In Defense of Understanding Mental Illness
The other night, I was watching an episode of Crime Scene Investigation, aka, CSI. This particular show dealt with a murder and its investigation inside of a mental hospital. All of the individuals were male. They were depicted as criminals, and most of their offenses were serious, such as murder, rape, arson, and assault and were also shown to be violent people. As the show progressed, many play on words were used by the CSI investigators, including 'looney,' 'crazy' and many off colored jokes were also told between the lines. Much speculation was done that the crime had been done by one of the inmates. In fact, when all the evidence was gathered and put together, the murder was committed by one of the nurses assigned to that facility.
Mental illness is a condition that affects more than 2 million people. They are many forms, including serious depression, bi-polar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, schizophrenia and schizo-affective disorders. Most individuals who suffer from mental illness are not violent nor hospitalized. For an excellent summary of mental illness, treatment and its impact on society and the family see http://www.nami.org/.
When we see someone on the street homeless, without work or food, more often than not, this is the very best that this individual can do for him/herself. If afflicted with schizophrenia, people see delusions and hallucinate and often talk to themselves. This does not mean that they are violent or out to hurt you. More often than not, it is the result of internal stimulation inside of their brains resulting in a chemical imbalance. Rather than fear these people, I have developed a practice of lending them a compassionate hand and buying them a meal.
As you can see, mental illness is complicated, and understanding the stigma that is associated with those who are afflicted is a subject that I am very passionate about. Education is the key to understanding and acceptance.
Rule of the day: Next time you see someone sitting and talking to himself/herself, do not be afraid. Instead, be of service, and do a good deed. These gestures will mean more than you know.
Thank you for your minds.
Mental illness is a condition that affects more than 2 million people. They are many forms, including serious depression, bi-polar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, schizophrenia and schizo-affective disorders. Most individuals who suffer from mental illness are not violent nor hospitalized. For an excellent summary of mental illness, treatment and its impact on society and the family see http://www.nami.org/.
When we see someone on the street homeless, without work or food, more often than not, this is the very best that this individual can do for him/herself. If afflicted with schizophrenia, people see delusions and hallucinate and often talk to themselves. This does not mean that they are violent or out to hurt you. More often than not, it is the result of internal stimulation inside of their brains resulting in a chemical imbalance. Rather than fear these people, I have developed a practice of lending them a compassionate hand and buying them a meal.
As you can see, mental illness is complicated, and understanding the stigma that is associated with those who are afflicted is a subject that I am very passionate about. Education is the key to understanding and acceptance.
Rule of the day: Next time you see someone sitting and talking to himself/herself, do not be afraid. Instead, be of service, and do a good deed. These gestures will mean more than you know.
Thank you for your minds.
9 Comments:
Mental illness is a complex subject.
The mentally ill should be treated with compassion rather than disdain.
Those who are violent as a result of mental illness need to be monitored, treated and kept off the street.
Mentally ill people who are in loving families usually fair pretty well, unless their illness is very extreme. I have a friend with schizophrenia who has a job, goes to college, lives with her parents, and does very well. Because she's monitored and her medicatons are strictly taken, she functions at a normal level.
Those who are on the streets need help. It's very hard to legislate "forced" help. I think that buyiing a meal and offering a smile is a good, but temporary help. Temporary is better than nothing at all.
Mental illness is a complicated subject indeed. However, more often than not, those who are on the streets are there for many reasons. One may be a lack of family support or resources, and another may be that these medications have very powerful side affects, often resulting in those diagnosed not taking them. Moreover, in certain cases of schizophrenia, there is something in the brain that tells people that they are not sick and do not need medication.
Surely, we cannot manage the vastness of this illness, but acts of kindness, not forced help, are welcomed by all.
I remember when funding was yanked from mental health facilities in the 80s during the Reagan administration. I was in college in Ann Arbor at the time that the Ypsilanti State (Mental) Hospital let many of their inmates go. Several of them came to Ann Arbor. I feel ashamed to think of how we laughed at these guys. They were the resident "crazies" and their behavior amused us to no end. Now, as an adult, all I can think about when I see people like this is, "That was somebody's baby."
Stigmatizing mental illness hurts us all, especially those of us who struggle with treatable ailments like depression and still have to deal with accusations of "weak character" when we admit to seeking help.
That said, I must admit to having limits to my compassion when it comes to mental illnesses--such as sociopathy, psychopathy, and borderline personality disorder--that sometimes lead to abusive behavior. I don't want to be around abusive people, no matter how difficult things are for them. My analogy is this: If my loved one has a disease that causes her to throw rocks at people, through NO FAULT of her own, I still need to stay clear of the rocks to keep myself from being pulled down with her. Living with someone who has a mental disorder that facilitates abusive behavior is an exercise in dodging rocks. It gets tiring after a while.
Oh--one last thing. Speaking of Ypsilanti, I recommend reading Milton Rokeach's book The Three Christs of Ypsilanti (1964). Three patients who thought they were Jesus Christ were brought together under the premise that, since their logical capabilities were still intact, they'd see that they must be delusional because there is only one Jesus Christ. Naturally the experiment fails, with each man accusing the other two of being "false Christs." I see this book not so much as a treatise on the vagaries of mental illness, but as a great example of the ways that even "normal" people fool themselves. Seems I hear "false Christ" accusations everywhere I turn these days.
K,
I do not know that book. It sounds like an intersting read.
Actually, certain personality disorders as you mention are distinguishable from serious mental illness, at least the way I understand it. Please correct me if I am mistaken.
Abuse from anyone, regardless of fit or unfit mental state should not be tolerated, and at some point we do need to draw our own healthy lines, most certainly.
Absolutely. Would you avoid someone because they have cancer? Fire them because they have lukemia? Throw them out on the street because they have AIDS? Funding mental health services is not "forced help", but these services are critically underfunded. People will complain if their taxes go to helping, and not bombing, others. But, living in the world's richest country and letting so many of our neighbors starve and freeze to death is just plain immoral.
We used to have looney bins, but in the early 80s those were done away with. They cost too much money you see.
So, someone who was president at the time emptied all of Americas crazy hospitals and dumped the residents on the street. Most of them quickly ended up in jail, where it became the job of corrections officers to deal with them. Corrections officers who I might add, had little or no formal training in mental illness. Crazy people in jail were not treated any differently than the other prisioners, and jails started to become overcrowded (placing the guards at even MORE risk). The solution - build more jails!
And when that former president went crazy himself, nobody noticed how ironic that was. The man who turned mental health hospitals into jails goes crazy himself. Funny how life works sometimes.
My Godmother was schizophrenic, she was only part of my life when I was a child. As her condition worsened, she withdrew from my life.
I think the biggest misconception of mental illness is there are varied degrees of it.
I myself, don't hide the fact that I've been a self-injurer since childhood.
I saw that episode of C.S.I. and I believe they were all in that facility because of past criminal behavior in addition to them being mentally ill. As evident in that episode, they did not represent the majority of those with mental illness.
this issue is not helped by the fact that the media leaps on every case (few though they are) of say someone suffering from schizophrenia killing someone
ergo: people with schizophrenia are all potential murderers, which is clearly ridiculous
more responsible reporting of these issues and a little more putting it in perspective might help perhaps...
I do not mean from these comments that anyone should put themselves in harms way at any time. More often than not, people who are in the street are harmless (at least from what I have discovered) and this is the best that they can do.This is my own personal practice, and if others feel unconfortable with offering a helping hand to those in need, then that is understood.
But hulabuly, more often than not, based upon my education and experience, most individuals with mental illness ARE NOT dangerous or violent. Those who are seem to be quick to be incarcerated. There are many studies done on the number of individuals who are incercaraced with mental illness. I suggest you have a look at www.nami.org to obtain solid information and facts which will give you an entirely new perspective on the issue.
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