Mental Illness and society

[Vince S.]

Do you think American society fully understands or sees mental illnesses as real diseases?

Seeing a psychologist or therapist is far more accepted and less of a stigma today than many years ago. "Insane asylums" no longer exist, at least in their archaic, inhumane incarnations from the 19th and early 20th centuries, and the mental and behavioral health field has been greatly expanded, researched, and fleshed out as a medical field.

However, I still hear many off-color comments made about people with mental illness, and not in jest either. I have heard comments from people from my parents' generation and my own saying that "there is no such thing as mental illnesses, just weak-minded people and attention whores". Having dealt with quite a few emergency cases involving mental illness as an EMT, I would say that that statement could not be further from the truth.

Your thoughts?

[morf]

My thoughts are a large majority of so-called mentally ill patients are full of crap and thats why many people don't take it very seriously.

Doesn't mean mental illnesses don't exist though, quite the contrary.

[MakiSupaStar]

Many of the homeless people I deal with at the beach have some type of mental illness.

[Relic]

I think mental illness is very real and for those suffering from it, it's a challenge to function in our society at times no doubt.
That said, I also think that in today's society, labels are thrown around like crazy.
Mental illness does not automatically mean "lunatic" or whatever. Mental illness comes in so many different forms and severities that I often wonder where the border exists between a "quirky" personality and someone who is mentally ill by definition? I suspect that some people who are considered "mentally ill" in this day and age, would not have the same label 20 or 30 years ago.

[Matt_W]

When I was going through a rough patch in my life a few years back, I suffered from, what could occasionally, be described a crippling anxiety disorder. That was mental illness, I didn't want attention, and I don't think I am weak minded.

In fact some of the stronger people I have met through my short life, have suffered from sort of mental illness at one point or another. It's an unfortunate side effect of modern life.

[PSPookie]

Didn't we do this last month?

Never mind -- that was clinical depression. Being wrong makes me so sad. Too bad no one understands my condition

But, seriously -- I don't think the American public truly accepts mental illness as a disease. Addiction and certain types of mental illness are some of the few things that you can legally discriminate against.

That, and being a middle-class white guy.

[Vince S.]

Originally Posted by PSPookie

Didn't we do this last month?

Never mind -- that was clinical depression. Being wrong makes me so sad. Too bad no one understands my condition

But, seriously -- I don't think the American public truly accepts mental illness as a disease. Addiction and certain types of mental illness are some of the few things that you can legally discriminate against.

That, and being a middle-class white guy.

Let's try to keep the discussion about mental illness please.

[morf]

Originally Posted by Matt_W

When I was going through a rough patch in my life a few years back, I suffered from, what could occasionally, be described a crippling anxiety disorder. That was mental illness, I didn't want attention, and I don't think I am weak minded.

In fact some of the stronger people I have met through my short life, have suffered from sort of mental illness at one point or another. It's an unfortunate side effect of modern life.

They are stronger now because they toughened up though. For a couple of years I was socially shy and got panic attacks, extreme anxiety (to the point where I started sweating and had to leave rooms of people who wondered what the heck was goin on with me). I was weak minded. I toughened up.

[Mark Latimour]

Originally Posted by PSPookie

Didn't we do this last month?

Yes, maybe this is Vince's way of breaking the "i've got Alzhiemers" news to us. I hope not.

[Vince S.]

Originally Posted by Mark Latimour

Yes, maybe this is Vince's way of breaking the "i've got Alzhiemers" news to us. I hope not.

[Sonic_Death]

Here's the problem as I see it.

Every single person who is alive right now has a mental illness. Some are more severe than others, some impact people's daily lives, but that is not the case for everyone, and in some shape or form, we all suffer.

If I had it my way, every single person would be seeing a therapist. But then there is a problem with that in itself. People get mis-diagnosed all the time, and it is a serious problem. It is a known fact that psychologists today are unfit in many ways to be doing their job because they form bad habits from their profession. When you see so many mentally ill people, it becomes easier and easier to see these "signs" or "symptoms" in people who do not actually have certain problems.

Ah, the list goes on of my complaints and thoughts.

To answer the original question, though things are better about the understand of mental illnesses, there are still tons of problems with it, and many people are still ignorant. It is popular in society to put down others with mental illnesses, which makes any understanding hard to achieve.

[Jeremy Crockett]

Originally Posted by Sonic_Death

Here's the problem as I see it.

Every single person who is alive right now has a mental illness. ...

Just stop. Stop right there. That attitude is the reason that folks with legitimate mental problems are not getting taken seriously.

Over-diagnosis is more harmful that you think.

[Dave Grossman]

Originally Posted by Vince S.

"there is no such thing as mental illnesses, just weak-minded people and attention whores"

Haha, I'd like to have a word with anyone who believes that. I don't encounter people that stupid very often. I'd just like to see what they look like and listen to them explain why they think that.

- Dave

[Brad Barker]

there's definitely a long way to go.

[Pilgrim]

There are certainly people who have disabling mental illness - they can't function in society. Telling those who do from those who don't is a challenge, and has become a political issue.

I do NOT believe that everyone has a mental illness. All of us do better at some times and worse at others.

And those who don't believe in mental illness either have never been around people suffering from it, or haven't paid attention.

[MakiSupaStar]

Originally Posted by Vince S.

Ok Vince. I'll speak slow to you. A short while ago Major Metal posted a thread that was this exact same topic. Instead of telling you to do a search Latimour made the assumption that perhaps you forgot to search. Forgetting things is a symptom of alzheimers. Do you get it? Actually quite clever until you have to EXPLAIN IT!

[middy]

Originally Posted by Matt_W

In fact some of the stronger people I have met through my short life, have suffered from sort of mental illness at one point or another. It's an unfortunate side effect of modern life.

Mental illness is a side effect of modern life? What makes you say that?

[Jared Lash]

Originally Posted by Dave Grossman

Haha, I'd like to have a word with anyone who believes that. I don't encounter people that stupid very often. I'd just like to see what they look like and listen to them explain why they think that.

- Dave

I definitely believe this. I also believe that there's no such thing as cancer, just weak bodied people. If your own cells are ready to mutiny on you then clearly you just need to be stronger and in command of your own body.

[Sonic_Death]

Originally Posted by OctoberMooN

Just stop. Stop right there. That attitude is the reason that folks with legitimate mental problems are not getting taken seriously.

Over-diagnosis is more harmful that you think.

Yes, over-diagnosis is a problem, and if you did read the rest of my post, you'd see that I talked about it.

But seriously, I believe we all have mental illnesses in some fashion and in different extremes. That does not mean that it is a problem for everyone or that everyone needs to be treated though.

If anyone happens to disagree with that, fine by me. There are times I do not even believe it necessarily simply because people see that they have two symptoms in common with a mental illness and start bugging out thinking they have it.

Personally, I think self-diagnosis is one of the biggest problems that people face in mental illness, and the advent of the internet does not help that issue. This certainly makes it very hard when drawing the line between serious mental illness and people simply misconstruing.

[Dave Grossman]

Originally Posted by Sonic_Death

Yes, over-diagnosis is a problem, and if you did read the rest of my post, you'd see that I talked about it.

Here's a good Frontline on the subject
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/medicatedchild/

- Dave