Latter-day Saints with limited knowledge about mental illness can add to the pain of those who suffer when they ascribe to several common myths.

Rick Hawks, a psychologist and member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, told an audience gathered Thursday at Brigham Young University that he has received criticism in the past for characterizations that some church members' insensitivity adds to the pain of those with mental disorders and their family members.

In a lecture titled "Mental Illness: How Latter-day Saints Shoot Their Wounded," was one of hundreds of presentations offered during the annual Education Week at BYU, drawing tens of thousands of people to the Provo campus. Classes concluded on Friday.

Hawks dismissed what he said are commonly held myths about the mentally ill and their families.

The first, that "if you keep the commandments, you won't have mental illness," reinforces an ancient but false belief that spirituality inoculates people against mental disorders, which in reality are physical illnesses like cancer and diabetes.

The myth goes hand in hand with the idea that "all emotional difficulties have to do with personal sin." Yet the truth is that no one is immune, including church and community leaders, he said, noting former LDS Church President Harold B. Lee suffered from depression.

"Praying, fasting, reading the scriptures and good parenting are all important, but they don't treat mental illness."

The second myth is that those who suffer simply need a "priesthood blessing" to restore proper mental function. Complex mental disorders require consultation with professionals, proper medication and lifestyle changes, he said, quoting top LDS leaders who have advocated such treatment in public settings.

While church leaders are often helpful with problems of the soul, such spiritual "shepherds are not veterinarians," he said, quoting Elder Vaughn Featherstone. Some need to realize that, Hawks said, noting he was once in a church meeting where an LDS stake president told the congregation from the pulpit that if they were taking Prozac, they should stop doing so.

Sometime later, after Hawks approached the stake president about what he'd said, the leader told Hawks he learned a hard lesson about the consequences of his advice when he later visited a woman with clinical depression who had followed his counsel, stopped taking her medication and was planning to take her life within hours.

A third myth says that seeking professional help "is a sign of weakness." Instead, such attitudes tend to be generated by fear and ignorance, he said. "Some believe that no one who is right with the Lord has a nervous breakdown or needs medication."