Table of contents:
- It is not true that mental disorders are contagious
- Mental disorders are not contagious, but can be passed down from parents
- Mental disorders are not contagious, but they can be had
- Mental disorders are "contagious" emotionally
- Remove the negative stigma that haunts people with mental disorders
There is a stigma circulating in society that mental disorders can be contagious. This assumption is also what makes most people feel reluctant to be around people with mental disorders (ODGJ), perhaps even spontaneously avoiding when they meet “crazy” people. Of course, the symptoms of a mental illness are not that easy to spot - unlike the flu or cancer. Mental disorders can also affect anyone indiscriminately. But is it true that mental disorders are contagious? As it turns out, this is what mental health experts say…
It is not true that mental disorders are contagious
The notion that mental illness is contagious is an old song that you don't need to believe anymore. A disease is said to be contagious when it comes from a viral, bacterial, or fungal infection that can indeed be passed from one person to another through direct physical contact - whether through sexual contact or between skin - or indirectly, such as through the air, water particles when sneezing / coughing, or by borrowing and borrowing personal items.
Mental disorders are diseases that affect the brain so that it disrupts the chemical balance. For example, people with depression are known to have low serotonin levels. The appearance of symptoms can be triggered by events in life that leave a large impact or trauma on a person's personality and behavior. These events can take the form of domestic violence, sexual violence, child abuse, or long-term severe stress.
Mental illness can cause from mild to severe interference with how you think, feel, act and how you view yourself, other people, and life's events. The manifestation of mental illness and the severity of its symptoms may differ from person to person because each person has a different "resistance" to dealing with stress.
According to the Basic Health Research (Riskedas) recorded by the Ministry of Health, there are around 14 million people in Indonesia who have mild mental disorders such as anxiety or depression disorders, and 400,000 severe ODGJ such as schizophrenia - or what is commonly called “crazy”. In the United States, 43.8 million adults live with mental disorders. Imagine if it was indeed a contagious mental disorder. These numbers should be even higher.
Mental disorders are not contagious, but can be passed down from parents
It would be wrong to think that mental disorders are contagious. However, even though it is not a contagious disease, mental disorders can be categorized as a hereditary disease.
Mental disorders are common in people whose blood relatives also have mental disorders. Certain genes can increase your risk of developing mental illness, and stressful situations or traumatic events in your life can trigger these genes to activate later in life. That is why when you consult a doctor, usually the doctor will ask if any of your blood relatives also have a history of mental disorders similar to yours.
That is also why if someone who has schizophrenia marries a fellow schizophrenic, the chances of his child growing up to have schizophrenia will also be even greater. Although it is not certain that a schizophrenic patient is born to a mother's father, one of whom is schizophrenic.
However, the study of genetic factors on a person's risk of mental disorders still needs to be explored further.
Mental disorders are not contagious, but they can be had
As explained above, certain genes that you pass on from one or both of your parents can increase your risk of developing mental disorders. Stressful situations or traumatic events in your life in the past can trigger these genes to activate at a later date.
For example, parenting styles that are too harsh, accepting physical and / or sexual violence or abuse as a child, long-term severe stress, to the intake of alcohol or drugs that you get while in the womb from a mother who drinks alcohol are sometimes associated with the appearance of the disorder. soul. Brain damage that can lead to mental illness can also be caused by alcohol or drug abuse, serious head injury, or birth defects.
Mental disorders are "contagious" emotionally
The assumption that mental disorders are contagious here can be interpreted as transmission through emotional. Research conducted by Golberstein and colleagues on 10,000 first-year students who live in campus dormitories with roommates, shows that anxiety disorders can be "contagious", even though the appearance of symptoms is not much. Likewise with depression, but it turns out this only applies to men. The study also found that depression is more contagious when depressed people are reluctant to share their problems with others.
Simply put, when you see, witness, or live with a person with a mental disorder you can unconsciously “catch” the mental illness that person is experiencing. Not really contracting like catching the flu, but vulnerable to experiencing mental disorders due to social pressure and tough situations that must be faced and / or shared together.
However, as long as your resistance to stress and how you handle stress is fairly good, for example, you can continue to think positively and do not drag on and your social relationships with other people are good, then you may be more immune from "catching" diseases. soul.
Remove the negative stigma that haunts people with mental disorders
Indonesian people still think mental disorders are just diseases suffered by people in the Mental Hospital. The stigma of society makes people who experience symptoms of mental disorders reluctant to seek treatment because they do not want to be called “crazy”.
Though mental disorders are serious conditions that make a person unable to fully control their feelings, thoughts, and actions. Mental disorders can affect anyone, including ourselves and the closest people. People with mental disorders (ODGJ) do not “act weird” or “crazy” and only “dramatize their condition”. ODGJ cannot "get better" on their own, they need support from their families, health workers, government, and social communities.
Mental disorders can be completely resolved and remedied. With proper treatment such as psychotherapy, counseling, and drugs prescribed by doctors, mental disorders can be cured. Indeed, there are several types of mental disorders that cannot be completely cured, for example schizophrenia. However, you can still control the symptoms and reduce their intensity. So, it is not impossible for heavy ODGJ to live a normal life such as working, raising a family, and working.
