Mental Illness Myths

Did You Know?

About 60 to 80 percent of depressed people are treated successfully.

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9. Depression Is Made Up

Myth: Depression is just a made-up disease with no physical cause.

Others think that depression is just something that people make up when they want attention. Since this mental illness has no physical symptoms nor any frightening hallucinations, it's hard for some to believe that it actually exists. Really, depression is something that literally occurs in the brain and can be remedied, in part, by antidepressants. The antidepressants regulate the levels of neurotransmitters in the brain. These neurotransmitters, especially serotonin, exist in depressed people's brains in lower concentrations than in the brains of healthy people. And, depressed people's brains have actual structural differences, too--their hippocampuses are smaller.

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10.ADHD: Kids vs. Adults

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