Decoding the Myths: Exploring the Mental Health Misconceptions in College Students

Abstract

Mental health issues have taken a centre stage in health sector with growing number of cases every year. Knowledge and awareness about mental illness among general population has increased with the available opportunity of sharing information on various open-source social networking platform in the recent years. Despite this, lack of awareness and related issues has always been an obstacle in reaching to the maximum and optimizing the impact. This study aimed to understand the awareness about mental health related matters among the young population particularly college students in the age group of 17- 25years. A survey questionnaire with several common myths and facts was used to serve the aim of the study. Several interesting findings yielded out of the data analysis. Overall, the data indicated adequate awareness about mental health. Specifically,the results indicated good awarenessabout the prevalence of mental illness, the need for treatment, rehabilitation of mental health patients. The areas of concern with respect to awareness quotient is found to be lack of adequate knowledge of mental health professionals and lack of awareness about the etiological factors underplaying mental disorders was also clearly reflected.