How do you view mental illness?

I'm curious.
I keep running into people (albeit mostly in the South) that have the You Can Get Over It, You Obviously Just Don't Want To mentality. Or the He Can Control It, He Just Doesn't Want To.
And especially the Take My Kid And Fix Him/Her parent.
I'm working on my PhD in clinical psych, most of you know this.
I'm finally in practice as a professional psychology practicum student.
I'm doing everything that the licensed doc are doing, but under supervision.
And I am completely fucktastically flabbergasted at the attitude of many parents, but also the people in my community in general about mental illness.
I've worked with faker... malingerers, we call them... I'm not talk about that.
I'm talking about the truly histrionic, the complete narcissist, the depressed, the bipolar, the traumatized, Asperger's or ASD individual. The homeless guy on the street that talks to himself and the lamp post.
I sometimes think that clinical jargon is thrown about in slang and everyday use, far from what it actually means, so that those who are actually diagnosed OCD or ADHD are sometimes dismissed or looked at like they're overdramatic.
There isn't a right or wrong answer, but I'm curious. Does anyone else toss around jargon lightly?
Or really believe that someone in treatment can be mentally ill?
Are you familiar with the DSMs (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) in any of its forms? I actually read one right out of high school because I was curious, but I'm weird.
Is mental illness real?
I know what I think, but I've had training, I'm curious what people in the general public tend to think.
Like when you see a kid stimming (flapping hands, repeating phrases, banging head) in public, or the guy talking to himself on the sidewalk, or the girl walking down the street with the bandages on her wrist... what pops into your head? Do you give it a second thought?

 

As I get older, I am dealing with it differently. It's like watching One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest for the first time. At first it is kind of funny. But by the end of the movie, it isn't. These are real people. Emphasis on people. That's how I've changed in my view of the menally ill. I've matured in my view of them. I don't run into too many. Not in my community. I think I may have worked with a few that needed help but maybe they were emotional ill not mentally ill. I'm not a professional, I can't make that call. Yes, I think they are ill. And the illness is real. And I think all of us could be that way at some point in our lives. There have been demons that I had to deal with. Some of which had they happened at a different point in my life might have put me over the edge. But for the grace of God, it didn't. Just like I didn't catch the flu that everyone around me had last winter. Is there any difference?

 

I come from a family that has a lot of mental illness, depression mostly with a little bipolar thrown in. I've learned to accept that part of my family and that its not something that I look negatively upon. I have some wonderfully gifted family members that use their "illness" as a place to get strength or inspiration for what they do, whether it be painting, photography or song writing. I know I suffer from it, I've been diagnosed, misdiagnosed and its a part of me that I have no control over so I accept it and move on to enjoy life as it is.

 

I think many people have their doubts about or are just plain ignorant of the brain/mind connection. They're a sort of Cartesian dualist without realizing it and this causes them to view mental illness in a different way. If you don't see the connection between the physical structures and behavior you're much more likely to view that behavior as freely chosen rather than determined.

Reminds me of that classic freshman philosophy question: If you take two people into surgery and put their brains in each others' bodies which have you performed; a brain transplant or a body transplant?

 

whenever i see the mentally ill on those rare occasions i get to walk on those wacky sidewalk things, i usually think of how mankind is slowly evolving to our comparatively superlong lives and how in a few thousand years, these poor saps' genes will be the thing of medical history books

 

Mental illness is as real as medical illness. Psychology may be a younger science than medicine, but it's every bit as legitimate.

 

Yes, yes it's very real, especially when I speak to clients who have a history of drug abuse.

However, I'd also point out that certain institutions make it easy to abuse the system and claim mental illness for illegitimate gain. Honestly, whether it's real or not is not up to me to decide. I usually call in someone with a Ph.D/M.D. after their name if I need someone evaluated.

 

I've seen plenty of the "you can get over/control it, you just don't want to" type of mentality. Our brains are capable of doing things we don't want them to, as contradictory as that might seem, but I think people tend not to consciously think about that.

Sometimes clinical jargon does get thrown around, but I think the intention tends to be good. Everybody has their own level of understanding when it comes to technical terms, with a varying level of accuracy. So if people have a slightly different understanding of it, it can lead to things being lost in translation, in a sense. As far as being dismissed or looked at as being over-dramatic, I think a stigma does exist, but has become less common over the years . Given my own understanding about mental issues, I try to avoid tossing jargon around lightly.

I certainly believe that someone in treatment can be mentally ill, I haven't seen much of the mentality that mental illness isn't real. I am familiar with the DSM, the current version DSM IV-TR. I haven't read it in total, nor is it a field I study, I'm just familiar with what it is from some personal research I've done on a few personality disorders. When I see things on the street I don't usually give it a second though, but that's mainly because I'm fairly introverted to say the least, if not to say social anxiety.

What I'd like to know, and what I've been thinking of posting about, is what ideas people have about people who think they might have a personality disorder, but haven't been diagnosed. I know there's a phenomenon with psych students that when they read about a disorder, sometimes they start thinking they have it. But the reason I'm curious about this, is that for quite some time I've thought about whether I might have a personality disorder. But I had thought about this before I ever read or looked up any information, it's actually the reason that led me to do some research about personality disorders. I avoid specifically thinking I do, or any other level of self-diagnosis, but on a few occasions I've said things like "I have tendencies characteristic of xxPD" when talking about the possibility with a trusted friend. I could go on further, but this isn't really the right thread for it and I've probably already gone on long enough.

 

I'm a retired therapist.
I share pretty much the party line on mental illness. The word 'illness' is key.
I worked with a variety of people and had planned to pursue my Ph.D but a heart malfunction took the wind out of my sails.

It can be very discouraging dealing with what I consider out-of-date beliefs about mental illness and emotional disorders. And parents/caregivers gave me the biggest headaches of any--far worse than the child patient himself.

On a personal level, even though my mom had 2 (then called) nervous breakdowns she never got the help she needed through the years I knew her.
My dad, the retired scientist does not believe in psychology as a legitimate science so it all sort of makes sense.

The DSM is one of my favourite books. Truly fascinating reading.

evaderum
Many of us have components of some of the characteristics of particular personality disorders. More of us have mood disorders but some of us do have personality disorders (a relatively small number in the general population) but I highly caution against self-diagnosis. I am one of those Psych students who at age 17 enrolled at UConn (uni) and got so spooked by Psych 101 that I dropped out!
As it happens, I can't even 'qualify' for a personality disorder though I do have anxiety which I keep pretty much in check and depression, which has pretty well resolved.

noodle In re: clinical jargon being thrown around. Like many other world ills, I blame the media for the over-use of clinical jargon.
Seriously, generally it annoys me somewhat but it disturbs me when it is used inappropriately.
OTOH, it was a bit gratifying when people started to learn what ADD, ADHD, ect. meant, at least on a basic level.

 

The people that I've always heard that 'you can get over it', and 'it's all in your head', etc. have all been mentally ill themselves. They've had to believe that they had overcome their problems, so then so could you. The problem is they were self-deluded, but couldn't give up the lie that they had fixed themselves. My mother is one of these. My father, another. Religion doesn't help with these delusions either...

Luckily for me, I'm way too honest with myself to think that I'm not a bit off. I use my self knowledge to inform how I deal with problems day to day. Not to ignore it.

So yeah, mental illness is real, and certainly needs to be addressed by more than platitudes.

 

Mental illness runs rampant in both my and hubby's families and in my experience, it's just as destructive to the family unit as a physical ailment because no one knows what to do about it or how to react when their loved one does something completely foreign. When my stepmom got cancer, there was a plan of action. Chemo and surgery and lifestyle adjustments. 7 years later, she's cancer free and doing great. When my brother developed schizophrenia, no one knew what the fuck to do other than encourage him to see professionals and stay on his meds. He was fairly sane on his meds, but when he'd go off (which was frequently), he was a completely different person. It was a devastating thing to witness. My mother has periodic breaks from reality (I don't know how else to describe them) and will become uber-paranoid, almost like my brother's delusions. I don't know if she's ever sought help for anything other than depression.

Hubby works for a mental health facility and has brought the DSM (version IV, I believe) home for study. He does not have a degree in psychology, just the training he continuously receives at work. He works with emotionally troubled teens. After studying the DSM, he suspected his mother had borderline personality disorder (she fit into every single criteria listed, and every single criteria he researched elsewhere). He begged her to see a professional, but she refused. That's the thing about mental illness - unless someone realizes they need help, they aren't likely going to get it.

It irritates me when people dismiss mental illness with a "Just deal with it" or "you didn't try hard enough" type attitude. It seems to me there is still very much a stigma to mental illness, and it makes me sad.

 

The reason I've given it more than a basic amount of thought is because I seem to have components of at least enough characteristics required for it to be considered. Like I Said, I've avoided self-diagnosis, so that I don't pigeonhole myself, it's just something I'm aware of as a possibility. I know I'm not qualified to diagnose myself, or even anyone else for that matter.

I also have tendencies of anxiety, and some level of depression at times, but whether it's a personality disorder, a mood disorder, or something else (I've also had a herniated disc in my neck for 10 years that could be a factor) I've always had the mentality that, whatever it is, I define it rather than it define me.

 

Mental illness is absolutely real. Do I have a minor in psych with a focus on abnormal? yup. Am I qualified to see if someone is mentally ill? nope.

I think the only time I don't put stock into one's illness is if a PCP gave the diagnosis instead of referring the matter to a qualified individual. There are far too man P.A.s and PCPs diagnosing mental issues and it's discouraging.

My wife has a minor in psych as well but her focus was on developmental, so yeah, we'll sometimes analyze and throw shit around about people, but we don't break out the DSM IV and actually try to diagnose a person.

 

'Theres no one sane 'cept thee an me, and I aint too sure about thee' - Spike Milligan. Bi-polar comic genius, spent half of his like in the darkness.
Of course illnesses of the noggin are real - of course its often more than someone being a bit 'overly sensitive'. I think education and knowledge are the best things to have on side if your life is affected by say a family members being a bit wonkey in the noggin. Sometimes people fall and cut themselves, and as Borla said, some illnesses are obvious and invoke sympathy, and other illnesses scare people so much, it harks back in attitude to the days of Bedlum Assylum, where you could view the inmates as if it were a zoo. Maybe its a fear somewhere that the unseen illness may be in us as individuals, and we are like the looneys, oh my gosh! Certainly, any one of us could be victim to a disorder of the noggin - sometimes life throws so much shit at people, they just break down. If they are lucky, they dont fall through the cracks.

 

Yes, I'm familiar with the DSM (LONG ago). I dropped out of my psychology studies over a minor but still disturbing revelation in one of my graduate classes. I think clinical and applied practitioners are wonderful, caring people that have much stronger personalities than my own. It is a draining profession, or at least would be for me.

Does mental illness exist? Certainly. I worked with a schizoid gentleman who was functional on his meds, but who, as he spiralled down, refused them more and more. It was sad to see him slowly withdrawing inside himself and his hallucinations. He finally ended up in an assisted living facility.

So why do people treat mental illness so differently? Because it affects WHO we are, the essence of our being. And if one person can suddenly be changed into someone/something else by an illness of the mind, it could happen to us. And that is very frightening. If I lose a hand, I'm still me. If I get cancer, I can fight it with medicines and surgery. But if my mind changes, I'm no longer really me.

Historically, it wasn't that long ago that doctors didn't believe in germs (pathogens). Why wash my hands before operating? Invisible little things that will cause infection? SURE, of course, it all makes sense now! It is even more recent that we have come to understand the effects of brain chemistry on our personalities, as well as how environmental, genetic, and psychological factors can influence and change our personalities. Unfortunately, we expect medicine to be able to work miracles theses days (and it does often), so when we fall back on non-physical (medicine/surgery) forms of therapy that may not work for all, there is often a vague sense that perhaps there's some bit of snake oil quackery involved. Hence, the prevalence of JUST GET OVER IT or JUST DECIDE TO CHANGE thinking.

 

There is an old saying that "normal is just a setting on a washing machine" which I'm fine with up to a point. Yes, mental illness is real, but the definition of "abnormal" seems to be somewhat fluid over time. In my view, we need to be able to succeed in our relationships, within the family, and in the larger community - and to support ourselves somehow throughout life. When that isn't possible for someone, I think that some kind of disorder must exist.

In Scott Peck's "The Road Less Traveled" he makes the point that there are people who are neurotic - they are overly responsible and see everything as their fault. And then there are people with personality disorders, who take no responsibility for their issues - everything that goes wrong is someone else's fault. Neurotics are much easier to work with (as a counselor) because they are ready to work on themselves. Those with a personality disorder are very hard to help, because the rest of the world is the problem according to them.

I think that is an interesting way to sort these things out.