Stereotypes of Addcits

According to HBO.com, there are many myths of people who rely on drugs or alcohol in their everyday life. The most typical myth is probably one you could come up with yourself. that addicts are "bad, crazy, or stupid." This is extremely untrue. Addicts are said to have a brain disease that can cause them to become addicted.
A lot of people think that if someone is addicted to something, it is because they are weak and do not have willpower. However, even the strongest of people can become addicted to a substance. The mesolimbic dopamine system in the brain is responsible for addiction and is not controlled by the conscious.
Some extremists say that addicts should not be helped because they did this to themselves. What they might not know is that addicts have a disease in their brain that causes them to not be able to control it. They need the help of doctors and medicine to help them become clean.
Addicts cannot be treated once and be expected to heal automatically. Due to the impairment of their brain, an addict needs to be worked with for however long it takes in order for them to get better.
Addiction can compel anyone, anywhere. People who became dependent on any substance deserves the help to get clean. They need the support of everyone to help them return to their normal self.

Stereotypes

Along with any other person, people affected with a disorder are viewed differently, or stereotyped. With most who are diagnosed with anxiety, they are viewed as over paranoid freaks. People with bipolar are thought to be extremely violent and out of control, which is not always the case. But what is responsible for all of this negativity?

Media has a huge impact on the way people view disorders. In many films or television series, people who would be diagnosed with a psychological disorder are often poked fun of. The character is always portrayed as stupid and is known to make the audience laugh. On the other hand, if the character is not making people laugh, he is scaring people. From mcuup.org, it provides a list of the stereotypes and why they are not accurate.
For example, it states that recent studies show that drugs and alcohol are a result of violence than a disorder is. People with disorders are also viewed as not curable. This is false, over 80% of people can cure their sickness and return to their natural state.

Disorder Stereotyping.........Have you done it?

Stereotyping.... We have all done it before.  Each one of us is put into a stereotype whether we like it or not.  With disorder stereotyping it's no different. Each disorder comes with its own set of stereotypical actions, though not all have these symptoms and behaviors. Some of them have it and others these things don't affect them at all.  A lot of people assume that with mental disorders you are violent, comical, not curable, unreliable, unpredictable, not able to communicate with them, they have bizarre and disruptive behaviors.  These are just a few of the list of stereotypes from  Myths and Stereotypes.  There are stereotypes for each kind of disorder.  For eating disorders the stereotypes are: that only rich girls have eating disorders, you will never overcome this disorder, and being thin will make you happy.  All of these are false and hurtful to the people who find out this is what is being thought about them. 

Addictions

People can be addicted to anything. These days a lot of people are addicted to social media sites or thir cell phones. But what else can people be addicted to? That's right, drugs and alcohol. An addiction is psychology is described as " a condition that results when a person ingests a substance (alcohol, cocaine, nicotine) or engages in an activity (gambling) that can be pleasurable but the continued use of which becomes compulsive and interferes with ordinary life responsibilities, such as work or relationships, or health. Users may not be aware that their behavior is out of control and causing problems for themselves and others." (psychologytoday.com) A lot of people view people who are addicted as low-life, bad people in general. But in reality, addiction can affect anybody who ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I'm Sailing!

The film What About Bob? was released in 1991 with Ghost Busters star, Bill Murray. Murray plays Bob, a man who is an obsessive-compulsive agoraphobic. While some of the characteristics of his character do represent someone who is afraid of dangers of the outside world, it is still a comedy movie. Yet again, a psychological disorder is poked fun at. In this scene, the daughter of Bob's psychiatrist invites him sailing. But because Bob is afraid of most things, he first rejects the offer because he fears that something horrible could go wrong. However he decides to give it a chance, but it is not your typical sailing.

What is Normal?

What do you think is normal?? Are you normal or are you odd? With all disorders come some actions that are strange and unusual. Abnormal is something that is unusual in a bad way, something that can harm the person or others around that person.  Being odd or a little different isn't a bad thing only when it can be hurtful to you or the people around you.  We all have weird little things that we do and it makes us all feel comfortable in our surroundings.  Like when I'm nervous I twirl my hair around my fingers or tap my hand on my leg.  It just helps me get the nervous energy out.   This is just a way for us to express ourselves.  If there is something you do that may be a little weird as long as it doesn't hurt you or anyone around you there is no need to worry about it. 

Disorders

What most people are familiar with is the psychological disorders. These disorders can range from anxiety of public speaking or hallucinations so real that a person thinks he or she is the President of the United States. A psychological disorder is defined as ,"A psychological disorder, also known as a mental disorder, is a pattern of behavioral or psychological symptoms that impact multiple life areas and/or create distress for the person experiencing these symptoms." (Definition by Kendra Cherry of psychology.about.com)

There are different fields of disorders that include anxiety, (the most common) dissociative disorders, eating disorders, factitious disorders, impulse-control disorders, mental disorders, and neurocognitive disorders.

Psych... what is it??

Psychology is the scientific study of the human mind and its function, especially those affecting behavior in a given context. Basically this means its the study of behavior in certain situations. There are many different fields of psychology.  They are Clinical Psychology, Counseling Psychology, Experimental Psychology, School Psychology, Educational Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Biological Psychology, Health Psychology, Social/Personality Psychology, Industrial/ Organizational Psychology, Forensic Psychology, and Human Factors Psychology.