I did this simple thing and I got better!”
   Despite having the same name, feeling depressed and having clinical depression are very separate things. Many people who don’t understand the difference believe clinical depression to be a simple thing to “cure.”
6. Schizophrenia is when you have multiple personalities.
   Because many people lack education on mental illness, it’s common for them to misunderstand or confuse many different diagnoses.